How to detect hidden processes that do not appear in Task Manager

The PC is running slowly for no apparent reason.If your RAM usage spikes even when you have nothing open, or if you experience lag while gaming, it's usually the first sign that something's wrong. Often, we open Task Manager looking for the culprit... and nothing unusual appears. That's where the suspicion begins: there might be hidden processes running in the background.

Windows constantly runs dozens of services and processes. Running in the background are various programs, some entirely legitimate and others potentially dangerous or leftover from improperly uninstalled software. Learning to detect what's really running, beyond what the standard Task Manager reveals, is key to improving performance, strengthening security, and hunting down malware that tries to hide. Let's learn all about it. How to detect hidden processes that do not appear in the Task Manager.

What are hidden processes and why don't they always appear clearly?

Every program that runs on the computer generates at least one process that remains in memory to function: from the browser or a game to small system services. The problem is that many of these processes don't have a "human" name like Chrome.exe or Spotify.exe, but rather cryptic identifiers that make it difficult to know if they belong to Windows, a legitimate program, or malware.

Furthermore, there are processes that you cannot see at first glance. in the "Processes" tab of Task Manager because they are grouped, displayed under generic names, or depend on system services. Some types of malware exploit this, injecting code into legitimate processes or hiding behind ambiguous services, making them extremely difficult for the average user to locate.

Even after uninstalling programsThere may be "ghost remnants": startup tasks, services, or registry entries that continue trying to run in the background. You won't see the installed program, but you will see a generic process called "Program" or something similar, consuming resources without providing any useful service.

It is also common for hidden processes to affect the network: mysterious connections, bandwidth usage when you shouldn't have anything downloading or communicating with the internet, or unexplained spikes in CPU and memory consumption when the computer is, in theory, at rest.

Using Task Manager to its fullest potential: what you can actually see from Windows

Before we move on to advanced toolsIt's worth taking full advantage of what the Task Manager itself offers. In Windows 10 and 11, it's much more powerful than it seems if you know where to look and change some of the default settings.

To open it quicklyUse the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + EscYou can also right-click on the taskbar and choose "Task Manager". If it opens in simplified mode, click on "More details" to see the full interface with all tabs.

In the “Processes” tab you will see an overview CPU, RAM, disk, GPU, and network usage by application. Here you can easily identify the "big players" (a game, the browser, a video editor...). But if you want to catch suspicious processes, you have to go a little further.

A key step is to activate “Show processes from all users” (on older versions of Windows) or ensure that Task Manager is displaying everything running under different accounts and services. This will give you a more complete list, including system services that may sometimes be used by malware.

Details tab, Resource Monitor and Network Analysis

The “Details” tab of Task Manager This is where the complete list of running processes actually appears. Each executable is displayed here, without being grouped, using its internal name. It's the closest view to what the operating system itself sees.

From this tab you can locate processes that look strange. Look for processes that you don't recognize, that have very generic names, or that are consuming resources abnormally. If you right-click on any process, you can "Open file location," which is essential to know where that executable actually came from.

Another very useful column is the “Image path name” column. (In some translations, this appears as "Image Path"). You can activate it by right-clicking on the column headers, choosing "Select Columns," and checking this option. This will show you the full path of the file behind each process.

To delve deeper into network behaviorOpen the "Performance" tab and then click "Open Resource Monitor." In the "Network" tab of Resource Monitor, you'll see which processes are establishing connections, how much traffic they're sending and receiving, and to which IP addresses. If you detect an unfamiliar application connecting to unusual addresses, it's a strong indication that something is wrong.

Review startup programs and leftover uninstalled software

Many hidden processes sneak through the Windows startup process.so they start automatically every time you turn on your computer. This explains why, even after "closing everything," the RAM usage remains quite high or the system takes a long time to become usable.

In Task Manager you have the “Startup” section (In Windows 11, it appears in the side menu as "Startup apps," and in Windows 10 as the "Startup" tab). There you will see all the programs that launch automatically when you log in.

It is normal to find utilities for the graphics card (NVIDIA, AMD), sound card, or mouse.And also apps you prefer to open automatically because you use them daily. But if you see entries without clear names, generic processes like "Program," or references to programs you uninstalled a long time ago, they deserve your attention.

You can disable any startup item by right-clicking. that you don't want. This doesn't delete the program, it just prevents it from starting with Windows. It's a quick way to check if that mysterious process was the culprit behind the lag or excessive RAM usage.

