As a free utiltiy from Michael Burns, there are no warranties implied or otherwise that this software will function on a given machine. TURN ON WORD WRAP (in the Notepad EDIT menu) TO DISPLAY THIS FILE. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to use Task Terminator Task Terminator is designed as a simple, yet powerful, extension beyond the normal Windows Task Manager, that window that pops up when you hit Ctrl-Alt-Del. Instead of merely showing the running tasks visible from the desktop, plus a few tasks with hidden windows, it shows and allows you to terminate all of the running tasks on your machine. Task Terminator works basically like the Windows Task Manager does. You select the task you want to terminate, and then hit the "End Task" button. If you don't want to terminate any tasks, hit "Cancel". If you want to shut down the machine, hit the "Shutdown" button. Task Terminator contains a checkbox called "Do not display Folders and Desktop Tasks" which will suppress displaying tasks and folders visible to the desktop. In general, when this box is checked Task Terminator will suppress displaying Windows and Folders visible on your desktop (including minimized folders and tasks). When this box is unchecked, Task Terminator will display all running Windws it can find, even hidden Windows. The default is for this box to be checked, so that only hidden Windows tasks are visible. Task Terminator also contains a checkbox called "Display all running processes by file name." If this box is checked, then rather than list Windows and Folders, Task Terminator lists all of the running tasks on the PC by File Name. Depending on the processes, there may be multiple instances of the same file executing on your PC. In its normal display mode, Task Terminator will kill the instance you highlighted only, not all processes executing from the same file. If you run Task Terminator in command line mode, it will kill all processes executing from the same file. Task Terminator also contains a checkbox labeled "Terminate task with extreme prejudice." If this box is checked, rather than make a directed request to the task to terminate, Task Terminator commands the Windows kernel (the Windows master control program) to simply halt the program and unload it from memory. In general, you should first see if Task Terminator can end the task without this box checked, as having the Windows kernel nuke the program means it is terminated without it being allowed to unallocate the memory and system resources it was using. This can result in memory leaks and locked resources which will not become available for use by other programs until the next time Windows reboots.. Task Terminator can be run from a command line, such as in a DOS window. The form is TaskT.exe string or TaskT.exe string #P# or TaskT.exe string #L# or TaskT.exe string #P# #L# or TaskT.exe string #L# #P# (or TaskT.exe string #L##P# or TaskT.exe string #P##L# or TaskT.exe string #L#P# or TaskT.exe string #P#L# ) where string is the identifying string associated with the task you want to terminate, #P# tells Task Terminator to terminate the task with extreme prejudice as described above, and #L# means Task Terminator is to interpret string literally, and only terminate the task whose entire name is string rather than all tasks whose name contains string. There are two ways you can determine what string should be. The first is to make string be something associated with a tasks Window. The second is to make string simply be the tasks file name. Task Terminator will assume you want string to be a file name if string ends with "exe", "com", or "dll". In the case of terminating by file name, string is not case sensitive and the #L# is meaningless as Task Terminator will insist the file name be complete or else it won't do anything. To get an idea of what string should be for a specific Window when terminating by Window (as opposed to by file name), try running the program and then start Task Terminator, and see how Task Terminator identifies the program's Window. Remember to uncheck the "Do not display Folders and Desktop Tasks" box so that you can see all of the tasks. If a partial string is used, then all tasks whose Windows contain that string will be terminated. For example, most browsers display their name along with the description of the web page they are currently displaying, e.g. "Google - Mozilla Firefox" if you are viewing Google's Home Page. This allows one to type in a DOS window, "TaskT.exe Firefox" to terminate all copies of Firefox. If you only wanted to terminate tasks which have Googlet in their titles, you would use "TaskT.exe Google". If for example, you had two Firefox browsers open, one Google's Home Page so its window title was "Google - Mozilla Firefox" and one to the Advanced Search page on Google's site, so its window title was "Google Advanced Search - Mozilla Firefox", then TaskT.exe Firefox would kill both "Google - Mozilla Firefox" and "Google Advanced Search - Mozilla Firefox" windows TaskT.exe Advanced would kill the "Google Advanced Search - Mozilla Firefox" window but not the "Google - Mozilla Firefox" window TaskT.exe Firefox #L# would not kill either window TaskT.exe Google #L# would not kill either window TaskT.exe Google - Mozilla Firefox #L# would kill the "Google - Mozilla Firefox" window but not the "Google Advanced Search - Mozilla Firefox" window The parameter string is not case sensitive. In other words, "TaskT.exe Firefox", "TaskT.exe FIREFOX", and "TaskT.exe FiReFoX" are equivalent if you are having Task Terminator terminate by Window. If you are having it terminate by file name, "TaskT.exe Firefox.exe", "TaskT.exe FIREFOX.EXE", and "TaskT.exe FiReFoX.eXe" are equivalent. This command line feature allows one to use the Microsoft Task Scheduler to run Task Terminator at a prescribed time to terminate a task. To do this, use the Microsoft Task Scheduler to run Task Terminator at the time you desire. If Task Terminator does not show up in the list of tasks the scheduler knows about, use the "Browse" button to locate Task Terminator (default directory is C:\Program Files\TaskTerminator). Once you have scheduled Task Terminator to run at the desired time and interval, we need to tell it what it is to terminate. In the Microsoft Task Scheduler, highlight the scheduled Task Terminator, and right click. Select Properties. In the "Run" box will be the path to Task Terminator in quotes. For a default installation, this will be "C:\Program Files\TaskTerminator\Taskt.exe" OUTSIDE the trailing quote, put the identifying string of the task you want terminated, so it is of the form (for a default installation) of "C:\Program Files\TaskTerminator\Taskt.exe" string For example, if the idea was to schedule the termination of all copies of Firefox, the Run box would be "C:\Program Files\TaskTerminator\Taskt.exe" Firefox After Task Terminator is run in command mode, it terminates itself once it sees there are no more tasks which fit the termination criteria. