AstroSkipper

Hello @Andalu! Have a look into this post: https://msfn.org/board/topic/178377-on-decommissioning-of-update-servers-for-2000-xp-and-vista-as-of-july-2019/?do=findComment&comment=1221841 There you find a link to an attachment down below. The link https://www.fileeagle.com/software/470/Process-Explorer/16.26/ doesn't work anymore. Alternatively, you can download it from here: http://process-explorer.findmysoft.com/

Your screenshot was obviously taken from Process Hacker. The System Information window of Process Explorer looks a bit different.

On Windows XP, Process Explorer v16.32 works, but doesn't show the menu bar icons and graphs. Therefore, a less recent version than 16.32 will be more suitable. But unfortunately, Process Explorer doesn't have the above mentioned, additional security features of Process Hacker. BTW, I already wrote about other task managers like Process Explorer: All in terms of security programmes, of course! Process Explorer as a task manager is really good. It's portable and easy to use.

It is very light. No significant CPU load and very little RAM consumption. My computer has a very old single core CPU. So, no problem at all.

Such a startup manager, which controls all startup entries, notifies newly created one, and gives the option to block it, I also consider a security programme. So, it is already on my internal list of security programmes for Windows XP..

FileHippo used to be a good source for old programme versions. Unfortunately, that has changed. What you download there lately are only downloaders. Total crap! I have been avoiding this site for a long time.

My startup manager gives a notification for every newly created startup entry. Trust is good, but control is better.

Right! There are many cases where AV programmes don't warn the user about such strange threats.

Thanks for posting such a typical case! That's a very good example what I meant in terms of security programmes. Finding strange processes is the best everyone can do first. You can't seriously hand over all security tasks blindly to an anti-malware programme or whatever. You have to take a look at what's going on inside a computer yourself.

Yep! We all have our tactics. But Process Hacker is not a normal Task Manager. It provides additional security features I already described sufficiently. And here is your System Information window taken from my installation of the version 2.39: Hitting Ctrl-I and bam, there it is. One additional click on CPU or I/O, you see all further information. Of course, it is not three-in-one but the version 2.39 is much more recent. Always important in terms of fixing old bugs. But as I already said, to each their own!

Observing the background processes, noticing new and possibly malicious threats and getting systray notifications when new drivers or services are installed, all that can be done by Process Hacker. Here is a quotation from Process Hacker's homepage: And here is my assessment: That's what I call a security programme at its best. If you don't know what's going on in your system, you don't need to worry about security and possible measures. Then you will just have to blindly trust other programmes and leave the security of your system to them. I personally would never do that. But, to each their own!

Do you refer to the systray icon(s) or the main programme view when talking about a three-in-one view? In my main programme view, I see all of this information about processes, RAM, and CPU. And I have configured Process Hacker to see two separate icons in my systray, one for used RAM and one for the CPU history.

I presented Process Hacker with a lot of additional information here in my thread. Additionally, I have given my experience and assessment about this programme. Now, I would like to hear from Windows XP users about their experiences and opinions in terms of this programme. So if you should use Process Hacker under Windows XP, feel free to let us know what you think about it! Greetings, AstroSkipper

Right! BTW, quoting Benjamin Franklin and promoting Kaspersky is a contradiction in terms. The poor man would surely turn in his grave if he became aware of the misuse of his words.

I totally agree with your statement. The headline of this topic is crystal clear. Promoting Kaspersky in each and every thread, which has nothing to do with security programmes, is definitely off-topic, propagandistic, annoying, and embarrassing. The desperation must already be pretty great when someone feels compelled to do something like this. The motivation for such behaviour is of course clear, but we leave that to the reader's imagination.

Very interesting! TBH, I wasn't a great social media fan in the past. I do have an old Twitter account, though, but migrating to a German non-profit organisation sounds indeed very good. Especially regarding the circumstance that I am German and located in Germany. Thanks for pointing me to that!

I am still using the official last XP-compatible version Sandboxie 5.22. I checked Sandboxie's compatibility in terms of Windows XP, too. Indeed, the developer David Xanatos compiled a special, last XP-compatible version Sandboxie 5.40 after it had become open source. This version does not need a licence anymore. Here is a download link: https://github.com/sandboxie-plus/Sandboxie/releases/download/v5.40/SandboxieInstall32_xp.exe However, I do have a licence, therefore, I am not really interested in.