When a program is uninstalled incorrectlyIt's common for Windows to leave traces in startup programs, scheduled tasks, or services that it keeps trying to launch even though the executable no longer exists. These are called "ghost processes" or "residual processes." To properly identify them, you need a more specialized tool.

Autoruns for Windows: Locate and delete phantom processes and leftover materials

Microsoft offers a very powerful tool called Autoruns for Windows for free.Part of the Sysinternals collection created by Mark Russinovich, this application shows absolutely EVERYTHING that runs at system startup or hooks into key points in Windows.

From the official Microsoft Sysinternals website You can download Autoruns in ZIP format. Once extracted, simply open “Autoruns.exe” or “Autoruns64.exe” depending on your system. It requires no installation; it's a portable executable.

When opened, Autoruns displays a huge list of entriesStartup programs, services, Explorer extensions, Office items, drivers, scheduled tasks, etc. At the top you can filter by categories (Office, services, network providers, LSA, print services…).

Special attention should be paid to the entrances marked in yellow.These often correspond to processes or paths that no longer exist in the system: remnants of hastily uninstalled software, automated processes that keep trying to run, or corrupted paths. You'll also see elements in other colors that indicate critical or special components.

If you locate a clearly residual or suspicious entrance (For example, if it's a program you know you've already removed or an unknown component), you can right-click on it. The context menu offers options such as "Delete" to delete it, open the file location, scan for viruses, or search online for information about the executable.

Autoruns is very powerful, but also dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.The author himself recommends that this be handled by a technician or, at the very least, a user with some experience. Deleting essential system entries, GPU drivers, or hardware components can leave you without some functions or even cause Windows to fail to boot correctly.

The advantage is that, with some care, you can clean the system It removes remnants of applications you no longer have, eliminates phantom startup processes, and detects suspicious automations that are not so clear in the traditional Task Manager.

Process Explorer: Microsoft's "Supercharged Task Manager"

If Task Manager falls short for youMicrosoft's direct and official alternative is Process Explorer, another gem from the Sysinternals suite. It's designed for system administrators and advanced users who need complete control and very fine details about each process.

Process Explorer can be downloaded from the Sysinternals website. It comes in a compressed file. Unzip it to any folder and run “procexp64.exe” if your system is 64-bit (or the 32-bit version if applicable). It doesn't require installation, and it's recommended to run it as administrator to see all the details.

The interface displays a hierarchical process treewhere you can clearly see which program has launched which one, which threads it has open, which DLL it's using, and much more. Each process is colored according to its type, and these colors are configurable from the Options > Configure Colors menu.

One of the great advantages of Process Explorer It allows you to open the executable's location, view its security properties, internal text strings, access descriptors, and even interact with it from the command line or generate memory dumps for advanced analysis.

In case you want to completely replace the Task ManagerFrom the Options menu, you can select “Replace Task Manager”. After that, when you use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc, Process Explorer will open instead of the standard Windows Task Manager.

Integration of Process Explorer with VirusTotal to detect malware

Process Explorer is not just for seeing what's running.It also helps determine if it's trustworthy. One of its best features, incorporated years ago, is its integration with VirusTotal, the well-known service that analyzes files with dozens of antivirus engines simultaneously.

To activate this integrationOpen Process Explorer and go to the Options menu > VirusTotal. Enable the option to send process hashes to VirusTotal for analysis (in the current version, this is done securely by sending only the file fingerprint).

Doing so will add a new column to the main window. with the result of the analysis of each process. You will see something like “0/70”, “1/70”, etc., indicating how many antivirus engines flag it as suspicious out of the total.

Processes that appear in green or with 0 detections They are generally considered clean, although false negatives are always possible. If a process appears in red or with multiple detections, it is very likely malware or, at the very least, something worth investigating.

If you click on the VirusTotal resultThe analysis page will then open with extended information: which engines detected it, which malware family it may belong to, observed behavior, etc. This information is invaluable for deciding whether to end the process and perform a deeper clean with your antivirus software.

How to use Process Explorer to discover the path of malware

In laboratory environments or virtual machinesIt is common for students and security analysts to use Process Explorer to locate malware and study its behavior. A typical task is to find the exact path of the malicious executable in order to then load it into a disassembler.

