6 ms·

Show HN: Appstat – Process Monitor for Windows

86 points by pragmar 2y ago

Hey HN, I made a Windows process monitor for app developers and advanced end users. I wanted a taskmgr system-level graph view per app. Windows procmon, while capable, has always been tedious to set up (esp. if not used often). That's pretty much the whole idea behind the app--to simplify app-level monitoring, to make it easy. I hope some of you find it useful!

antithesis-nl 2y ago
So, yeah: I installed this, and was impressed, just because it's an .appx package. I mean, how do you even create those? Other than that: it did not immediately crypto-lock my laptop and/or ramp up my GPU mining Führercoins, so that was good too. Other than that: I did not really see any metrics worth of attention, so I uninstalled the app again, which seemed to work fine as well. Thrilling stuff, I know...
GordonS 2y ago
I usually lean on Resource Monitor when I need this kind of info, but it's clunky - so this looks useful!
zerr 2y ago
> Native WinUI–fast startup, light operation Did anyone notice the Windows Calc app became quite slow to startup recently? It takes 2+ seconds to transform from the empty window with a calc icon to the actual calculator UI. I should get Win7 calc.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- skeaker 2y ago
  If by recently you mean roughly since the release of Windows 10 (or was it 8?), then yes. This is a pretty well remarked on item of embarrassment for Windows.
- layer8 2y ago
  Definitely prefer the classic Windows 7 calculator, you can get it here: https://win7games.com/#calc https://win7games.com/#calc
Daunk 2y ago
What is the best, GUI, process monitor for Linux?
- scarfaceneo 2y ago
  They’re all kind of lacking imo compared to btop. https://flathub.org/apps/io.missioncenter.MissionCenter https://flathub.org/apps/io.missioncenter.MissionCenter is a good option though
  - Novosell 2y ago
    Been a happy htop user for a long time but had never heard of btop, will definitely be switching :) Thank you!
  - Daunk 2y ago
    btop is cool, cheers! But I have to ask, do people really use Flatpaks for something like a process monitor? It feels like a process monitor should launch almost instantly. Waiting ~3 seconds for a Flatpak sandbox to spin up just to check system stats seems pretty frustrating.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- bigyabai 2y ago
  I really like Resources: https://flathub.org/apps/net.nokyan.Resources https://flathub.org/apps/net.nokyan.Resources https://github.com/nokyan/resources https://github.com/nokyan/resources
  - Daunk 2y ago
    I'll ask you the same as below: "... I have to ask, do people really use Flatpaks for something like a process monitor? It feels like a process monitor should launch almost instantly. Waiting ~3 seconds for a Flatpak sandbox to spin up just to check system stats seems pretty frustrating."
hassleblad23 2y ago
This looks pretty cool. Thanks for sharing!
WhereIsTheTruth 2y ago
For advanced end users? why would they ditch: https://systeminformer.sourceforge.io/ https://systeminformer.sourceforge.io/ ?
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- karpovv-boris 2y ago
  They wouldn’t
dbacar 2y ago
procmon and process explorer from sysinternals are really good. and there is performance counters.
pipes 2y ago
Looks great. Thanks. One thing, maybe make it clear that it's free? I went looking for pricing especially when I saw the support link at the top.
- pragmar 2y ago
  I realize now that the "Support" link is ambiguous. The price/free issue I'll think about how to make that clear, it's a good point. Going to wait for traffic to subside before making updates, but noted. Thanks
noitpmeder 2y ago
As an alternative, I use the free community-edition netdata -- love it at my job, and it works right out of the box on my personal windows and linux machines. https://www.netdata.cloud/pricing/ https://www.netdata.cloud/pricing/ (don't let the `.cloud` scare you off, they have a 100% free and functional local-only install) It's insanely powerful and with some configuration can persist the metrics in a local database.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
fraXis 2y ago
Nice job! I love the clean interface. Is this written in C#?
- pragmar 2y ago
  Thanks, yeah it is C#/.net9 and WinUI3. I started with C#/WPF, but wanted to get it on the Windows Store and couldn't figure out that would work with WPF.
  - zerr 2y ago
    AFAIK you can publish even Win32 apps on Windows Store.
    - pragmar 2y ago
      I don't mean to imply it's not possible, but I ran into issues packaging with Desktop Bridge and the web started pushing me toward extreme solutions, so I changed course. If there's a lesson here, it's to package early (and know what you are up against).
rkagerer 2y ago
Looks interesting, thanks! Another one I like that hasn't been mentioned elsewhere in this thread is Process Hacker.
mr-pink 2y ago
what would be nice is some utility that just halts any useless process
bobbob1921 2y ago
Thanks for offering this for free! it looks great- why are you distributing this as a .msixbundle? Ive never seen that before (perhaps im un-informed though), As I don't have the Microsoft store I was expecting a .exe (and it appears to install a .msixbundle app via powershell ill need to first install the windows app sdk as well - win11). Is this intended? thanks
- pragmar 2y ago
  I'm distributing msix (msixbundle) because it allows me to package a downloadable installer and a windows store upload. You should be able to double click the msixbundle to run the installer, powershell isn't necessary. MSIX installers feel a bit odd, I think, because they're far less common than either msi or self extracting exe. They also virtualize the app. MSIX apps, for example, can't write to the canonical registry. It's not all upside, but it works well for my projects. The SDK install is expected (if not already installed). It should hopefully have been automatically downloaded during the install process.
dr_kiszonka 2y ago
Off-topic: Is it possible to tell your InterroBot how many levels (or degrees) of outlinks to follow?
- pragmar 2y ago
  It's not configurable right now, but I have seen the feature in other products. If you want to chat about it off-thread, there's a contact form in the options page. Happy to chat.

