How can I monitor the CPU usage of one process over a period of time?

Question

I want to know what the average CPU usage is of a particular executable on my PC over a day.

I could write a C# app to do this, but I figured this is exactly the sort of app Superuser would know about if it exists!

I'm using Windows 7 64 bit, in case it matters!

Thanks!

Answer 1

Go to the Performance Monitor. Right-click on the graph and select "Add Counters".

In the "Available counters" list, open the "Process" section by clicking on the down arrow next to it. Select "% Processor Time" (and any other counter you want).

In the "Instances of selected object" list, select the process you want to track. Then click on "Add >>". Click on OK once you have what you need.

This will give a graph of the CPU usage for the chosen application.

Answer 2

Another application that any Superuser should use is Process Explorer.

See in Mark Russinovich's technical blog the article The Case of the System Process CPU Spikes, where he tracked down a CPU spike caused by his network driver.

Answer 3

Here's link that may be of use to you: http://zamov.online.fr/EXHTML/CSharp/CSharp_927308.html

Otherwise, have a look through the System.Diagnostics namespace (link not included to relevant msdn page because i don't have enough 'reputation'... a quick google on System.Diagnostics shows up the relevant page though).