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Release Notes: 'v1.3.19 Released January 27, 2008 '1. Recognition of 64-bit versions of Windows. '2. Compiler upgrade. '3. Update check modified for post-ZeaSoft erra. '4. Links to ZeaSoft site updated to MichaelBurns.net site '5. Google search on a displayed process. "Display all running processes by file name." state only. ' 'v1.3.18 Released August 25, 2004 '1. Fixed minor bug where it could display as a process part of an a system ' information response. '2. Added multi-language support to installer. '3. More efficient compression in installer. ' 'v1.3.17 Released April 5, 2004 '1. Windows 2003 Server OS identification added. '2. Added secondary OS determination scheme. ' 'v1.3.16 Released July 29, 2003 '1. The exe file display mode filters out the kernel and ttask exe's. ' 'v1.3.15 Released July 4, 2003 '1. Added advanced display mode where the operating exe files are displayed instead of ' the Dialog title. ' 'v1.3.14 Released May 8, 2003 '1. Minor bug fix with task list display. ' 'v1.3.13 Released May 2, 2003 '1. Checks for internet connections if WINNET installed on PC before ' allowing network required menu slections. '2. Checks for internet connections if WINNET installed on PC before ' allowing check for updates. '3. Preserves checkbox state from run-to-run. ' 'v1.3.12 Released Feb 27, 2003 '1. Minor bug fix where Task Terminator could hang on some systems. '2. Added Amazon Payment. ' 'v1.3.11 Released Dec 14, 2002 '1. Fixed bug where task privilege was not always raised sufficiently for ' NT, 2000, XT system shutdown ' 'v1.3.10 Released June 23, 2002 '1. Made version check more robust at restoring the original application window. Really a ' fix to deal with improperly configured PC's. ' 'v1.3.9 Released March 17, 2002 '1. Made version check more robust against false "new version" alerts. Really a ' fix to deal with improperly configured PC's. ' 'v1.3.8 Released Feb 26, 2002 '1. Menu item added to allow a priori enabling and disabling of the automatic ' update check feature. '2. When the built-in help is activated, Task Terminator no longer insists om ' being the top Window. '3. When the "Click here to visit http://www.ZeaSoft.com" is activated, ' Task Terminator no longer insists on being the top Window. '4. Additional under-the-hood mechanism used to gently terminate tasks ' when the prejudice checkbox is not set. '5. Improved automatic update check message to let the user know what the new version ' is that was released. ' 'v1.3.7 Released Dec 5, 2001 '1. Checkbox added to automatic update check to allow user to permanently turn off ' this feature added. '2. In command line mode, one can specify a switch (#L#) which tells Task Terminator ' to only terminate the process whose name matches the command line string exactly, ' rather than all processes which contain that string in their names. ' 'v1.3.6 Released Nov 11, 2001 '1. Some users reported that batch files self nuke when Task Terminator ' is given a program to kill that is not running. Explicit check is now done ' to prevent Task Terminator from thinking the DOS box created by the batch file ' is that task. ' 'v1.3.5 Released Nov 9, 2001 '1. Multithreading added. Program spawns a thread that attempts to make a ' connection to ZeaSoft to check for a new update. If there is one, it ' informs the user. If no internet connection is present or simply can't ' contact the ZeaSoft website, the check thread quietly terminates. If there ' is an update available, presents the users with the option to go get it. ' 'v1.3.4 Released Nov 2, 2001 '1. Updated program to recognize Windows XP. ' 'v1.3.3 Released July 3, 2001 '1. Cosmetic bug fix. ' 'v1.3.2 Released June 14, 2001 '1. Fixed a bug in the Command Mode where it displayed one of the debugging messages. ' 'v1.3.1 Released June 3, 2001 '1. Fixed the minor annoyance where clicking the terminate with prejudice ' box causes a refresh of the task list, thus losing the selected item. ' 'v1.3 Released May 10, 2001 '1. Added terminate with prejudice option, which bypasses the usual ' Windows method of signaling a task to terminate. Goes for the ' jugular, so to speak. ' 'v1.2.4 Released May 5, 2001 '1. Fixed bug where one of the increased modes was being bypassed in some ' cases. ' 'v1.2.3 Released March 5, 2001 '1. Increased modes of terminating tasks. ' 'v1.2.2 Released Feb 24, 2001 '1. Increased modes of terminating tasks. ' 'v1.2.1 Released Jan 29, 2001 '1. Accomidates bug on some systems where their Windows help engine ' (WinHelp API call) can't find the help file. This help engine ' error, if it occurs at all, occurs only the first time the ' help is used and only if the program was lanched from the Windows ' Start menu. If Task Terminator were started from its directory, ' this error won't happen the first time help is used even on systems ' prone to this WinHelp bug, and it won't happen subsequently even if ' Task Terminator is started from the Windows Start menu. ' 'v1.2 Released Jan 16, 2001 '1. Added the ability to accept the termination string from the ' command line, terminate all tasks which contain the string, ' and exit. '2. Improved self privilige elevation routine for non-command ' line mode. ' 'v1.1 Released Nov 29, 2000 '1. Added the ability to display (or not) visible windows, ' or only allow hidden windows to be displayed. '2. Added online help. '3. Added active links to ZeaSoft. ' 'v1.0 Released Nov 12, 2000 '1. Original Release