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Extending Task Manager Windows 8

I would like to know if there is any way to extend the task manager in a language like C# preferably but i'm also ok with C++, or anything else that works.
I would like to add some new features like, search, kill all processes with the same name, and what ever else comes to mind, but i have no idea were to start.
Note: I don't want to replace it or rewrite it from scratch, just add some new features.
I also found this link Is it possible to add functionality to Vista/7 taskmgr.exe? but it's for VIsta/7 i'm just hoping something change in 8, considering that it was completely redesigned.
Thank you

If i am correct, what you want to know is if there is a way to extend TaskManager via a plugin based approach( like Office/Ie/Outlook plugins).
The answer is no.
I however have a different approach which may help you do what you want but would be a lot more work.
What i suggest is Com interop based injection and override.
using Spy++ you can see what are the window classes/properties of the TaskManager window. Then you would need to write a program which works minimized(system tray?!) and watches for some identifying window/class name to pop up in the messages system. Windows messages can be intercepted and hooked. http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/33459/Spying-Window-Messages-from-the-Inside may be of some help.
Once you get your window handle. you will probably need to find the tabs control group. and inject a new tab element. Post which you can put anything which you deem into the tab element.
This is speculative, and involves the assumption that all the new changes you want to add would end up in a new tab.
I hope this helps you in some way.
PS: The answer is not totally speculative though. For some internal use at my workplace, I had made a prototype which would do something similar to outlook and override some default functionality which wasn't exposed by the Add in framework per se. Beware that this would require lots of testing and was somewhat unreliable/unstable

app in background read keys pressed by user

i want to do a application which works in background and read all keys pressed by user and save it in file.
i start to write it in Win forms and use keys Pressed event but it works when form is focused:/
It is another way to do it? i hear about Windows Service, but i never use it :/

You can do it with help of these:
DirectX look into MDX
KeyLogger Application for C#
Creating a simple keylogger in C#
I don't know your reasons, but I just hope they are "good".

After doing a lot of research looking for a good code to use to achieve this, I've decided to create my own C# Keylogger API. It's very simple and clean:
api.CreateKeyboardHook((character) => { Console.Write(character); });
You just need to pass a callback and the API will return the key pressed by the user, among other things like: the screen the user was in that moment. Obviously, it works in background.
More details here: https://github.com/fabriciorissetto/KeystrokeAPI

I'm assuming you want to intercept all key events to all windows:
I wouldn't recommend C# for this. You'll need to drop to the Win32/64 API, which can be done, but you'd be better off using Visual C++ / something without training wheels.
There are several ways to do this. The easiest, by far, is to register a hook for keyboard events. Implement a basic service and handle the key-press events in your main loop / event handler. You can also just brute-force the keyboard state in a tight polling loop, but this will make the CPU cry.
There's 1,000,001 ways to install your own keyboard driver without admin privileges, but you're going to need to find one yourself, assuming you go down that road.
I seriously doubt that anyone on stackoverflow will help you create a key logger. You're going to need to dive into the bowels of the Win32 API and, likely, figure it out yourself. It isn't difficult if you have a solid C background. Windows "security" is little more than smoke & mirrors.

How can you read values from an open application in Windows?

I want to create a program or use a program that will read the memory values out of another application. Does anyone know of an application/library that will do this?
The target app is this. I would like to read the exchange rate values from it.
I'm an experienced c# programmer, but have never worked with the Win32/user32 api which is what I'm assuming I'll have to deal with to pull this off.
Any help that gets me going in the right direction is greatly appreciated.
Update:
I managed to use Spy++ to get the window handle, so I'm sure I can get the values some how.

Have you looked into AutoIT or AutoHotKey?
Both of these open source options have well documented abilities to read text from application windows (and send keystrokes or mouseclicks to them).
AutoIT is very easy to use and well documented.
An example of reading text from a window would be:
$text = WinGetText("title of window", "")
MsgBox(0, "Text read was:", $text)
This can be compiled into an executable.

