
Process Commander!

This is the officially supported FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions for Process Commander by Stardock Systems. 

This file contains all available text. It may take some time to be loaded completely. This page is intended to be used to save an ASCII version (Netscape: Save
As... text) or to print all information. You are invited to put links on this page but please do not copy this file to other Web-sites. 

An Hypertext version of this file is also available.

Last modified on: 01.12.97

What is Process Commander? 

Process Commander is software package developed by Stardock Systems and the developers of WatchCat (Felix von Normann and Thomas Opheys) to improve system stability and monitor system activities. 

What the are different components of Process Commander? 

The components include: 

     Process Commander PM: An easy to use process management tool that allows users (both novice and  experienced) to manage their OS/2 resources at great detail (from shared memory to thread priority to semaphores). Has a dynamic interface for end users as well as experts. 

 Process Commander Server: A new server which mode can telnet from any computer and even any operating system into Process Commander and kill, shutdown, reboot and in fact do everything you set it up to do. Second, all of the Power Tools below automatically work remotely (the accept a host name), so that you not only can list processes locally with "ps" but also remotely by calling "ps hostname:". 

  Process Commander Power Tools (command line tools) A complete set of command line tools that offer all of the power of Process Commander
     including: 
          BREAKPT.exe: This tool can be used to "Enhanced Kill" / brutal kill a process. 
          DUMPENV.exe: A tool which lets you display the environment strings for any running process 
          ESHELL.exe: Emergency Shell. When you press this hot key, a full-screen shell is opened. If you want another program to pop up, just set the environment variable "ESHELL" to the full path to the executable in your CONFIG.SYS. 
          FGSERVER.exe: This tool is to set the priority of a process or thread to foreground server. 
          IDLE.exe: This tool is to set the priority of a process or thread to idle. 
          KILL.exe: This tool can be used to kill a process or thread. A true kill -9 power tool. 
          LOCKUP.exe: This is a keyboard/system lockup program. 
          NORMAL.exe: Set the priority of a process or thread to normal. 
          NUMLOCK.exe: This tool can be used to set the NumLock status. 
          PCREBOOT.exe: Reboot the computer. when the system reboots, there is the message "Message from operator: the system is going down NOW." displayed simultaneously in ALL open VIO windows, like  under UNIX where every TTY is warned about the shutdown. 
          PS.exe: Lists all or selected processes and most of the information about them. Views can be freely chosen and columns are automatically and optimally sized. 
          RESUME.exe: Used to resume a thread or process that has been suspended. 
          STUFF.exe: Used to stuff keys into the global keyboard buffer. 
          SUSPEND.exe: Used to suspend a thread or process. 
          TIMECRIT.exe: This tool can be used to make a process or thread time critical. 

     Enhanced Keyboard: This offers the ability to lock the system from the keyboard, and re-map special keys such as the Windows 95 key. We also plan to enable users to remap any key to any other key. For example, remap the Shift and the Ctrl key (swap them). 

     Process Commander Full Screen A full screen version of Process Commander PM. If your system hangs, you simply hit Ctrl+Alt+Del (you can remap this) and Process Commander Full Screen comes up. From here, you can shut down your system, kill a process, go to a command line shell, etc. 

     The Extended Shutdown The Extended shutdown of Process Commander provides a quicker way to shutdown the system. The Enhanced Shutdown also provides a Shutdown Folder. The Enhanced Shutdown is integrated directly into the OS/2 Workplace Shell. 



Q: Does Process Commander run with Warp 4 (alias Merlin)? 

A: Yes. Process Commander runs on Warp 3 an Warp 4. When using Warp 4 Process Commander takes care of the new User Interface style. 


Q: I do have system hangs rarely. What else can I do with Process Commander? 

A: Process Commander is not just a tool to detect and resolve system hangs. The intention of Process Commander is to provide a set of tools that can display
information about processes and manipulate processes. 

