3.80.2 update

Last night I struggled until 5am to prepare a new update to Process Lasso. It includes some enhancements to the system tray tooltip for English users (other languages coming soon), a fix for certain customized ProBalance settings, indication of hard-coded ProBalance exclusions in the GUI, and a fix for the pane positioning errors (blank/corrupt GUI window).

Regarding the child window positioning errors that could cause a corrupt looking Process Lasso user interface - I finally determined how this was occurring. It was due to the rewrite of the sizing code, and the new ability to hide the graph. Basically, if people tweaked the pane positions around, then changed the main window size .. the result could sometimes be 'out of whack'. It took a specific set of changes to induce this. Typically it would occur if the user maximized the window, reduced the graph size, then restored the window. For some unlucky people, who wanted to tweak the pane positions in a particular way, they'd always encounter this. For the majority of other people, they'd never see this problem. I can tell you that from now on I'll be resizing these panes every which way, and resizing the window in every conceivable fashion during my testing ;o.

For now, I've just forced these pane positions to reset when the main window size changes. Don't worry, for all those who want their pane positions remembered, I will have a proper fix in v3.80.3. I simply had to have a reliable build that didn't have this annoying issue - that was the top priority.

I don't know how many users encountered this, but it doesn't 'sit well' with me to think that people evaluating the product ended up with a corrupt looking user interface. Sure, they could have used the View menu option 'Reset window positions' to fix it, but they didn't know that. This could have ruined the entire Process Lasso 'empire' .. a simple mistake to some window sizing code because I wanted to be sure to preserve relative pane sizes and positions upon main window resize. In other words, I wanted a tweaked user interface to have its tweaked state preserved even when the main window size changes. Previous versions worked like this, and v3.80.3 will again behave this way.

Yes, since I use straight C++, I must do all this painful window resizing code myself. If I used a high level language, or other abstraction layer, it'd all be done for me. However, the GUI would eat up considerably more resources. I hope my users appreciate the slim product in the end, and its worth it.

Did you see this user interface anomaly in v3.80 and v3.80.1? I'd love to know how many people actually saw it. Did you NOT see it? I'd even more love to hear from those who DIDN'T see it, lol.

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Process Lasso v3.80 goes final

A couple days ago I released v3.80 final, after one more round of testing and a couple little bug fixes. I've have this beta series under development for more than 3 months, mostly due to the extremely large number of changes. This week, I finally said - 'Its done'. Sure, there inevitably be some minor updates to polish this or that, but its a solid build with great new features. Most of the new features I've listed in previous postings, but here is a quick rehash and a few things not previously mentioned:

1. New 'Active processes' tab with horizontal bar graphs reflecting CPU utilization. This new view has the same context menu items as the 'all processes' view and double clicking a process will take you to its entry in the 'All processes' list.
2. New 'Hide graph' button to quickly and easily toggle the visibility of the graph
3. Improved ProBalance reaction time substantially. That means it can 'get to' and out-of-control process faster than ever before. In some cases, this may mean the difference between a few second stall and no stall at all.
4. Improved Gaming mode, which now enters the High Performance power scheme.
5. Better window positioning on low resolution devices, and better window pane sizing
6. For those few users who run Process Lasso in 'Highest Rights' mode under Vista/Win7, there is now an option to have UAC elevation prompt(s) shown to you at login, instead of having Windows Defender block Process Lasso's automatic startup.
7. Safety mechanism added to revert any changes to the active power scheme in case the governor (or whole PC) suffered from an improper shutdown
8. SO MUCH MORE...

I recommend everyone check this build out ;). Next on the agenda is a long overdue update to PECompact. It will be nice to be able to relax on Process Lasso for a while, after such intensive development. You must remember, the overhead with Process Lasso is increasing substantially. I now have to create many different editions of the product, ensure proper support of many different languages, and ensure quality control. Needless to say, its more manual labor than it used to be. I am getting a bit overwhelmed with it all, but will continue to strive for excellence.

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New features of 3.80 shown in images

The last couple hours I've been working on product documentation, adding the new v3.80 features to the existing documentation. Here are a few of the images for the new 'Active processes' tab documentation.

The same old context menu for SINGLE or MULTIPLE process selection menu is available.



Double click a process in the 'Active processes' tab to go to that process in the 'All processes' tab.


Right-click on the tab or listview header to select columns shown in the 'Active processes' tab, just as with the 'All processes' tab.