Process Hacker 2 Process Hacker is a free, powerful, multi-purpose tool that helps you monitor system resources, debug software and detect malware. The software installs its own driver into the system which significantly expands the search capabilities of the active processes and allows you to detect processes hidden by different viruses and applications. Process Hacker displays processes in a tree structure and divides them into categories that are highlighted in different colors for easier identification. The software offers many possibilities for various actions with processes including viewing detailed information about them and terminating process in different ways to bypass the rootkits and security apps. Process Hacker allows you to view and manage services that can not be displayed in the service console, identify software that has active connections to the network, and receive real-time information about disk access. Also, Process Hacker displays a graph and detailed statistics on the use of the system resources in real time, namely, memory usage, resource consumption of each processor core, reading and writing data. Although the version 2.38 was listed as the last XP-compatible one, the last stable version 2.39 is still compatible with Windows XP (and Vista). Features: Main features: Detection of hidden and malicious processes Termination of any process Display of full statistics processes Display of system performance graphs Viewing services, network connections and disk activity More features are described here: https://processhacker.sourceforge.io/archive/website_v2/features.php Homepage: https://processhacker.sourceforge.io/ Version number: 2.39 (r124) Date of release: 29.03.2016 System requirements: Windows XP SP2)/Vista/7/8/10, 32-bit or 64-bit Release notes: Reviews: https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2018/11/advanced-tools-process-hacker https://download.cnet.com/Process-Hacker/3000-2094_4-10971791.html https://www.pcworld.com/article/457252/review-process-hacker-is-task-manager-on-steroids.html Download links: Installer: https://sourceforge.net/projects/processhacker/files/processhacker2/processhacker-2.39-setup.exe/download https://github.com/winsiderss/systeminformer/releases/download/v2.39/processhacker-2.39-setup.exe Portable: https://sourceforge.net/projects/processhacker/files/processhacker2/processhacker-2.39-bin.zip/download https://github.com/winsiderss/systeminformer/releases/download/v2.39/processhacker-2.39-bin.zip Screenshots: I use Process Hacker since 2010. It's one of the first programmes I usually install in a new Windows system. I always start this programme automatically on Windows start-up. I use Process Hacker to control all loaded processes, services and drivers. One click and I know what is going on in the background of my system. Terminating crashed processes or process trees can be done in a quick and clear way. All services and drivers which are added or deleted will reported via a systray notification. This tool is like an additional security layer besides any antimalware real-time protection. Process Hacker, like Total Commander, is one of the most used programmes in all my Windows systems. I tried a lot of task managers and I know them all. IMHO, Process Hacker is the best of all. Cheers, AstroSkipper

My post "4.2. My essential tools for solving problems in Windows XP — Part 2 — File extractors and packers" containg an article about 7-Zip has been updated now. Thanks again to @UCyborg for the hint!

I do every task such as testing software, downloading files, or surfing the web in my real Windows XP machine. I never had a serious infection. The reason I created this thread was indeed to present, collect and preserve all possible security programmes which are still available for Windows XP to secure such a real machine and protect it against malicious threats.

Of course! Sandboxie belongs to the topic of this thread and is already on my internal list. It was installed in all my Windows XP partitions from the very first. I use the last XP-compatible version 5.22 and I love it. I use it regularly for testing tools I do not trust at first sight. In the past, the best news about Sandboxie was that it no longer required a licence and was declared open source in 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200425220152/https://community.sophos.com/products/sandboxie/f/forum/119641/important-sandboxie-open-source-code-is-available-for-download

:OT I am an experienced Android user for many years. And of course, I use an antivirus app there. On my smartphone and on all tablets. BTW, most of my posts, I write from my tablet as I am doing at the moment :END OF OT

RL comes first. When I have a bit more time, I will update my post, of course. 7-Zip ZS sounds interesting but if not compatible with Windows XP, it is of no use for me on my main desktop computer. Don't forget I am a Windows XP die-hard fan! But I will check it on our Windows 7/10 laptop. In any case, thanks for the information!

I checked the homepage of Spybot - Search & Destroy again, and the last release compatible with Windows XP does indeed appear to be version 2.4. Here is a quote on this from the link posted above to the page with the heading Spybot 2.5 Compatibility:

Hello @Cixert! Thank you for testing! That means the last XP-compatible version 1.6.2 of Spybot - Search & Destroy is now obsolete, and the database can no longer be updated in any way. Right?