Modules tab restored

I've decided to restore the Modules tab to Process Lasso. It was removed over a year ago as part of a streamlining effort. Now that Process Lasso is increasingly being used as a primary task manager, the decision has been made to restore the Modules tab. This view, for those who don't know, displays modules loaded by the selected process.

This will be found in v3.61.2 beta

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Auto-restart (keep running) feature added

I've added to v3.61.1 beta a feature to keep selected process(es) running, meaning it will restart them if they terminate (or are otherwise not found to be running). There is still some work remaining before this feature is completed, but the core functionality is in place and ready for casual use and testing.

I personally needed this feature for a problematic process on my HP econo-laptop. The process that facilitates the Synaptics touchpad, SynTPEnh.exe, kept silently crashing, causing the scroll bar on the touchpad to cease working. Now, with Process Lasso v3.61 beta, this touchpad helper process is automatically restarted if it crashes.

I have much more planned for this new beta series. There will likely be near daily builds released as my progress continues. Please do not feel compelled to try to keep up with these updates. Remember, if Process Lasso is working well for you there's no reason to upgrade unless you need the newer features.

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Nag screen changes

Hi my loyal Process Lasso users and friends. Yes, that's right, I've made many new friends during this project ;)

I just wanted to let you know that I made what may be an unpopular change to v3.60.6. In this build, I disabled the quick exit from the nag window. So, the user now has to wait for the countdown to finish. However, they can still just drag that nag window out of the way and start using the software immediately. The nag starts after 15 days of product use, and is only 3 seconds at that time. The timer rises to maximum of 10 seconds at 40 days.

I hope this might encourage a few more people to purchase the software. The time I'm spending on Process Lasso is time taken away from PECompact, which generates more revenue because of its high priced commercial licenses. I like working on Process Lasso, so want to increase the customer conversion rate so that working on it is justified by revenue generation. If this change doesn't work, I'll undo it. I'll also still allow the quick exit from the nag dialog on all beta versions, starting with v3.61.1 beta.

The massive overhaul of the product licensing system is still pending. I haven't yet had the confidence to make such massive changes to a system that works well enough for now. I want to have this new system planned very precisely, and confident with every aspect of it, before I go to make the transition.

As always, I am dedicated to allowing FREE use of Process Lasso. Tolerating this occasional nag is the price you may pay for free use of the software. That's why I classify it as Shareware now, to avoid any accusations of dishonesty.

If anyone simply can not afford the software, or has trouble purchasing, email me. I'll give up to 10 free licenses a month, choosing who seems to need them the most. If you can afford a license, please purchase one.

Thanks to my loyal and supportive users, many of whom have taken the time to personally email me about the success they've had with Process Lasso. Others have taken the time to make feature requests or bug reports. Without our users, I wouldn't be motivated to continue developing. For me, it has never been about profits, and always been about doing something positive for the world.

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Process Lasso v3.60.3 released

This minor maintenance release polishes v3.60 and updates the Traditional Chinese translation. Sadly, that is the only language that has been updated. I suspect some translators may simply be busy. Remember, ANYONE can come and easily update a translation, so if you want to see your language updated just follow the instructions here .

I have many plans for the future, but have lately been a bit overwhelmed. I have a bad habit of saying I'll do everything that is ever requested of me. I always try to please as many of my users as I can, but now I have the problem of having too many users to be able to please them all ;o. If you don't see your feature request implemented right away (or at all), please understand that I'm not able to get to everything I would like.

I still haven't made the planned licensing system overhaul, which would remove the often hated nags. The reason for this is because I am scared to make this change. I think the planned new licensing system would be effective, but I just can't be sure of that.. so just keep deferring the change. Furthermore, the nags aren't that bad (are they?). They let people continue freely using the software, and encourage purchases. When I'm sure that removing them won't kill all chance I have of paying my rent, I'll remove them.

Also I should note that the plans to remove the nags all involve removing features from the free version.. so I don't know that this will make users any happier. It will likely just upset a different set of users. It is impossible to please everyone ;(.

Anyway.. back to work. There is always so much to do, it is overwhelming. Thankfully, my automated systems take most of the support load in stride.. but I've still not created any bots to do the product development for me ;).

