Freeware process viewer analyzer to diagnose XP slowdowns

[Amber]

What is the best freeware process analyzer to diagnose XP slowdowns?

My windows xp computer keeps freezing all day at irregular intervals
roughly about two or three minutes apart. When I use the Ctrl + Alt + Del
Windows Task Manager, I see the graph show the CPU times go through the
roof when the machine freezes up but I don't know how to debug further.

I don't know which process(es) are causing the slowdown. In the Windows
Task Viewer, all I can see is how much memory each uses (which doesn't tell
me which is the culprit).

Besides, I'm not really interested in which processes are running. I'm
trying to find the one process that is causing the machine to periodically
slow down to a crawl (where even the mouse won't move).

Is there a debugging tool that tell us which process is killing the system?

Amber

 

[Alec S.]

What is the best freeware process analyzer to diagnose XP slowdowns?

My windows xp computer keeps freezing all day at irregular intervals
roughly about two or three minutes apart. When I use the Ctrl + Alt + Del
Windows Task Manager, I see the graph show the CPU times go through the
roof when the machine freezes up but I don't know how to debug further.

I don't know which process(es) are causing the slowdown. In the Windows
Task Viewer, all I can see is how much memory each uses (which doesn't tell
me which is the culprit).

That's the default layout. Select View->Select Columns, then pick whatever info
you want to see about them. You can use the CPU Time column to the cumulitve
use of hte CPU for each process; chances are that the one that has the most is
the one causing you grief.

Besides, I'm not really interested in which processes are running. I'm
trying to find the one process that is causing the machine to periodically
slow down to a crawl (where even the mouse won't move).

Is there a debugging tool that tell us which process is killing the system?

Another program is Sysinternal's Process Explorer
(http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.html). It is like Task
Manager on steroids and is free (although it sucks some cycles itself.)