# I need software recommendations.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-software-recommendations/126149>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 29, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-software-recommendations/126149 "2002-08-29T19:28:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-software-recommendations/126149/1 "2002-08-29T19:28:59Z")

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Can anybody recommend a good utility for monitoring the services on a Win2K server. For some reason some services have taken to crashing at really bad times.

We would be willing to pay for the software but a trial period would be nice.

Thanks for any input.

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**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-software-recommendations/126149/2 "2002-08-29T21:05:16Z")

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I’ve used the freeware system monitoring and performance analysis tools from [Sysinternals](http://www.sysinternals.com) for years with nothing but success. PMon or Process Explorer should let you do what you want.

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**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-software-recommendations/126149/3 "2002-08-29T22:19:24Z")

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I’ve just downloaded Process Explorer and will give it a shot.

I avoided Pmon because I have thing against any ver 1.0 software. I can’t be a guinea pig in a production environment.

Thanks for the recommendation.

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**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-software-recommendations/126149/4 "2002-08-30T02:46:11Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by adam yax \*  
> **I avoided Pmon because I have thing against any ver 1.0 software. I can’t be a guinea pig in a production environment.**

I understand and typically agree. I suspect that the reason Pmon hasn’t been updated is that it’s a pretty simple utility that does its one trick extremely well. It’s been around at v1.0 since 1997, so there’s been plenty of time for any problems to turn up, and I know plenty of developers and testers who use it (and I’ve used it myself) without problems. YMMV, of course. I wouldn’t press the point except that it might actually be a better tool in some respects for what you’re trying to do, or at least a useful adjunct.