Troubleshooting & FAQ

Process Hacker is a free, powerful, multi-purpose tool that helps you monitor system resources, debug software and detect malware on Windows. It provides advanced process monitoring capabilities beyond what's available in the standard Windows Task Manager.

Yes, Process Hacker is completely safe. It's open source software hosted on GitHub and SourceForge. Some antivirus programs may flag it as potentially unwanted software due to its powerful system access capabilities, but this is a false positive. The software is widely used and trusted by millions of users worldwide.

If your antivirus flags Process Hacker, you can safely add it to the exclusion list. Always download Process Hacker from official sources (SourceForge or GitHub) to ensure you're getting a legitimate copy.

Administrator rights are required to access detailed information about all processes, services, and system resources. Without admin rights, some features won't work, including:

• Viewing protected system processes
• Terminating system processes
• Managing Windows services
• Accessing detailed process properties
• Viewing network connections for all processes

Right-click Process Hacker and select "Run as administrator" for full functionality.

If Process Hacker won't start, try the following solutions:

1. Run as Administrator: Right-click ProcessHacker.exe and select "Run as administrator"
2. Check Antivirus: Your antivirus may be blocking Process Hacker. Add it to exclusions
3. Download Fresh Copy: Re-download Process Hacker from the official source
4. Check Windows Version: Ensure you're running Windows 7 or later
5. Check for Updates: Install Windows updates and .NET Framework updates

"Access Denied" errors occur when Process Hacker doesn't have sufficient permissions. Solutions:

• Run Process Hacker as administrator (right-click → Run as administrator)
• Some processes are protected by Windows and cannot be accessed even with admin rights
• Disable User Account Control (UAC) temporarily if needed, though this is not recommended
• Check if your antivirus is blocking Process Hacker's access to processes

If a process won't terminate using the normal "Terminate" option:

1. Try using "Kill" instead (Shift+Delete or right-click → Kill)
2. Check if the process has child processes - you may need to terminate those first
3. Use "Suspend" first, then terminate the suspended process
4. Restart Process Hacker with administrator rights if you haven't already
5. As a last resort, restart your computer

Warning: Force killing processes can cause data loss. Save your work first.

To update Process Hacker:

1. Visit the official download page at SourceForge or GitHub
2. Download the latest version
3. Close Process Hacker if it's running
4. Run the new installer (for installer version) or extract the new portable version
5. Your settings are usually preserved in the AppData folder