Tool
System Informer
Windows process viewer and system inspector, formerly Process Hacker, for examining running programs and the system around them. It gives a highlighted overview of system activity, searches the handles and loaded DLLs of processes to find which one is using a file, shows active network connections and real-time disk access, displays stack traces with kernel-mode, WOW64 and .NET support, and creates, edits and controls services. Version 4.0 adds a Process Monitor that logs process, thread, image, registry, file, handle and silo events from its kernel driver, and plugins add .NET assembly and performance tabs, a window explorer and Hybrid Analysis lookups.
- Targets
- Binary
- Category
- Debugging and dynamic analysis
- Relationship
- Foundation tool
- Sources reviewed
Requirements & limits
- Prerequisites: Windows 10 or later, 32-bit or 64-bit, per the README. Release at review: v4.0.26241.138, published 2026-08-29 as the first 4.0 release; the reviewed master commit is 874 commits ahead of it. Building from source needs Visual Studio 2022 or later and the build_init.cmd and build_release.cmd scripts in build/.
- Limits: The KSystemInformer kernel driver gives its broader inspection only to verified callers: binaries loaded into System Informer need a .sig from the build's key pair or a Microsoft or anti-malware vendor signature, and loading an unsigned third-party plugin restricts driver access. Builds signed with a developer's own key need debug and test-signing mode, with Secure Boot disabled where applicable.
- Scope: The Agent Tools plugin is on the master branch only, not in the 4.0 release; its source describes it as exposing System Informer's process data and actions to AI agents over the Model Context Protocol. It is off by default, asks to confirm connections by default and offers stdio setup commands for clients such as Claude Code and Codex CLI. The OnlineChecks plugin's Hybrid Analysis lookups are opt-in with per-service API keys and can optionally submit unknown files.
- License: MIT per LICENSE.txt and the README.
About this entry
The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Primary sources
- README.md GitHub · winsiderss/systeminformer · Revision 999fe5e
- KSystemInformer/README.md GitHub · winsiderss/systeminformer · Revision 999fe5e
- CHANGELOG.txt GitHub · winsiderss/systeminformer · Revision 999fe5e
- plugins/AgentTools/main.c#L58-L75 GitHub · winsiderss/systeminformer · Revision 999fe5e
- plugins/AgentTools/options.c#L1044-L1060 GitHub · winsiderss/systeminformer · Revision 999fe5e
- LICENSE.txt GitHub · winsiderss/systeminformer · Revision 999fe5e
- https://github.com/winsiderss/systeminformer/releases/tag/v4.0.26241.138
- https://systeminformer.com/