86 points by pragmar 2y ago

antithesis-nl 2y ago

So, yeah: I installed this, and was impressed, just because it's an .appx package. I mean, how do you even create those? Other than that: it did not immediately crypto-lock my laptop and/or ramp up my GPU mining Führercoins, so that was good too. Other than that: I did not really see any metrics worth of attention, so I uninstalled the app again, which seemed to work fine as well. Thrilling stuff, I know...

GordonS 2y ago

I usually lean on Resource Monitor when I need this kind of info, but it's clunky - so this looks useful!

zerr 2y ago

> Native WinUI–fast startup, light operation Did anyone notice the Windows Calc app became quite slow to startup recently? It takes 2+ seconds to transform from the empty window with a calc icon to the actual calculator UI. I should get Win7 calc.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
skeaker 2y ago
If by recently you mean roughly since the release of Windows 10 (or was it 8?), then yes. This is a pretty well remarked on item of embarrassment for Windows.
layer8 2y ago
Definitely prefer the classic Windows 7 calculator, you can get it here: https://win7games.com/#calc https://win7games.com/#calc

Daunk 2y ago

What is the best, GUI, process monitor for Linux?

scarfaceneo 2y ago
They’re all kind of lacking imo compared to btop. https://flathub.org/apps/io.missioncenter.MissionCenter https://flathub.org/apps/io.missioncenter.MissionCenter is a good option though
- Novosell 2y ago
  Been a happy htop user for a long time but had never heard of btop, will definitely be switching :) Thank you!
- Daunk 2y ago
  btop is cool, cheers! But I have to ask, do people really use Flatpaks for something like a process monitor? It feels like a process monitor should launch almost instantly. Waiting ~3 seconds for a Flatpak sandbox to spin up just to check system stats seems pretty frustrating.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
bigyabai 2y ago
I really like Resources: https://flathub.org/apps/net.nokyan.Resources https://flathub.org/apps/net.nokyan.Resources https://github.com/nokyan/resources https://github.com/nokyan/resources
- Daunk 2y ago
  I'll ask you the same as below: "... I have to ask, do people really use Flatpaks for something like a process monitor? It feels like a process monitor should launch almost instantly. Waiting ~3 seconds for a Flatpak sandbox to spin up just to check system stats seems pretty frustrating."

hassleblad23 2y ago

This looks pretty cool. Thanks for sharing!

WhereIsTheTruth 2y ago

For advanced end users? why would they ditch: https://systeminformer.sourceforge.io/ https://systeminformer.sourceforge.io/ ?

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
karpovv-boris 2y ago
They wouldn’t

dbacar 2y ago

procmon and process explorer from sysinternals are really good. and there is performance counters.

pipes 2y ago

Looks great. Thanks. One thing, maybe make it clear that it's free? I went looking for pricing especially when I saw the support link at the top.

pragmar 2y ago
I realize now that the "Support" link is ambiguous. The price/free issue I'll think about how to make that clear, it's a good point. Going to wait for traffic to subside before making updates, but noted. Thanks

noitpmeder 2y ago

As an alternative, I use the free community-edition netdata -- love it at my job, and it works right out of the box on my personal windows and linux machines. https://www.netdata.cloud/pricing/ https://www.netdata.cloud/pricing/ (don't let the `.cloud` scare you off, they have a 100% free and functional local-only install) It's insanely powerful and with some configuration can persist the metrics in a local database.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

fraXis 2y ago

Nice job! I love the clean interface. Is this written in C#?

pragmar 2y ago
Thanks, yeah it is C#/.net9 and WinUI3. I started with C#/WPF, but wanted to get it on the Windows Store and couldn't figure out that would work with WPF.
- zerr 2y ago
  AFAIK you can publish even Win32 apps on Windows Store.
  - pragmar 2y ago
    I don't mean to imply it's not possible, but I ran into issues packaging with Desktop Bridge and the web started pushing me toward extreme solutions, so I changed course. If there's a lesson here, it's to package early (and know what you are up against).

rkagerer 2y ago

Looks interesting, thanks! Another one I like that hasn't been mentioned elsewhere in this thread is Process Hacker.

mr-pink 2y ago

what would be nice is some utility that just halts any useless process

bobbob1921 2y ago

Thanks for offering this for free! it looks great- why are you distributing this as a .msixbundle? Ive never seen that before (perhaps im un-informed though), As I don't have the Microsoft store I was expecting a .exe (and it appears to install a .msixbundle app via powershell ill need to first install the windows app sdk as well - win11). Is this intended? thanks

pragmar 2y ago
I'm distributing msix (msixbundle) because it allows me to package a downloadable installer and a windows store upload. You should be able to double click the msixbundle to run the installer, powershell isn't necessary. MSIX installers feel a bit odd, I think, because they're far less common than either msi or self extracting exe. They also virtualize the app. MSIX apps, for example, can't write to the canonical registry. It's not all upside, but it works well for my projects. The SDK install is expected (if not already installed). It should hopefully have been automatically downloaded during the install process.

dr_kiszonka 2y ago

Off-topic: Is it possible to tell your InterroBot how many levels (or degrees) of outlinks to follow?

pragmar 2y ago
It's not configurable right now, but I have seen the feature in other products. If you want to chat about it off-thread, there's a contact form in the options page. Happy to chat.