Expert's Rating
Pros
- Lists all processes, including some automatically hidden by Task Manager
- Can end any process, including system processes or other users’ processes
- Configurable refresh time makes it simple to fine tune for older PCs
Cons
- The UI window is not resizable
- Cannot tell who owns a given process instance
Our Verdict
MPK makes stopping runaway programs super-easy, but power users will probably want something with more features.
Multi-Process Killer does exactly what it says on the tin: It force-closes multiple programs to close simultaneously. It’s functional, it’s portable, and it’s free for personal use, but for experienced PC users it’s also outclassed by more comprehensive tools. Still, the task-oriented design makes it worth considering for novices.
MPK is minimalist in design. There is only one configurable option, which is the delay between refreshes of the process list; and there are only two things you can do with it: Stop one or more processes simultaneously, or minimize it to your notification area.
MPK provides a list of all processes running on your PC, including some that Windows’ own Task Manager typically hides, like some system processes and processes owned by a different user of the same PC. However, if your PC has multiple users signed in at once, be careful. MPK does not give any way to distinguish process instances from each other, which means you could accidentally end the wrong process and lose someone else’s work. In this case, using Task Manager or a more powerful tool like the free and open-source Process Hacker will be necessary to avoid data loss.
I’m a big fan of simplicity, and if all you need is a very straightforward way to close multiple tasks at the same time, Multi-Process Killer will do the job. If you need more features, you can’t go wrong with Process Hacker, a free and extremely powerful Task Manager alternative.
Note: The Download button on the Product Information page will download the software to your system.