EF System Monitor 25.00

Overview

EF System Monitor is a software package to help a novice to an expert keep an eye on their computer system. The software provides a floating window which has layers of mini monitors for many types of data points and analysis needed on a computer system. These will update almost in real-time with changes to the monitor reflecting fast changes in CPU usage, swap file and RAM usage.

Installation

The installation is straight forward and completes in record time. There was no malicious or additional software added during the setup process.

The software will run on any recent Windows version in 32-bit or 64-bit modes.

Interface

The interface is a typical system monitor with a tall and slim window, which includes a title bar, displaying on the screen. A number of initial indicators display including user and computer IDs, CPU usage, Windows uptime, the current data and time, available space on each connected drive or partition, plus the current RAM and page file usage.

The interface is quite decent is not overly modern. A title bar is shown with only the “E…” displaying because the minimize, maximize and close windows icons obscure the name of the application. It would have been better to programmatically remove the title bar altogether and provide controls within the application itself for a slicker looking interface.

Right-clicking over the window will bring up the context menu system. It is possible to backup or restore the settings configured with the application so moving over to a new PC won't lose a custom layout. The font and other configuration settings can be adjusted to suit the user. Extra monitors can be added to the default list and the position of each monitor can be changed to place the most important at the top, for instance.

Pros

• Simple system monitor which updates very frequently
• Hovering over a monitor will bring up a label indicating what it is
• Customizable with different monitors and reorganize the order that they are displayed
• Export settings or import settings later
• Uses few resources to run it
• Set to stay on top of other applications

Cons

• Icons indicating each monitor are small and difficult to know what they refer to
• Window is not size-adjustable
• Not very stylish

Conclusion

EF System Monitor is a good system monitor to view live stats about the performance, memory usage, CPU usage, free disk space, swap file and so forth. Not presentationally wonderful, but perfectly functional.