Process Commander helps you to maintain the processes running in your system. Process Commander's database gives information about the aim of a process running in your system. The enhanced manipulation facilities lets you kill processes, display low-level information or lets you manipulate them (e.g. by setting
the priority). 

Process Commander has a set of small utilities most users need (the Process Commander Power Tools). 

For power users Process Commander has the ability to run the Power Tools on a remote computer. 

Process Commander has an extended shutdown that makes the shutdown process easier. 


Q: Where can I buy Process Commander? 

A: You can buy Process Commander order it directly from Stardock or anywhere else that sells OS/2 software.


Q: Can Process Commander kill any OS/2 program? 

A: This is a tricky question: Process Commander, on a system that has FixPak17 or greater (including Warp 4), is capable of terminating virtually any running OS/2 program. Note the key word here is running, once a program is processing its exit list it is possible that this program could become unkillable by any OS/2
program including the operating system itself. 


What are the different program termination methods, what exactly do they do, and when should they be used? 

Process Commander supports the following kill mechanisms. 


   Post WM_QUIT
                     PM programs only
                                      Standard way to terminate PM programs
   Forced Exit
                  For use in special situations

 Terminate Application
                 Standard "kill". Use this normally

  Forced Termination
                  brutal but no FixPak required

  Hard Termination
                  FixPak 17 or Merlin required 



To terminate a PM program you can post WM_QUIT. This is not brutal at all. 

If you do not know how to terminate the process use Terminate Application. This is the preferred method, it just "kills" the process. 

However, there are some processes that cannot be ended with Terminate Application. If you know that the program is difficult to kill, try Forced termination or
Hard Termination. Do try the Terminate Application then, because once that method failed all other methods might fail, too. 

Note: This topic is discussed in details in the printed Process Commander manual. 


Q: Can Process Commander solve all system hangs? 

A: Process Commander will help when the PM message queue is blocked, when the PM is in error and many other situations where your OS/2 Warp system has
become instable. 

Process Commander can be activated with Ctrl-Alt-Del then. It offers the ability to detect a hanging Process and a way to kill this process or restart the
Workplace Shell. 


Q: Will Process Commander detect why my system is hanging? 

A: Process Commander offers the ability to analyze the system. This takes a few seconds of work done in the background. Process Commander will detect a hanging
PM program in most cases. 


Q: Can Process Commander automatically detect hangs? 

A: The Process Commander Assistant provides this facility. It is disabled by default. To activate this feature use the Master Setup located in your PC folder. You
can choose to activate PC, to kill the errornous process or display a small emergency menu in case of a system hang. 


Q: Can Process Commander be activated always? 

A: Process Commander can only be activated when your system is "alive". Process Commander is helpless against any kind of hardware hangs. 


Q: How long does it take to activate Process Commander? 

A: Normally Process Commander pops up immediately. However there are some situations where it is difficult for Process Commander to move to the foreground.
In this case Process Commander uses different methods to switch to Fullscreen. You do not need to press Ctrl-Alt-Del again but it takes can take up to 10
seconds until process Commander is activated. 


Q: I feel Quick shutdown and the full screen shutdowns are a little too quick. Are they safe? What do they do? 

A: There are three ways to shutdown with Process Commander: 

     Immediate Shutdown (Ctrl-Alt-F12) or FullScreen PC/Shutdown. (VERY FAST) 
     Quick Shutdown (Very Fast) 
     Enhanced Shutdown (Fast) 

All types of Shutdown will flush the buffers and move all data from the diskcache to the disk. The first method will not save the Workplace Shell Settings (open
folders, etc.). So do not use this method when you have changed you WPS configuration. 

The Quick Shutdown will normally save all settings but it is not garanteed that WPS changes will be written to disk. 

The Enhanced Shutdown is similar to the Standard OS/2 shutdown. In addition it is the only way to shutdown that informs application programs about the fact
that the system is going down.


You can reach Stardock by calling them at 1-800-672-2338 (or 1-888-Stardock).  You can also reach Stardock at 313-453-0328.



