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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Anvir Task Manager Review [GotD]


via gHacks technology news by Martin on 1/13/10

The Anvir Task Manager is a Windows Task Manager replacement. It is part of a line of products that also offer a free limited version of the task manager called Anvir Task Manager free and a professional version called Anvir Task Manager Pro.

Anvir Task Manager 6.2 is offering more than just the basic task manager functionality. This can be confusing for users as it offers security, performance, system monitoring and windows enhancement features.

The program uses a tabbed layout. The tabs are used to switch between the different options that the program provides. Available tabs are Startup, Applications, Processes, Services and Log.

Startup:

The startup tab aids the user in managing startup items. It consists of a sidebar that can be used to filter specific startup items like Internet Explorer browser helper objects or startup items found in the Windows Registry.

The left window lists the startup items. Anvir Task Manager will automatically rate each startup item and display a security risk level. These entries are also color coded to make identification even easier.

A double-click on an entry opens a footer window with extensive information about the selected startup item. This window with extra information is available in all tabs.

It is also tab based and provides extensive information including the security risks analysis, product information, dlls that are used by the entry, connections, drivers and performance information.

Applications:

The applications tab lists the running applications and their process.

Processes:

The processes tab lists all processes that are running on the system again with detailed information including the security rating. Many options are available in this tab. It is possible to kill, restart or start processes, block them from being run on the system, set a process priority or affinity, free memory and to suspend processes.

Services:

The services tab lists all know services of the computer system with information about their state, a security risk rating and additional information. Options available in this menu are to change the startup type, change the state of a service or to delete it.

Other options:

  • Check files on VirusTotal.com with 30+ antivirus engines
  • Delayed startup: speed up Windows startup process
  • Tweaker that gives direct access to hundreds of XP / Vista settings
  • Monitor processes, services, Internet connections, CPU, disk, memory, DLLs, drivers, locked files, windows
  • Icons and tooltips in tray for CPU, memory, network, disk load, HDD temperature, and battery
  • View download speed, upload speed, amount of transfered data per network connection and per process
  • Find locked files and DLL
  • Can replace Windows Task Manager

Installation:

Installation is pretty straightforward. Users should pay attention to the installation process as it will try to install another software called Registry Cleaner Pro on the system which is probably something that the user does not want.

The program will automatically start a configuration wizard after installation that can be used to configure some of the program's features like hardware monitoring in the system tray or displaying additional control at the top of every window.

A click on Help > Enter Registration Key is necessary to complete the registration of the program. The values on the form are prefilled and a click on the OK button will register the product.

Positive

  • Provides extensive information
  • Security ratings
  • Software and hardware monitoring

Negative

  • Interface looks messy

Verdict:

Anvir Task Manager is a sophisticated task manager replacement that offers many of additional information and options. It can be downloaded for free at the Giveaway of the Day website. The developer website is available here.


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