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MonSys (VERSION 1.00)Copyright (c) 1996 Ziff Davis Publishing Company
by Neil J. Rubenking
First Published October 8 1996
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ABOUT MonSys 
The System Monitor utility provided with Windows 95 is useful but awkward to use, and its display options are limited. MonSys improves on System Monitor by placing statistics in different categories on separate display pages and by providing a multitude of features to customize their display.

USAGE 
Windows 95 breaks down the performance statistics it supplies into several categories, such as Kernel, Memory Manager, and File System. MonSys assigns a separate display page to each category. Each item in a category is represented by a self-contained display component on the appropriate page. If a particular items value remains the same for 5 minutes, MonSys demotes it to the last position on the page. If all of the items on a given page have been demoted, MonSys hides the entire page from view. Thus the performance data is automatically organized so that the most active data floats to the top. Selecting Choices on the Options menu lets you turn these view-filtering features on and off.
   You can customize the display of each item by right-clicking on it and choosing from the resulting context menu. Your settings will be stored in the Registry and reused the next time MonSys starts. One menu item sets all data items on the current page to the same display settings as the one that triggered the context menu, and another does the same for all items on all pages. The What's This? item on the context menu displays a Windows 95-supplied description of the particular performance statistic. 
When not displaying statistics, MonSys resides in the system tray, which is located at the right or bottom end of the Taskbar, depending on the Taskbar's orientation. If MonSys is not active, it displays itself as a sleepy-eyed icon; if the program is active, the icon is a face with wide-awake eyes that are constantly looking around. Right-click on the icon to bring up a menu that lets you start monitoring, stop monitoring, or exit the program.

SUPPORT Help for PC Magazine's free utilities can be obtained electronically in the Utilities section of ZD Net's TIPS Forum (GO ZNT:TIPS). The authors of current utilities generally visit this forum daily. You may find an answer to your question simply by reading the messages posted in the forum. If the author is not available and the forum sysops can't answer your question, the Utilities column editor, who also checks this forum each day, will contact the author for you. 
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Neil J. Rubenking is technical editor of PC Magazine.
