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It was driving me mad
It was driving me mad. My laptop would sporadically run at 100% CPU utilization and lock up. It defied all attempts at analysis as the PC was seized and I couldn't do anything. Only a hard reboot was possible, but on rebooting the problem was gone.

Eventually I solved it with a superb little utility called Process Tamer, written by "Mouser" over at Donation Coder. Process Tamer is a monitor that watches the CPU utilization of all running processes. Once the usage of a single process gets above a certain level (by default 70%) Process Tamer reduces the usage by lowering the process priority.

It's a simple idea and Process Tamer implements it immaculately. With Process Tamer installed, the next time the problem occurred on my laptop it didn't totally lock up but rather just ran very slowly. This allowed me to do a quick diagnosis. The problem turned out to be simple but non-obvious. Two programs, Diskeeper and X1, had been accidentally scheduled to start at the same time and were getting into an embrace of death. It was unexpected, as these two normally peacefully co-exist. Simply re-scheduling the programs to start at different times solved the problem.

I couldn't have solved the problem as easily without Process Tamer. However Process Tamer has much broader application than just this kind of problem.

It's a great tool for preventing any one program from hogging your processor. Every user has experienced the situation where their PC has been slowed down to the point of being unusable, by a background program such as a desktop search program, that starts and takes all the resources. Process Tamer will stop that from ever happening again.

I was so impressed with Process Tamer that I've permanently installed it on my laptop. It takes only around 6MB of memory space and its own CPU usage is so low I could barely measure it.

Process Tamer is available for free from the Donation Coder site. They use a novel licensing system: you have to register to get a free license key which allows you to download any number of programs on the site. This key lasts six months after which you must return to the site to download another free license key. After a year you are given a permanent license. Alternatively, you can make a once-up donation of any size and get a permanent key straight away. It's a clever and ethical way to encourage users to recognize the work done by freeware authors and I support it fully. I donated generously and I hope you do too.

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Gizmo's Tech Support Alert
Gizmo's Tech Support Alert image

Find and Run Robot (FARR) is a program for keyboard maniacs -- it uses an adaptive "live search" function to rapidly find programs and documents on your computer as you type.

Press your chosen hotkey to display the FARR window, then just start typing the first letters of the application you want to launch and the results appear instantly. Hit enter to launch the top result, or refine your search with special modifiers and commands.

FARR also lets you quickly run web searches, send email, manipulate files, control on-screen windows, and much more. Build and share custom commands or install plugins to add tons of new features, like live search features for your clipboard history and your internet bookmarks; a popup a calculator with history tape and persistent variables; and many more..

KEY FEATURES

  • Ready to run, right out-of-the-box with no configuration needed.
  • The most customizable application of its kind, for those who love to tweak settings.
  • Caches programs you launch for instantaneous repeat searches and adaptive scoring.
  • Comes with dozens of built-in special alias commands that allow you to perform tons of different web searches and other operations.
  • Create and share (xml) alias packs with your friends or download them from our site to add custom commands and menus.
  • Install (open source) plugins to add advanced functionality.
  • A dozen plugins are available at launch time, including a powerful clipboard monitor and searcher; a live calculator with history tape and persistent variables; a bookmark searcher plugin that supports firefox, internet explorer, and opera; plugins to manage running processes, uninstall programs, change the default printer, control external applications, and more.
  • Low system overhead, fully portable and runnable from a USB thumbdrive, and doesn't mess with your registry.
  • Drag+Drop results from the result view; quick right click to access file system properties or advanced functions.
  • No file indices are used, so results are always up to date with minimal memory use.
  • Choose from dozens of skins and customize the fonts sizes of all graphical elements of the user interface, or turn off skins completely and revert to default Windows user interface. Choose between a compact small-icon mode, or an easy-to-read large icon mode.
  • Full directory browsing function with live search filtering -- manually browse and locate the files you are looking for.
  • Customizable toolbar for common functions and operations (optional; with drag+drop support).
  • Automatic updating for main program and plugins (optional).
  • Customize hotkey triggers to launch and perform specific searches, or copy selected text to the clipboard at launch .
  • Fully documented and actively developed with new features being added regularly based on user requests on our forum.
  • Completely free; signup requested and donation recommended -- your donations fund continued development!

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