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v3.79.15 beta being released - nearly to v3.80

Tonight I am uploading v3.79.15. In it I have completed many of the remaining chores on my todo list. The new 'Active Processes' listview now has selectable columns by right-clicking on either its tab, or its listview header. Further, the column sizes and positions are remembered, as are their visibility state. The same capabilities already existed for the 'All processes' listview, they just needed implementing for the 'Active processes' tab.

Further, I've made improvements to gaming mode and completed other items on my 'todo' list. From a feature stand-point, we are finally ready to really start the testing phase. Yes, I'm aware that in theory feature incomplete builds should be alphas, but its simpler to just use the term 'beta', as many users don't know the difference.

So.. welcome to the future. Version 3.80 is coming soon. I can't wait to get it out, but also can't rush it. After all, version 3.70 isn't bad at all - it does its job just fine. It just doesn't have some of the slick UI enhancements of v3.80.

I've got a roadmap all the way to version 4.0. There will introduce lots of new features and UI improvements. The future looks good for Process Lasso. I wish I could disclose all these plans, but they are 'top secret' for the time being. You will have to wait and see ;).

Thanks again to all my loyal users, without whom I wouldn't have the impetus to continue working on Process Lasso. Money never motivated me. Knowing that users appreciate my software will always be the driving force behind continued development.

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MagicJack users find Process Lasso ends call garble

Months ago I heard that Process Lasso was gaining popularity with MagicJack users (a mass-marketed VOIP service). Apparently it eliminates call garble by preventing background applications from interfering with the MagicJack process. I imagine similar services, including Skype, will also benefit from Process Lasso's ProBalance. This is yet another great use for Process Lasso ;).

Recently, I came across a forum posting about use of Process Lasso by MagicJack customers. So, I figured I'd go ahead and mention it here in the developer blog: Link to MagicJack forum

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Clearing up misconceptions...

Continuing from the last blog post, we'll move into clearing up some common misconceptions. These misconceptions affected the reviewer at CNET, and are therefore now getting propagated more widely. It takes a geek to truly understand Process Lasso, and that is one area I'm now working to fix by explaining things more clearly and with less jargon. I am glad I was made aware of these misconceptions.

Even though the new CNET review of Process Lasso was positive and recommended the software, the reviewer did not understand (or mention) the primary feature - ProBalance. The reviewer further was confused by the graph legend not being shown, because it auto-hid, but that's another subject and mentioned in the previous post.

Note that the older review of Process Supervisor (Process Lasso's old name) was also glowing AND properly described the software. It also gave it a 4 star rating, instead of a 3.5. I think it would be appropriate to simply switch to this older, more accurate review.

Anyway, I have made requests for them to update their review. I am hopeful that once these matters are cleared up, and they will give Process Lasso at least 4 stars. I suppose I should just be thankful the reviewer found it made such a difference in system performance, but the issue is that the understandably misinformed review is confusing users. I made my request politely, to ensure I don't piss off the 'editor'. After all, he or she did help me to see the product from a different perspective.

This misinformed review did help to me more clearly see some common misconceptions about Process Lasso. So, let's start clearing them up. I may add to this list as time passes.

Misconception #1: Process Lasso needs to be tweaked for your specific computer
Process Lasso is designed so that it operates well on any system without ANY configuration changes. You simply need to let Process Lasso's ProBalance do its thing - automatically lowering priorities of certain processes under specific conditions. There is no need to change any settings at all. Could you theoretically get a little more responsiveness out of your PC by changing Process Lasso settings? Yes.. but the additional gains would be marginal and it would require an expert and lots of trial and error to know what changes are appropriate for your specific PC. Therefore, its best to not make any changes - play it safe. This way, you know you get the benefits of ProBalance and can be sure of no harmful side-effects induced by inappropriate configuration changes.

Misconception #2: A user needs to set default priorities on their processes to rank their importance.
NO, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS. The idea isn't to reprioritize all your processes, rating them in importance to you. Doing that is risky and harmful to your PC performance. Just let Process Lasso do its job, UNLESS you know what you are doing.

Misconception #3: Process Lasso is only for geeks
No, its for anyone. Most people should simply install it and 'forget about it'. It'll be there, doing its job. Its interface may seem technical, but you don't ever have to use its interface. It just works.

Misconception #4: Process Lasso is only for older computers
While it may be true that older computers get the most benefit from Process Lasso, but Process Lasso is helpful to even brand new 'top of the line' PCs. Additionally, its extra features are quite handy for anyone (such as anti-sleep processes and High Performance Power processes). Those with a lot of CPU cores may also enjoy the default CPU affinty feature, where they can limit programs to specific CPUs - keeping the others free for use by other processes.

Lastly, I give a toast to 2010 and a hope for a good year of continued innovation here at Bitsum Technologies!

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