Controlling what goes on while your computer is running can be tricky. Most of the time, there are things running in the background that you don’t even know about. That is why we all love to use task managers. Although Process Lasso does not bill itself as a task manager, it can help you optimize your computer’s performance, leaving other task managers in the dust.

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT DOES IT DO

Main Functionality

Process Lasso is a program that automatically helps you optimize your processes, CPU cores, and CPU consumption. The program also allows you to keep an eye on all of the processes running on your computer. This allows you to keep a watch out for disruptive processes that may be hugging up your CPU. Just remember, Process Lasso does not call itself a task manager. The part of the program that appears as a task manager is just there to help with the program’s primary functions, which is process optimization and automation.

The primary purpose of Process Lasso is to catch and kill rogue programs that take up too much CPU. In its most basic form, Process Lasso works by setting a CPU usage threshold level. Any process that crosses the threshold level for more than X seconds is either killed or its priority lowered, in an attempt to lower that process’s CPU usage. This is done to prevent one or two processes from consuming all your computer’s processing power and thus causing a lock up. Process Lasso also works the other way, having the ability to boost the priority of some processes to improve performance, such as when you play a game and the game’s process is boosted and protected to prevent disruption. And it does much more, too.

Pros

• Tons of CPU management/optimization tools including: default CPU affinities, energy saver options, foreground boosting, process classification, gaming mode, hyper-threaded core avoidance, disallowed processes, and default priorities (all these features are offered in both free and paid versions but paid version has more features, too)
  • Has the ability to intelligently manage CPU priorities for individual processes – allowing users to work unhindered – based on the current system conditions. (“ProBalance”)
    • Users are allowed to customize the parameters of “ProBalance”
    • Users are allowed to exclude specific processes from being managed via “ProBalance”
  • Has a “Gaming Mode” which allows users to run full-screen games/processes without worry of interference from Process Lasso.
    • Users can define specific processes which automatically trigger “Gaming Mode” when detected
  • Allows users to manually change CPU priorities, affinities, and/or throttle the CPU for individual processes
  • Users can set automatic default CPU priorities, affinities, and/or throttles for specific processes
  • Allows users to define rules where a process will be terminated, restarted, or have its CPU affinity changed if the process uses X% CPU or Y MB of RAM for Z seconds. (“Process Watchdog”)
  • Allows users to blacklist specific processes which are automatically terminated when detected
  • Allows users to limit the amount of instances for specific processes and specify specific processes to always run
  • Has the ability to prevent the computer from timing out/sleeping when specific processes are running and the ability to automatically change the PC to “High Performance” when specific processes are detected (if applicable)
  • Can manage current user’s processes and/or all users’ (including SYSTEM) processes
• Easily switch between Power, Balanced, and Energy Saving modes
• Comes pre-configured to work out-of-the-box with no settings customization — install it and go
• Users have the option to run the core engine without the GUI (the management console)
• Core engine can be run as a service
• Offers two versions, free and paid

Cons

• Noticeable learning curve. If you want to customize any settings, it will take some time to get used to the program — primarily due to the terminology, primarily due to the interface, and primarily due to so many bloody options.
• Most of the cool features are only offered in the paid version, although the free version still has the core features necessary for CPU management.
• How useful this program is depends on a case-by-case basis from computer-to-computer; faster, more modern computers will find Process Lasso not as useful because they have enough CPU power that how the CPU is not a concern for them and thus Process Lasso is not needed to manage CPU

Discussion

There are two versions of Process Lasso: the free version and the pro version. Today we are going to talk about the differences between both versions. Although this program does not bill itself as a task manager, it can pretty much do everything a task manger can do and then some.

First, you should note that the differences between the free and pro versions come down to the number of features included. Right now we are going to list the features that come with the free program. Keep in mind that all of the features listed here are also included in the pro. Free features include: Default CPU affinities, energy saver options, foreground boosting, process classification, gaming mode, hyper-threaded core avoidance, disallowed processes and default priorities.

Before you upgrade to the pro, you do have a chance to download a trail version of pro. This gives you access to more features that are not in the free version, but it still does not offer all of the features that you will find in the pro. The extra features you gain access to during the trial period are (aka the features not available in free version): Application power profiles, process watchdog (which limits memory and CPU usage), CPU throttling, automatic gaming mode, anti-sleep processes, keep processes running, and high performance power scheme processes.

If you do decide to upgrade to pro, it will cost you $18.95, which is actually not a bad price. The extra features you get on top of everything you have seen above include: Core engine as service, multimedia scheduler tool, access to older versions, premium support, and Tweakscheduler tool.

CONCLUSION AND DOWNLOAD LINK

Process Lasso is not meant to make your computer “faster”. If you have a Pentium III and you expect Process Lasso to turn it into a quad-core, you will be very disappointed. Similarly, Process Lasso is not meant to make your programs run “faster”. Rather, Process Lasso is intended to help you manage your CPU in the most efficient way possible, preventing rogue CPU usage from causing problems. In other words, Process Lasso doesn’t make anything “faster”; it stops programs/processes from unnecessarily making your computer/programs run slower. In that regard, Process Lasso performs extremely well; Process Lasso Pro is a terrific program. I especially like the extra functionality the developer has built-in that goes beyond just rogue-CPU-usage-management.

If you are looking for CPU management, Process Lasso is one of the best. Plus, since there is a free version, so you won’t lose much by giving it a go. If you like what you see in the free version, I would recommend taking the free trail of the paid version — that will unlock the paid features for a select amount of tries.If you decided you like pro, you can purchase it. Or you can simply stick with the free version — it may not have as many features as pro but it is still does an excellent job at CPU management.

Price: Two versions, Free ($0) and Pro (starts at $18.95)

Version reviewed: 6.7.0.34

Supported OS: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 (32-bit and 64-bit)

Download size: 2.4MB

VirusTotal malware scan results: 0/46

Is it portable? No

Process Lasso homepage