If you have some problems in the use of TaskInfo and AbpMon, this page would help you. You will know more about the programs and get answers to your questions. Please read this page carefully before contacting the author. However, if you couldn't resolve your problems, discovered some bugs or want to give some suggestions on how to improve the programs, contact the author.

Some questions are common for both programs, and this page contains such questions and answers to them. However, some questions are particular and separeted to different pages: TaskInfo FAQ and AbpMon FAQ. Please carefully read these pages too.

General questions

Q: Windows System Monitor and all the other monitors I've used always show high CPU usage, around 75% to 90%, while there are no critical processes. When starting Windows, utilization displayed in other monitors shows about 25% with nothing running. That number gradually goes up permanently from 75 to 90% as other programs are opened and closed. However, TaskInfo and AbpMon actually displays the CPU usage I would expect, which is 1% to 2% when nothing is running. What's wrong?

A: It's an old bug in all Windows 9x/ME code that collects statistics about CPU usage. SysMon and many other third-party applications encounter such problems and show invalid CPU usage, while TaskInfo and AbpMon show CPU usage correctly. Microsoft confirmed this problem some time ago. For more information, see the following topics: this and this.

Q: What are system requirements for TaskInfo and AbpMon?

A: Both TaskInfo and AbpMon can be used on virtually any PC with any Windows system starting from Windows 95 and NT 4.0 (Windows 3.x and NT 3.x are not supported). The programs don't require a poweful CPU nor large physical memory, so Pentium 100 MHz with 32 Mb RAM is enough.

Q: What are the differences between TaskInfo and AbpMon? Is AbpMon just restricted version of TaskInfo? Is there any functionality that is present in AbpMon but is not included in TaskInfo? What program is more suitable for me?

A: In general words AbpMon is a restricted version of TaskInfo. It contains only the following features of TaskInfo:

• Graphbar with system information graphs (but it shows the same types of values that in TaskInfo)
• Restart/shutdown and force restart/shutdown system commands
• Free physical memory commands
• Customizable alerts on low system resources

All other features (list of processes, system information in text form etc.) are present in TaskInfo only.

The only feature that is present in AbpMon and not included in TaskInfo - the main window of AbpMon with system information graphs is a dockable toolbar on desktop. You may place it on desired place on desktop as any other dockable toolbar or system taskbar, and it won't be hidden by other windows. But you can't do the same with graphbar of TaskInfo. For more information please read the products comparison table.

However, in the most cases TaskInfo is used by people that want complete system information with details about each process in text form etc., while AbpMon is a simple tool that allow people to see current system resources in graphical form only, and perform some commands like system restart, free operating memory etc. If you don't know what program is more suitable for you, just download and install them both and evaluate for free within 30 days.

Q: Can I run both TaskInfo and AbpMon on the same PC at the same time?

A: Yes. Remember that you must have administrative rights under Windows NT/2000/XP to install the programs.

Q: Are there any differences in system information provided by TaskInfo and AbpMon under different Windows systems?

A: Yes, there are such differences. Some system information (like CPU usage and amount of memory) is available under any Windows system, while some other values are available under Windows 9x/ME and not available under Windows NT/2000/XP and vice-versa. In the help included with TaskInfo (called with F1 key) you can read availability comments for all system information values, for example: "Available under Windows 2000 only". In any case, if the value is shown when the program is running, the program can measure it.

However, the most important system information is available under any Windows system.

Q: What tools did you use to create TaskInfo and AbpMon?

A: Current versions are compiled using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.