There are times where you simply do not know what you’re computer is doing. CPU usage is high, your fans are going and you only seem to browsing the Internet. That happens. Memory leakage can occur, which can lead to system overload and virtual memory is then required, thus your computer becomes overloaded until you do something about the issue.

There are few tools built-in to Windows that are designed for the end-user to be able to monitor their computer. If you have Vista, you could use a Sidebar widget, but that’s assuming you find the Sidebar useful. Another option is to use a widget manager such as Yahoo Widget Engine, but even these have been known to utilise additional resources and consume memory.

CoolMon is a system monitoring tool that can be as lightweight or integrated as required. You can use the software to check your ongoing CPU usage or go far further than this and even check the processes and threads that are running through your system. You can monitor hard drive usage and much more.