Processes
Tools → Processes opens a live list of everything running on the machine — process id, name, the account it runs as, its share of the CPU, and how much memory it holds. It refreshes about every two seconds.
A file manager is an odd place to find a task manager, until you want the one thing neither Activity Monitor nor Task Manager makes easy: going from a running program to the file it was launched from. That’s what A does here.
What you can do
Section titled “What you can do”| Action | Keyboard | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|
| Move the cursor | ↑ / ↓ (Page Up/Down, Home/End) | D-pad / L-stick (LT + ↑/↓ to page) |
| Open the executable’s folder | Enter | A |
| End the focused process | X / Del | X |
| My processes ↔ all users | (footer button) | Y |
| Cycle the sort column | Tab / Shift+Tab | LB / RB |
| Refresh now | F5 | L3 |
| Close | Esc | B / Start |
Open the executable’s folder closes the list, navigates to the folder holding that process’s program, and selects it — ready to inspect, copy or compress like any other file.
Ending a process asks first, naming the process and its id, with a short cool-down on the confirm button so a stray press can’t land on it. The process is asked to close and given the chance to clean up after itself.
Sorting
Section titled “Sorting”Click a column header, or press LB / RB, to sort by CPU, Memory, Name or PID. CPU and Memory sort largest-first, Name and PID smallest- first, and the active column carries an arrow showing which.
The highlight follows the process, not the row it happens to be sitting on. That matters more than it sounds: sorted by CPU, rows shuffle on every refresh, and a cursor tied to a position would quietly slide onto a different process between the moment you pick one and the moment you confirm.
Your processes, and everyone else’s
Section titled “Your processes, and everyone else’s”The list starts with your own processes, which is very nearly the same set as the ones you can actually end. Y shows every user’s.
DeckCrate never asks for administrator or root privileges. So a process belonging to another user, or one the system protects, can be looked at but not ended — attempting it reports plainly that the system refused rather than prompting you for a password.
What each platform will tell you
Section titled “What each platform will tell you”The three systems differ considerably in how much they disclose about a process you don’t own. Where a figure was withheld, the column shows an em dash (—) rather than a zero, so “uses no memory” and “wouldn’t say” never look alike.
| Linux | macOS | Windows | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Name, PID, CPU, memory | Every process | Every process | Yours; SYSTEM and protected processes show a name only |
| Owning account | Every process | Every process | Your own only |
| Executable path | Yours | Yours | Yours |
| Full command line | Yes, with arguments | Path only | Path only |
The detail line under the list shows the full command line on Linux — the only
reliable way to tell apart half a dozen processes all named node — and the
executable path elsewhere.
Reading the CPU column
Section titled “Reading the CPU column”The percentage is a share of one core, the convention top, htop and
Activity Monitor use: a process saturating four cores reads as 400%. Windows’
own Task Manager divides by core count instead, so figures here will look larger
than the ones beside them there.
The column is blank for the first second or so after the list opens. A CPU percentage is a change between two readings, and until the second reading arrives there is nothing honest to put there.