Typically an application creates controls in a dialog in a consistent manor, same ID, same order etc, so finding a control programatically is fairly simple. Using Spy++ find the control's ID and then you can search the windows created by the application for the desired control. Not being familiar with the app in question I cannot give specifics, but if Spy++ shows the value you desire, it is likely not difficult to obtain the value in your code.
What type of control is the value displayed in? You'll may be able to use GetDlgItemText to obtain the value once you have the parent window handle and control ID? To get the parent window try using EnumWindows.

It might be easier to scrape their data by automating a screenshot and then ocr process. If that's your goal.
Potentially relevant links:
get-a-screenshot-of-a-specific-application
ocr-with-the-tesseract-interface

May be this article helps - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc163617.aspx, but I think it's not universal and for your task is better to get access directly to Forex API/Web-Service or try to catch needed data on network.

It is possible to screen-scrap things created with native windows controls; if that is the case, you should be able to see the controls using Spy++. But some times controls are implemented "by hand", and there is no way to screen-scrap them (e.g. some Java graphic toolkits play directly with the graphics, so everything day do is meaningless from the outside, or even some Office menus are implemented without using the menu control).
The Windows accessibility API is a possible way to screen-scrap the values; check if "Narrator", the screen reader that comes with windows, is able to read aloud your target application.

open a .exe as a window in an mdi form?

I wanted to create a program that would allow me to open instances of a already exsiting program (i just have the exe) as windows inside (i belive its called mdi)
Is that something i could do? can anyone point me to an example?
Thanks

Maybe this is the answer you are looking for here. It can be done...look in the sample on that link given.
Hope this helps,
Best regards,
Tom.

When Windows starts a program its parent is the Desktop Window.
If you could somehow manipulate that, it may work.
However, I doubt it is possible, as why would I want to allow you to run my application in your window? Especially MDI? Besides that - running in a child window isn't quite the same as running in the "main" window.
Having said that there is an application out there (can't think of it's name OH) that does place individual applications in tabs. Pretty nifty if you're not on Windows 7. The folks over at the Business of Software forum might be able to help you find it.

Well, after starting the app and storing its PID, you could start monitor the windows that get created, either thru a CBTHook or by just using a timer and the GetWindows to find when a top level window gets created by the PID in question.
Then you can use SetParent to make that window a child to your MDIChild (I doubt you can make it your MDIChild directly).
That should get you going. What you'll run into after that I really don't know. I guess you must correlate any movement of either your app or the external app so that thir windows appears to be stuck together...
Maybo you could strip away the caption from the external app (Get/SetWindowsLong). That could make it look better...

Send key strokes to another application C#

I need to automate FileMon.exe to startup with filters, save out the log it generates, and then exit.
My solution has been to write an assist application that will do all of this. Which has worked on starting up with specified filters and killing the process, but I still need it to save the log. Do you think it would be silly to send the application keystrokes to save the log? For instance I would send an Alt+F, Alt+S, type filepath, Enter.
How can you send keystrokes like above to another process that is running in C#?

As I know, you have to invoke some of native APIs:
-FindWindow to find parent windows you want to work with
-FindWindowEx to find true windows you'll send message to
-SendMessage to send key strokes to those windows
Details of these APIs, refer at MSDN :)

You can use Windows.Forms.SendKeys to send keystrokes to the active application.

Thanks for all the answers and help guys... I'm actually going to write and invoke a perl script using Win32::GuiTest.

That's probably a deaad end. You should look and see if the application (or one of its dependent DLLs) exposes the proper API calls to do what you are trying to do. If you had to do it by keystrokes, you could look into some kind of macro program like MacorMaker.

You could use powershell and the windows automation cmdlets up on www.codeplex.com/wasp to do this.
-Oisin

Use something like AHK (Auto HotKey) it is a simple language that can be compiled to an EXE and is designed for automating the keyboard and mouse.
Also the IRC Channel and Forums always have people willing to help if need be.