I find a lot of use in a program like this because it lets me track down spyware, more specifically the programs running quietly in the background that don’t leave a trace that they’re running except for popup ads and annoying system slowdown. When I sit down at someone else’s computer and see their system infested with spyware and leftover executables from old viruses, this kind of program will help me sniff out what’s running in the background and tie it to an actual executable file somewhere that I can hopefully get rid of for good.
Check it out; PC World describes it like this:
Windows Task Manager tells you what applications and processes are running, but some process names aren’t very clear to the casual reader. Process Explorer helps you get to the bottom of things by digging down to see which application started a process and which resources that app is currently using. This excavation can be a big help when you?re trying to figure out which background processes you dare shut down, and it can even help sniff out spyware, too.
[ http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,23780,tk,hsx,00.asp ]