I regularly have long-running scripts or programs on Windows that crunch through log files.

Often, the disadvantage with these programs, especially home-brew scripts, is that you have no idea how much progress they have made, or when they will finish.

I use a simple trick to get an idea: I use Microsoft Sysinternals' Process Explorer to check how much bytes have been read/written by a process.

First I select the appropriate columns for the main view:

And then I can get an idea of the progress of each process:

Do you know a better/different trick? Or for another OS? Please post a comment.

In my next diary entry, I'll give an example for dd.

Didier Stevens
Senior Handler
Microsoft MVP
blog.DidierStevens.com DidierStevensLabs.com