Boosting Windows Performance: How to Use Sysinternals & Process Monitor (ProcMon)

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Boosting Windows Performance: How to Use Sysinternals & Process Monitor (ProcMon)

If your Windows PC feels slower than usual, takes too long to boot, or certain programs freeze for no clear reason, Microsoft’s Sysinternals Suite can help you diagnose and fix the root cause. Among these powerful tools, Process Monitor (ProcMon) is one of the most effective for troubleshooting performance issues, startup delays, file access problems, and registry errors.

This guide explains what Sysinternals is, how ProcMon works, and practical ways you can use these tools to make your PC faster and healthier.

What is Sysinternals?

Sysinternals is a collection of advanced troubleshooting and diagnostic tools created by Mark Russinovich and now maintained by Microsoft. These tools help IT professionals and power users understand what is happening inside Windows in real time.

Some of the popular tools include:

  • Process Explorer – Advanced Task Manager

  • Process Monitor (ProcMon) – Live file system, registry, and process activity tracker

  • Autoruns – Shows everything that starts with Windows

  • RAMMap – Analyzes memory usage

  • TCPView – Shows live network connections

  • PsTools – Remote administration tools

The suite is lightweight, portable, and completely free.

Why Use Sysinternals for PC Performance?

Sysinternals gives deep visibility into what slows down your computer, such as:

  • Startup programs that consume CPU/RAM

  • Services running unnecessarily in background

  • Applications constantly accessing disks

  • Registry errors

  • Malware or unknown processes

  • High disk usage (100% usage problem)

These tools don’t directly “speed up” the PC, but they help identify what is causing the slowness, so you can fix it.

Process Monitor (ProcMon): The Most Powerful Diagnostic Tool

ProcMon logs every file, registry, and process activity happening in the system in real time. This makes it ideal for:

  • Detecting slow boot issues

  • Finding which app is causing high CPU or disk usage

  • Troubleshooting application errors

  • Finding missing DLL files

  • Tracking malware behavior

  • Monitoring installation activity

How to Use ProcMon (Step-by-Step)

1. Download ProcMon

You can download Sysinternals Suite directly from Microsoft by searching “Sysinternals Suite download”.

Extract the files → run Procmon.exe (no installation needed).

2. Start Capturing System Activity

When ProcMon opens, it starts capturing events automatically.

You will see thousands of events per second:

  • Process operations

  • Registry reads/writes

  • File operations

  • Thread starts

  • Network activity

This raw data is huge, so the real power is in filters.

3. Use Filters to Narrow Down the Issue

Go to:

Filter → Filter…

Some common filters:

A. Slow Boot Troubleshooting

Filter:

  • Operation contains RegQueryValue

  • Process Name is svchost.exe

  • Duration is greater than 0.1

You can identify services taking too long to start.

B. High Disk Usage

Filter:

  • Operation is ReadFile / WriteFile

  • Duration > 0.05

  • *Path contains C:*

You will find which application is hitting the disk repeatedly.

C. App Not Opening / Crashing

Filter:

  • Process Name is appname.exe

  • Result contains NAME NOT FOUND

This shows missing DLLs or registry keys causing the error.

D. Find What Slows the PC

Filter:

  • Duration > 0.05

  • Result = SUCCESS

Sorted by duration → highest delay events will show the root cause.

Using Autoruns to Speed Up Your PC

Another Sysinternals tool — Autoruns — is extremely effective for improving PC performance.

You can find:

  • Startup apps

  • Scheduled tasks

  • Services

  • Browser add-ons

  • Drivers

  • Background processes

How to Use Autoruns to Speed Up PC

  1. Open Autoruns.exe

  2. Go to Logon tab

  3. Uncheck unwanted startup apps

  4. Go to Services tab

    • Disable unnecessary third-party services

  5. Restart the PC

Your boot time will become faster instantly.

Using Process Explorer (Advanced Task Manager)

Process Explorer helps you identify:

  • Which process uses high CPU

  • Which app loads the GPU

  • Which service belongs to which process

  • Suspicious or unknown processes

You can right-click a process → Properties → view:

  • Performance graphs

  • Threads

  • Handles

  • DLLs

Practical Tips to Make Windows Faster Using Sysinternals

✔ Disable unnecessary startup apps using Autoruns

✔ Find slow processes using Process Explorer

✔ Use ProcMon to identify long-duration events

✔ Detect faulty drivers

✔ Identify apps causing high disk usage

✔ Detect malware using signature verification

✔ Trace installation issues

✔ Monitor network connections with TCPView

By identifying the real bottleneck, you can fix the problem instead of guessing.

Conclusion

Sysinternals and Process Monitor are some of the most powerful free tools for Windows troubleshooting. With ProcMon filters, Autoruns optimization, and Process Explorer insights, you can:

  • Speed up your PC

  • Reduce startup time

  • Fix unknown errors

  • Detect high CPU/RAM usage

  • Improve system stability

Whether you are an IT professional or a regular user, these tools give you deep visibility inside your system so you can maintain your PC like a pro.

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