Process Details Page
The Process Details subpage contains a detailed list of properties for a selected process
To open the Process Details subpage
- Select the Spotlight connection in the Spotlight Browser.
-
Click Processes | Processes.
- Select a process to view its details
You can view the information that follows:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
|
Process name |
The image name of the application. This can be used as a parameter in system programs, such as the TASKKILL.EXE command on Windows XP or Windows 2003 systems. |
|
Process ID |
This is unique to each process running on the system, and can be used as a parameter in system programs, such as the TASKKILL.EXE command on Windows XP or Windows 2003 systems. |
|
Memory Usage (MB) |
The current size of the working set of the process. |
|
Virtual Memory Size (MB) |
The current memory allocated to this process that cannot be shared with other processes. |
|
Virtual Address Space (MB) |
The current size of the total address space of the process. Note: A process is limited to 2GB of address space no matter how much free RAM may be available. |
|
Processor % |
The percentage of CPU time that the process is currently consuming. This is an instantaneous result. |
|
CPU User Mode % |
The percentage of CPU time that the process is currently consuming in user mode. (User mode is a restricted processing mode designed for applications, environment subsystems, and integral subsystems.) |
|
CPU Kernel Mode % |
The percentage of CPU time that the process is currently consuming in privileged mode. (Privileged mode is designed for operating system components and allows direct access to hardware and all memory.) |
|
Elapsed Time |
How long it has been since the process was started. |
|
User |
The owner of the process on a Windows Server machine (for example, Windows 2000 Advanced Server or Windows Server 2003). |
|
Process Affinity |
For systems with multiple CPUs, this shows the CPUs that are permitted to run the current process. Process Affinity Dialog |
|
Services |
The services (if any) associated with the current process. |
|
Handles |
The overall number of resources that the process currently has open. A handle is a value used to uniquely identify a resource so that a process can access it. |
|
Threads |
The number of active threads in the process. A thread is a process execution unit. |
|
Priority |
The priority of the process. Process priorities range from 1 to 31, and are dependant upon what the process is currently executing. Processes started in "Real Time" mode run with a priority of 16 to 31, whereas processes with "High", "Normal" or "Low" settings run in a priority range of 1 to 15. |
|
Page Faults/s |
An instantaneous view of how many page faults are occurring for the process. |
|
Reads/s |
Shows the number of IO reads (such as hard disk reads and memory reads) being performed by the process. |
|
Writes/s |
Shows the number of IO writes (such as hard disk writes and memory writes) being performed by the process. |
|
IO/s |
Shows the number of IO accesses (such as hard disk reads and writes and memory reads and writes) being performed by the process. |
Process History Page
The Process History subpage of the Processes drilldown opens when you click a process in the table (grid) in the Processes page, and then click the Process History tab.
This page shows the recent activity of the selected process in a series of related charts. By default, the charts in the Process History page now record data from the time that Spotlight on Windows was started.
To open the Process Details page
- Select the Spotlight connection in the Spotlight Browser.
-
Click Processes | Processes.
- Select a process to view its details.
- Click Process History
Charts on the Process History subpage
Notes:
- Every chart has a legend (list of symbols) to its right that describes the various series (line graphs) on the chart.
- Click an item in the legend to highlight its series (line) in the chart. Click a second time to return the series to its normal appearance.
- Move the mouse pointer over an item in the legend to view the current value for that series within the chart.
| Chart | Description |
|---|---|
| Processor |
Shows the percentage of Privileged and User Time. High Privileged time means that the program is predominantly busy accessing resources through operating system requests. High User time means that the program is predominantly CPU-bound with the program code itself. |
| Read/Writes |
Reads / Second — Shows the rate of IO reads (such as hard disk reads and memory reads) being performed by the process. Writes / Second — Shows the rate of IO writes (such as hard disk writes and memory writes) being performed by the process. |
| Memory |
Shows the current memory allocated to the selected process. Memory Usage — Shows the current size of the working set of the selected process. The working set is the set of memory pages touched recently by the threads in the process. Virtual Memory Size — Shows the current size of the memory allocated to this process that cannot be shared with other processes. |
| Page Faults | Shows the number of page faults being generated by the program. A consistently high value may indicate a lack of memory. However, this metric includes both soft and hard page faults; as such, there may be no associated problems. |
Note: The time frame displayed in the charts will depend on the historical settings you have chosen. See History Browser for more information.
Process Threads Page
The Process Threads sub-page of the Processes drilldown opens when you click a process in the table (grid) in the Processes page, and then click the Process Threads tab.
This page shows current information about the threads that execute the selected process, including:
To open the Process Details subpage
- Select the Spotlight connection in the Spotlight Browser.
-
Click Processes | Processes.
- Select a process to view its details.
- Click Process Threads.
You can view the information that follows:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
|
Instance |
The instance name of the thread. |
|
Thread ID |
The unique identifier of the thread. |
|
% CPU |
The percentage of CPU elapsed time that the thread has used in order to execute instructions. |
|
% User |
The percentage of elapsed time that the thread has spent executing code in user mode. |
|
% Kernel |
The percentage of elapsed time that the thread has spent executing code in privileged mode. |
|
Elapsed time |
The total elapsed time the thread has been running. |
|
Switches/sec |
The rate of switches from one thread to another. |
|
Thread state |
The current state of the thread (Ready, Running or Waiting). |
|
Thread Wait Reason |
This is applicable only when the thread is in the Waiting state, and shows the reason why the thread is waiting. |
Services Page
The Services page shows details of Windows services on the current system.
To open the Services page
- Select the Spotlight connection in the Spotlight Browser.
-
Click Processes | Services.
The Services table contains the following information.
Notes:
- Not all of these columns will be visible by default. To view hidden columns, right-click a column heading and choose Organize Columns... from the shortcut menu.
- To hide or show the tree structure of the grid, right-click the grid and choose Hide Tree or Show Tree from the shortcut menu.
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
|
Service |
This shows the name of the service or driver as reported to the system. The "tree bar" to the left of the names is a dependency tree, showing all services or drivers that depend on the particular service. |
|
Display name |
The "friendly" name of the service or driver. |
|
Start up |
This shows how the service acts on Windows start:
|
|
Service type |
Shows what type of program this is. |
|
Current state |
Shows what the current status is of the service or driver. The status can be Running, Not Running or Paused. |
|
Controls accepted |
Identifies what can be done with a service or driver. This information is only available for currently running or paused services. |
|
Running PID |
The ID of the process associated with the current service (if any). |
|
Process path name |
The location of the service executable file. |