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Process Lasso v3.60 is released

After spending 2 months in beta development, our new version of Process Lasso is finally ready. This version is another major leap forward. In addition to general polishing and enhancements throughout the product, there are several completely new features. These include, but are not limited to:

• Per-process CPU history on graph: We now show the CPU utilization history of selected process(es) on the graph. This lets you see exactly how much of the CPU individual processes were consuming. When multiple processes are selected their cumulative CPU utilization history is drawn on the graph. As a side note, CTRL-A now properly selects all processes.
  
  

• CPU Throttling: After resisting addition of this featur for fear of abuse, we finally decided to implement it. This new feature enforces a hard limit on the number of CPU cycles a process can consume. CPU throttling is not, in any way, meant to replace our ProBalance (Process Balance) algorithm that dynamically lowers the priorities of background processes. Instead, this feature is intended for cases where the user wants to truly slow down a process. This is sometimes useful for things like distributed computing clients, or other background processes that may consume system resources even when set to an Idle priority class. Under normal situations, at an Idle priority class, any other normal priority thread that would need the CPU would take procedence. This is why it usually suffices to simply lower the priority class of overly active background processes, as our ProBalance algorithm does. Still, users wanted this capability.. so here it is. It is available in both persistent (each time run) and temporary modes. It is NOT recommended for most people to use.. and we added plenty of warnings to this effect.
  
  
• Foreground boost exclusions: Some applications don't handle foreground boosts very well. This is why we leave foreground boosting disabled by default. With this feature you can now exclude incompatible processes from foreground boosting, allowing you to enable the feature.
  
  
• Quicker response time: We tweaked our software to react quicker to system changes. For instance, termination of disallowed processes and ProBalance actions occur quicker now.
  
  
• Designated game processes (auto gaming mode): Process Lasso now allows for specification of which processes are games. These processes, when run, then cause gaming mode to be automatically invoked. When the game(s) are closed, gaming mode is automatically disabled.
  
  
• Improved logging: Our logging system has been greatly improved. Amongst other things, we added milliseconds to log times and enhanced handling of large logs.
  
  
• New process information: We added several new process information columns, including handle and thread counts. Also, these new fields can now easily be toggled on or off by right-clicking on the process listview header or the Processes tab.
  
  
• New threads tab: A threads tab will allow for enumeration of the threads of currently selected process. We'll add more thread management features as time progresses.
  
  
• Nags reduced by 25%: Although previous experiments in lowering the amount of nags didn't go so well, we're trying it again.. the primary nag is now shown 25% less than before (at 75% of Process Lasso starts). We *still* are working on an alternate licensing system that pleases everyone and removes the necessity for purchase reminders.
  
  
• Status bar overhauled: The status bar now shows various metrics, including the process count, processor usage, responsiveness, and memory load.
  

• Much more.. See the revision history for a full list of changes.

So, give it a try. Let us know what you think. Enjoy!

About language updates ....

As of release time, only the English, Serbian, and Chinese Traditional languages are fully up to date. We hope other translators will submit their updates soon, and we'll get new builds uploaded as soon as we receive them. Even without the updates, the older translations are still probably 90% string complete.

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Back-ports, and Process Lasso in Japan

While we all await the new v3.60 final, I decided to back-port a few minor enhancements to the existing final build. For a complete list, see the revision history of v3.54.11 (new changes denoted by [.11]).

Of course, these fixes and enhancements are all minor. I therefore did not update the internal version number, so no update will be pushed out to end users.

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I am also happy to announce that Process Lasso is beginning to enter the Japanese market. Our partner in that country has issued a press release and is beginning to interest other resellers. We do not yet know if this arrangement will be successful or profitable, but we certainly hope so.

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Beta development continues

I'm pleased to announce that I'm nearly done with the many feature additions and code improvements made in this latest beta series. It has been another very productive week of work. However, the beta will probably not go final for another week or two, as there is much code review and testing left to do.

I am still preparing for a new licensing model that I hope will help generate revenue without relying on any nags. In the meantime, I've introduced a temporary sale -$9.95 for one year of updates or $19.95 for lifetime of updates. I hope this will encourage more users to make the switch to the Pro version.

As a last OT note, the forum is temporary closed to new registrations (well, they require my manual approval). I've been battling with spammers attacking my forum. This started, coincidentally (?), right after I vehemently refused an offer by a company to bundle their browser extension adware with my software. I've also had other internet 'attacks' since then. I don't want to sound paranoid, but the timing is very suspicious.. There are some truly bad people out on the internet.

Well, that's all for now.

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