Select multiple processes to terminate in XP via -.vbs

Question

I am trying to do a script that'll allow me to kill a few processes when I need a maximum of resources. Things I don't mind starting up when I start XP (dropbox, PowerISO, OpenOffice-tray, etc.) but since they all eat a little memory each I'd like to create a script that terminates them all by one click.

Now my problem is SQL-related. I have a script that will terminate a single process looking like this:

       strComputer = "."
       Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
        & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
       Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
        ("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name = 'PWRISOVM.EXE'")
       For Each objProcess in colProcessList
        objProcess.Terminate()
       Next

But I can't, for the life of me, make the SELECT statement grab more than a single process. If anybody can enlighten me on this I'll be very happy :-)

Answer 1

It's WQL ("SQL for WMI"). This is important to note, because they are not identical. WQL is intended to be close to SQL. :) Anyhow...

SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name = 'PWRISOVM.EXE'

Will only select processes with the specific name 'PWRISOVM.EXE'.

Select * from Win32_Process

Would get you a full list.

I made a similar script for Vista/7 a few years ago. Make an array of processes to keep, and then cycle through killing processes with no dependants, skipping the ones in the array. Then do it again, this will help kill all children first, and then parents. Third pass should "ignore if they have dependants" and "force" closure; adjust your loop amounts as you see fit. :)

Do the similar for Services ("Stop" them before killing processes).

From my experiences, you'll find the most resource recovery by just killing Explorer.exe alone.

And don't forget your Task Manager, CMD, and scripting host process exclusions. ;)

-- Edit: --

With your example code, if you use just Select * from Win32_Process it will put the full list into the collection "colProcessList". As you cycle through them all in your "For Each" loop, you can decided on a process by process basis.

To directly answer what your comment seems to ask for:

To select multiple, specific processes by name in one Select statement, use the 'OR' operator:

Select * from Win32_Process where Name = 'Process1' or Name = 'AnotherProcess'

Answer 2

If it came down to it... I would just put them in line... one process after the other... in the exact same format you have there.

   strComputer = "."
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
   Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name = 'PWRISOVM1.EXE'")
   For Each objProcess in colProcessList
    objProcess.Terminate()
   Next

   strComputer = "."
   Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
   Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("SELECT * FROM Win32_Process WHERE Name = 'PWRISOVM2.EXE'")
   For Each objProcess in colProcessList
    objProcess.Terminate()
   Next

3,4,5 etc.