List all processes and their current memory & CPU consumption?

Question

How can I get a list of all processes in C# and then for each process current memory and CPU consumption?

Sample code is highly appreciated.

Micromillimeter

Answer 1

The Process class has a GetProcesses method that will let you enumerate the running processes and list a bunch of stats like memory usage and CPU time. Look at the documentation under properties for the stats.

Memory usage is a complex matter. There is really no single number, that describe the usage. Please see Russinovich's excellent series on the matter. The first installment is here: http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2008/07/21/3092070.aspx

Mirador

I know about the class, but I couldn't figure out how to get CPU consumption, or which of the 100 memory related fields actually means the real RAM consumption. – Micromillimeter

Memory usage is a bit complex, but my guess is you probably want to look at PrivateMemory. – Mirador

I guess it depends what you mean by RAM (memory) consumption. Windows stores at least two values for the amount of memory being used by a process. The physical memory in use, and the size of the virtual memory allocated to the process. both are consumption... – Grimona

The various ProcessorTime properties gives you kernel, user and sum for CPU usage. Is that not what you're looking for? – Mirador

Sorry, let me clarify. I'm basically looking for the values that would be in the task manager as well. – Micromillimeter

@kdmurray: it is actually more complex than that. You also have memory mappings shared/private, reserved vs. commit and so forth. – Mirador

Task manager has numerous options for memory usage similar to what the Process class gives you. As for CPU load % I believe there's a performance counter for that, but I am not sure. I'll have a look. – Mirador

I tried experimenting with the performance counter but it doesn't seem to give an immediate read (it takes like a second to read - measurement time?) or i do something wrong, i dont know. – Micromillimeter

Take a look at msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/… for info on performance counters – Mirador

I studied the page earlier today, and it seems way too complex for the task? – Micromillimeter

Well process monitor is a bit complex. If you want to give the user a simplified view of the world, you need to figure out how you want to simplify it. – Mirador

@Micromillimeter To get a explanation of why the performance counter "has a delay" see this old answer of mine where I go in to a little depth of the why. – Pogonia