═══ 1. What is Process Manager ═══

Process Manager version 2.0 

Process Manager is an OS/2 2.x 32 bit presentation manager program that can 
show the properties of running processes. Processes (the programs running in 
your system) can be switched to, manipulated (maximize, minimize, restore, 
hide), closed or killed. 

Caution: you can do some unusual things to your system with Process Manager 
(see 'close' and 'kill'). 


═══ 2. How to install Process Manager ═══

You can put the Process Manager program file (PROCMAN.EXE) anywhere you like on 
your system. PROCMAN.EXE is the only file you need for it to work properly. 
Process Manager will try to save it's position on the screen in a PROCMAN.INI 
file. If it can not do that, Process Manager will be positioned in the lower 
left corner, each time it is started. You can start Process Manager from the 
command line or with an object in the Workplace Shell desktop. 


═══ 3. Process Manager's features ═══

This is what Process Manager looks like. Directly beneath the titlebar a list 
is shown of all running processes Process Manager can find. Pid stands for 
process identifier. This identifier is displayed in hexadecimal (XXh) and 
decimal (XXd) notations. These numbers can be used by other programs (for 
example, go.exe, written by Carsten Wimmer). 


═══ 3.1. Refresh ═══

* refresh 

Refreshes the list of running processes instantly. You must use this button 
when the operating system has managed to close and start a program so very fast 
that Process Manager did not notice it. 


═══ 3.2. Details ═══

* details... 

This will show you a lot about a process (not everything, sadly). This 
includes: the process identifier, a session identifier, the visibility (that 
is, is the window visible or not). Also, the program handle is included, the 
window handle, and an icon handle, if the handle used by the program is 
extracted from the *exe file. 


═══ 3.3. Manipulate ═══

* manip... 

This button will show you this dialog 

which contains a lot of features that allow you to do a lot of things to the 
window of a process that you - sometimes - normally can not do. You can also 
send or post messages to the program. Process Manager simply issues a 
WinSendMsg or a WinPostMsg API call, respectively, to do this. As you can see 
in the picture above, the desktop is the window in question that is about to be 
manipulated. Size and move both send WM_SYSCOMMAND messages to the window as if 
these commands were chosen from the system menu. The Z-order, position and size 
of a window are changed by Process Manager by use of WinSetWindowPos. The same 
accounts for the maximize, minimize, hide and restore buttons. 


═══ 3.4. Switch to ═══

* switch to 

A process can be activated by pressing this button, or double clicking the 
process name in the list. 


═══ 3.5. Close and kill ═══

Now we come to the - more or less - dangerous part of the program! 

* close 

This button will send an WM_CLOSE message to the selected processes using 
WinSendMsg. You can visualize this with someone (the operating system) who 
nicely asks another person (the application that you want to be closed) to stop 
with whatever that person is doing. 

* kill 

Kill process will terminate a process without notifying this process from doing 
so. This may result in a loss of unsaved data (i.e. a text in a wordprocessor). 
Processes will be terminated using the OS/2 API call DosKillProcess. If the now 
box is ticked, kill will eliminate the process without asking you if you are 
sure of this action. This can be useful when some process is really clogging 
your system and frees the message queue only occasionally. 

Please be careful with the 'kill' button and 'now' check box. Data loss is bad 
enough, but, for example, if you kill PMSHELL.EXE, your system will hang like 
it has never hung before! 


═══ 3.6. Auto refresh and black-and-white wheel ═══

* auto refresh 

When this check box is not checked, Process Manager will check every 100 ms if 
the number of running processes has changed. If so, the list will be refreshed. 
Of course, if the operating system manages to terminate and start a program 
within 100 ms, Process Manager will not notice and the list will have to be 
refreshed by pressing 'refresh'. The black-and-white wheel next to this check 
box can be used to see whether a process is behaving in a good multithreaded 
fashion. If a process is busy with something in the message-processing thread, 
the wheel will occasionally stop turning. 


═══ 4. Previous versions ═══

Process Manager 1.0, october 1995 


═══ 5. Copyright notices ═══

Process Manager was programmed in C (and a wee tiny bit of C++). 

This program is freeware. It does not cost you a penny, you do not have to send 
me money (if you insist, I can not stop you, of course), all features are 
ENABLED. 

You can, however, make a lonely programmer happy by sending a postcard from 
where you are to me. My mailing address is: Louweshoek 412, 1066 DW, Amsterdam, 
The Netherlands. So maybe this software should be called postcardware. 

The author can not guarantee anything about this program. The author can and 
will not take ANY responsibilities for damage occuring to your system when 
using this program. Sorry. 

If you want to direct any remarks about this program to me, (when you want some 
enhancements, or you've discovered a serious error), please do so on the 
internet: piek@chem.vu.nl. 

Cheers. 

Process Manager version 2.0 -- Copyright (C) December 1996 by Gerard J. Piek. 
Amsterdam, The Netherlands