Usually, it is enough to locate the suspicious process. In the list, right-click and use "Properties" or "Open file location" to find out which folder the binary is in. From there, you can copy it to another controlled environment to analyze it with tools like IDA, Ghidra, or other disassemblers.

The problem arises when the fileless malware tries to hide its routeThis can happen either because it manipulates the system or because it injects its code into legitimate processes. In these cases, Process Explorer may show you the process but not clearly identify the source executable, or it may simply display incomplete information.

When this happens, it's advisable to combine several tools.: review the registry (HKCU and HKLM Run and RunOnce keys), check scheduled tasks, use Autoruns to see what is launched at startup and, if necessary, resort to specific malware analysis tools or virtual machines with advanced system monitoring.

In any case, if you detect a process with suspicious behavior If VirusTotal flags the file as malicious, the first step is to isolate the affected machine from the network, terminate the process if possible, and then scan or remove the sample with a specialized security solution. For more information about Process Explorer, see the following: official Windows website.

Reveal hidden files and folders: a real-world example using the “Streamerdata” malware

Some malware doesn't just hide as processesThey not only hide their folders and files to make removal more difficult, but they also conceal them. A typical example is infections that create hidden directories in the root directory of the disk, such as "C:\Streamerdata", and replicate empty shortcuts throughout the system.

In this type of scenario, the antivirus continuously detects the threat. (for example, Win64:Malware-gen), it sends it to the archives and deletes it… but it soon reappears. Meanwhile, you notice that the system is sluggish, that there are strange folders and shortcuts, and even that a process with a fake “antivirus tool” name appears in the Task Manager.

A technique that some users have used It involves creating a .bat file with commands that remove hidden, system, and read-only attributes from all files on a drive. Something similar to:

attrib -r -a -h -s U:\*.* /S /D (where U is the drive to be disinfected). This, when run as administrator, forces everything to be visible, including the malicious folder that was previously completely hidden, allowing it to be deleted manually.

The drawback of overusing these types of scripts This also exposes a lot of system folders and files that are normally hidden for security reasons: configuration folders, desktop.ini files, etc. If you're not careful and delete what you shouldn't, you can make your system unstable.

In the “Streamerdata” example, by uncovering everything “desktop” files (desktop.ini) began appearing on desktops and in various folders, and the system itself displayed errors at startup while trying to locate the malware folder, which had already been deleted. This is a clear example of how manual cleanup without a proper understanding of what you're doing can have unintended consequences.

If you find yourself in a similar situationThe recommended approach is to combine a good antivirus or antimalware suite (Malwarebytes, a well-updated Windows Defender, etc.), a startup cleanup tool like Autoruns, and, if you've modified attributes extensively, reconfigure folder options or use tools like winaero tweaker to hide critical system files again that shouldn't be seen or touched on a daily basis.

Controlling the record and other complementary techniques

Hidden processes and persistent malware They often rely on the Windows registry to boot repeatedly. Knowing the most common registry keys greatly helps in locating them when other tools are inconclusive.

Using the Win + R command and typing “regedit”You then access the Registry Editor (use this tool with extreme caution). The most common paths where programs that start with the system are registered are:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Run y HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Runwhere applications are stored that launch when the current user or any user logs in, respectively. Also noteworthy RunOnce, which executes entries only once on the next startup.

Reviewing these keys may reveal unknown entries with unusual paths or those pointing to temporary folders, uncommon user profile directories, or random file names. In these cases, it's reasonable to be suspicious and, after making a backup, delete the entry or disable it while you scan with antivirus software.

Another very effective way is to use the command lineRunning "tasklist" in a command prompt window with administrator privileges will display a complete list of processes. You can combine this with filters (by name, PID, etc.) or with other tools like "wmic" or "powershell" to obtain additional details.

Finally, we must not forget the role of antivirus softwareKeeping it updated and running full system scans helps detect hidden processes disguised as legitimate services. Many current products also monitor behavior in real time, blocking processes that behave like malware even if the file itself hasn't yet been signed in the databases.

Have real control over what runs on your PC It involves combining all of the above: using Task Manager effectively, leveraging Autoruns and Process Explorer, monitoring the registry, and relying on robust antivirus solutions. With these tools, locating hidden processes that aren't immediately apparent and deciding what to do with them ceases to be a mystery and becomes a task that, with a little practice, you can master without needing to be a professional hacker.