WinTop is a lightweight, interactive terminal process monitor and resource dashboard for Windows, inspired by top and htop. Pick your implementation — C, C++, or C# — and build it with the included zero-dependency PowerShell script. Every build compiles to a self-contained, single-file native executable (WinTop.exe) that runs on any modern Windows system with no administrative elevation.
| Script | Language | Toolchain (auto-detected) | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
Build-WinTop-c.ps1 |
C | MSVC → gcc → portable Zig | ~200 KB–3 MB native exe, no runtimes at all |
Build-WinTop-cpp.ps1 |
C++ | MSVC → g++ → portable Zig | ~1–3 MB native exe, no .NET |
Build-WinTop.cs.ps1 |
C# (.NET 8) | User-local .NET 8 SDK (downloaded automatically if missing) | ~70 MB+ self-contained single file |
All three builds share the same UI, hotkeys, features, and settings file (%LOCALAPPDATA%\WinTop\settings.cfg).
The C and C++ scripts need no SDK: they use MSVC if you have Visual Studio, a MinGW gcc/g++ on PATH if you have one, and otherwise download a portable Zig toolchain into your user profile (no admin rights, no system changes) to compile a native Windows binary.
Which to pick? C++ is the best balance — tiny native exe like the C build, but far easier to maintain and extend. The C build is for minimalists who want the smallest possible binary; the C# build is for .NET shops.
- System Resource Metrics: Real-time visual meters for CPU utilization, physical memory usage, and fixed storage drive capacities.
- Process Activity Tracking: Live updates for PID, CPU%, Memory (working set MB), and per-process disk I/O read/write speeds (MB/s) via native Win32 APIs.
- Interactive Navigation & Sorting: Sort by CPU, Memory, Read, Write, Name, or PID with bi-directional ordering.
- Dynamic Search & Filtering: Filter running tasks in real time by name, PID, or executable path, with
*wildcard support. - All / User views: Toggle between every process and just your own (
P). Apps you launch are correctly detected as yours — even GUI programs living in System32 likemstsc— while Windows plumbing (services,sihost,ctfmon, …) stays hidden. - Selection pinning: Arrow-key navigation pins the selected process at its row while the rest of the list keeps auto-sorting around it, so the kill target never slides out from under the cursor.
- New-process highlight: Newly started processes flash green for 10 seconds, Process Explorer-style.
- Safe Process Termination: In-app process kill with critical-system-process guards and typed confirmations (mass-kill of filtered results supported).
- Quick Command Runner: Launch programs directly from the dashboard via a built-in run console.
- Persistent Preferences: View mode, sort column, and sort direction auto-save to
%LOCALAPPDATA%\WinTop\settings.cfg(hand-editable). - Zero Configuration Setup: Each script validates disk space, provisions its toolchain if needed, writes the sources, compiles, and launches — in one step.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Up / Down |
Move process selection (pins it at its row) |
PageUp / PageDn |
Scroll process list by page |
Home / End |
Jump to top / bottom of process list |
Left / Right |
Cycle sort column (CPU → MEM → R-MB/s → W-MB/s → Name → PID) |
s / F6 |
Advance to next sort column |
r |
Reverse current sort direction |
/ or F3 |
Live search / filter (supports * wildcards) |
c / Esc |
Clear search filter (also unpins selection) |
P |
Toggle between All and User-only processes |
Space |
Pause / resume background sampling |
k / F9 |
Kill selected process (or batch-kill filtered results) |
Ctrl + R |
Open run dialog to launch a program |
h / F1 |
Show help overlay |
q / F10 |
Exit WinTop |
- Open PowerShell (Windows PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7+; no admin rights required).
- Run one of the build scripts:
.\Build-WinTop-c.ps1 # pure C — smallest binary, zero dependencies.\Build-WinTop-cpp.ps1 # C++ — recommended balance of size and maintainability.\Build-WinTop.cs.ps1 # C# / .NET 8 — needs nothing pre-installed, SDK is fetched for youEach script builds WinTop.exe in a project folder next to the script and launches it when done.
See LICENSE.