Where can I find a general description of every single executable that comes with Windows?

How general? Executables usually have a description field associated with them. Some process monitoring software will display this field. I use Process Hacker, a Task Manager replacement, which shows this and lot of other process info.

and it has a way to save as text. Kind of messy, with the tabs, but usable. Fragment on pastebin, [REDACTED] and [TRIMMED] is me.

(The items listed with "2TB" entries is an issue related to Control Flow Guard (CFG). Thanks, @JamieHanrahan)

Ouroborus

Posted 2016-06-07T06:23:00.927

Reputation: 2 549

Could you include an example? – Burgi – 2016-06-07T08:02:06.730

Answer updated with image and link to text export. Note that not all tasks have descriptions, but the majority do. – Ouroborus – 2016-06-07T21:40:23.487

You can find this information for most code files (exe, dll, sys, etc.) in the file Properties., Details tab. – Jamie Hanrahan – 2016-06-07T21:48:31.893

@JamieHanrahan Yeah, but that's more of a one-file-at-a-time thing and you'd need to match those files up with what is currently running. – Ouroborus – 2016-06-07T21:50:40.960

Nevertheless it's a valid answer to the question, particularly as phrased in the title. – Jamie Hanrahan – 2016-06-07T21:54:07.080

@JamieHanrahan Then, perhaps, add it as an answer. – Ouroborus – 2016-06-07T21:58:33.863

@Ouroborus: OT, but... the 2 TB VA allocations are due to a Windows 10 security technique called Control Flow Guard (CFG). See Alex Ionescu's blog post here: http://www.alex-ionescu.com/?p=300

– Jamie Hanrahan – 2016-06-08T01:36:50.163

Open a powershell command prompt and enter: get-childitem c:\ -include *.exe -force -recurse | foreach-object { "{0}\t{1}" -f $.FullName, [System.Diagnostics.FileVersionInfo]::GetVersionInfo($).FileDescription } >> exes.txt` The result will be the complete file paths + descriptions in the file exes.txt. If you want just the file names (without paths), change "FullName" to "Name". Note that not all exes have descriptions. – Jamie Hanrahan – 2016-06-08T10:38:43.157

@JamieHanrahan Window 8 here, but probably the same thing. Windows 7 at home so that explains the difference. Thank you much for this insite! – Ouroborus – 2016-06-08T15:53:28.987

I accept the answer. It also seems to work with the standard Task Manager. Nevertheless, a process I was interested in, is not running in my system, so I am unable to check it. – Michal Czardybon – 2016-06-12T07:50:45.830

which version of windows do you use? There is probably no such a list published by Microsoft. Your best option to search the internet for single process names. – Máté Juhász – 2016-06-07T06:45:21.550

There are hundreds of system files what you want isn't realistic – Ramhound – 2016-06-07T11:25:47.360

If you want the executable file description for all executables in the windows path I have an answer. Please [edit] your question to clarify and we can think about reopening it. – DavidPostill – 2016-06-07T13:14:42.280

Where can I find a general description of every single executable that comes with Windows?

Answers