Don's System Monitor

Don's System Monitor is a unified system monitoring tool that can run in host mode (collecting system data and optionally serving it remotely) or viewer mode (connecting to a remote host and displaying its data).
It is designed to work both for developers and for non-technical users who prefer running a single executable.

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What this project does (plain language)

• Shows CPU, RAM, disk usage, and temperature (when available)
• Detects high resource usage and possible memory leaks
• Can run:
  • Locally with a window
  • Headless in the background
  • Remotely, with another computer viewing the stats
• Uses one app for both monitoring and viewing

No internet services, no cloud, no telemetry.

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First-time users (non-developers)

Start by downloading the EXE from the Releases tab: Releases

1. Place the .exe in a folder where you want it to permanently live
   (for example: Desktop or a utilities/tools folder)

2. Run the EXE once

   • On first launch, it will automatically generate a file called sysmon.config.json

3. Open sysmon.config.json with a text editor such as Notepad and:

   • Set a secure value for remote_password
   • (Optional) Set viewer_default to true if this machine will only be used to view a remote system

4. Run the EXE again

   • By default, it will start in host mode with a window
   • Close the window to exit the application

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Running as a viewer only

If this computer should only connect to another system (viewer mode), edit sysmon.config.json and set:

• viewer_default = true
• viewer_server_ip = IP address of the host machine
• viewer_password = password configured on the host

After that, simply double-click the EXE to run it whenever needed, including at startup.

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Adding the application to Startup (Windows)

Follow these steps if you want the application to launch automatically when you log in:

1. Right-click the EXE
2. Select Show more options
3. Select Create shortcut
4. Select the shortcut and press Ctrl+X
5. Press Win+R, enter shell:startup, and press Enter
   • Or manually navigate to:
     C:\Users\%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
6. Press Ctrl+V or right-click and select Paste to place the shortcut in the Startup folder

After completing these steps, the application will start automatically when you log in.

If you move the original EXE after creating the shortcut, startup will stop working, as shortcuts are not dynamic.
If preferred, you may place the actual EXE directly in the Startup folder instead.

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First-time users (developers / power users)

If you are running from Python source:

Requirements:

• Python 3.11+ (tested up through 3.14)
• psutil installed

Run examples:

Host mode with GUI:

python main.py --mode host

Host mode, headless:

python main.py --mode host --headless

Viewer mode:

python main.py --mode viewer

Viewer with overrides:

python main.py --mode viewer --server-ip 192.168.1.50 --server-port 34255 --password example --refresh-ms 1000

All CLI options override values in sysmon.config.json.

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Configuration file

sysmon.config.json is created automatically on first run.

It controls:

• Host/server behavior (bind address, port, password, thresholds)
• Viewer behavior (target IP, refresh rate, default mode)
• Headless vs GUI defaults

Passwords are never logged.

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Build notes

• The project supports PyInstaller single-file builds
• Intended to be built with pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --name "Dons System Monitor" main.py
  • Due to how PyInstaller creates a .spec file; you cannot use an apostrophe in the name
  • If a apostrophe is desired to denote ownership:
    • Build it normally without the apostrophe(s)
    • Open the .spec file to change the name under exe[name]
    • The single qoutes ' must be replaced with double qoutes "
    • I.e. name='Dons System Monitor', -> name="Don's System Monitor",
• GUI is built with Tkinter for portability

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License

See LICENSE file.

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This project prioritizes:

• Local control
• Transparency
• Low overhead
• Practical diagnostics over dashboards