AppControl is a historical Task Manager for Windows that gives users deeper visibility and control over system activity on their PCs
Can you briefly introduce AppControl and tell us who is behind the company and the development of the tool?
AppControl is a modern Task Manager for Windows built for users who want more visibility and control over their PCs. It tracks real-time and historical CPU, GPU, memory, disk, and temperature usage, so you can finally see what your system was doing even when you weren’t watching. We built it to be simple, fast, and free, with power-user features such as smart alerts, smart controls in apps with rules, and a modern, fun-to-use interface. It’s made for anyone who cares about hardware performance, privacy, or just wants to know what’s really going on with their Windows PC. We’re a small indie team based in Austin, Texas, USA.
How did the idea for AppControl come about and what specific problem of Windows users did you aim to solve?
I kept walking up to my PC and finding the fan running at full blast, like an overworked HVAC unit. But every time I unlocked it and opened Task Manager, the culprit had vanished… almost like it knew I was watching. It felt like a mysterious app was playing jokes on me. I searched everywhere for a Task Manager with history, something that could tell me what was running before I sat down. Instead, I found memes mocking how useless the Task Manager is. So I decided to fix it and started building a historical resource monitor for Windows that could finally catch that sneaky app in the act.
AppControl describes itself as a historical task manager. What exactly does that mean and how does your solution differ from the traditional Windows Task Manager?
When we say “historical Task Manager,” we mean that AppControl doesn’t just show what’s happening right now, but instead, it shows you what was happening hours ago, even when you weren’t at your PC. For example, during the night when your PC is locked. With long-term graphs for CPU, GPU, memory, disk, and temperature and app-level tracking and alerts, you get a full timeline of system activity. It’s a Task Manager that lets you scroll back in time. So now, you can catch what was causing the slowdown after the fact, not just hope it happens again while you’re looking.
What vision are you pursuing with AppControl in terms of transparency, control and privacy on personal computers?
I believe your PC should work for you, not the other way around. We built AppControl to give everyday users the same level of insight and control over their system that power users have, without complexity. That means full transparency into what’s running, what’s using resources, and what’s happening even when you’re not at the keyboard. We also believe privacy starts with visibility. You can’t protect what you can’t see, so AppControl helps surface hidden background activity, resource abuse, and unexpected behaviors in a way that’s easy to understand and act on. We also tried to make the app fun to use, and we have a little mascot icon named “Toby the Transistor” who keeps watch over the user’s PC.
Who is the primary target audience for AppControl and how do you ensure their needs for visibility and security are met?
Our primary audience includes ANY Windows users who care about what’s really happening on their PC, from gamers and IT pros to privacy advocates and curious everyday users. Anyone who wants better visibility, more control, and fewer mysteries when their fans start spinning, or their system slows down, can use AppControl. We built AppControl to be both powerful and fun to use for anyone. If someone has never opened Task Manager before, it may not be for them. However, anyone who needs to use the Windows Task Manager at one time or another will enjoy using AppControl instead.
Your tool provides insights into resource usage as well as access to camera, microphone or location. Why is this level of transparency particularly relevant today?
Everyone’s had moments before or after a Zoom meeting where they wonder if their webcam or mic got turned on, or left on, without them realizing. With all the stories about malware and creepy apps spying on people, it’s not exactly paranoia. And yeah, we’ve all joked about talking out loud about a product, then suddenly seeing ads for it. Most of the time, it’s probably just a weird coincidence, but if that happens while you’re using AppControl, you can actually go back and check. You’ll see if your mic was accessed during that time, and exactly which app was using it. No more guessing.
From your perspective, what is the clear unique selling point of AppControl compared to other system utilities?
AppControl provides high-quality visibility into your PC’s hardware, and we make it engaging. If you’re a person who has to use Task Manager, then AppControl is a great alternative to that. On top of that, it’s free, so free is always a good selling point.
What technical or market challenges have you faced while building AppControl and how are you addressing them?
One thing that seemed simple but took us months to figure out was how to present historical hardware usage data in a way that makes sense. During the process, we found out there are a bunch of different ways to track and display resource history. One of them is something called “CPU time,” and for a while, we built AppControl’s history around that. It worked fine technically, but when we showed it to friends and family, no one really understood what they were looking at.
Eventually, after a lot of trial and error and arguing, we scrapped that idea and built something much more intuitive. Basically, a scroller that lets you jump back in time and see a Task Manager-style view of your system at that exact moment. It seems simple now, but getting there took extensive experimentation.
How do you plan to further develop AppControl in the future, for example regarding new features or potential premium models?
After our launch, AppControl immediately became very popular in France, driven by positive reviews in leading tech/privacy publications. One was called Korben, and they called AppControl “a Task Manager on steroids”. One of the first requests we received was to translate AppControl into French. We set up a translation system, then posted a link, and French fans translated AppControl literally in one day! We’re so grateful for the support we are getting out of France, and we’re listening carefully to what they want so we can keep improving! Another requested feature is the ability to launch AppControl via a Windows keyboard shortcut, as you can with Windows Task Manager. So, we’re adding an optional keyboard command so anyone can launch AppControl directly from their keyboard quickly when they want to.
As far as a premium model, for now, we’re just enjoying people actually using the app. When you work on something, you never know for sure whether anyone will use it, so it has been remarkable to get those first 10,000 downloads in mere days. Maybe in the future we’ll look at ways AppControl users can manage remote PCs and control what can launch there as an IT administration feature, but for now, we are still experimenting and aren’t sure what we want to do yet. We’ll continue to listen to our users and improve the app! Maybe we’ll have one version for everyone that stays free, then another for IT professionals that’s paid, but we’re not sure yet.
What role does user feedback play in shaping the ongoing development of AppControl?
User feedback for us is huge. The keyboard command idea is something we never considered, but it now makes perfect sense. We even had one person who visited our Discord make a review video on YouTube and post it using AppControl in real-time. In the video, we identified a few areas in AppControl that could be improved. Creating a Discord and a forum were very important to us so we can listen to our users and continue doing what they want. We are active in both the forum and Discord, gathering feedback, and the feedback has been amazing.
What three pieces of advice would you give to other founders who want to build a software startup like AppControl?
If you see a problem that’s driving you crazy, and if you search online and there is no real solution, and if others are also posting about that problem, then maybe it’s something worth solving. For the Task Manager issue I was having, all I could find were funny memes, which made it clear this was a problem many people were having. So the first advice is that. The second is to take your time and make sure you develop a good solution to the problem. Don’t rush it. The third would be to listen to your first users and do what they want. We’re localizing to French, adding the keyboard commands, and doing what our users ask as soon as possible.
Picture Credits: private
Thank you Jon Hundley for the Interview
Statements of the author and the interviewee do not necessarily represent the editors and the publisher opinion again.
