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I am wondering if I can scan my running processes/apps in windows and find out which ones are not well-known.
A list of unknown running processes/apps should be listed.
Note: the app should NOT turn off Microsoft Defender. Most of anti-virus apps will turn off Microsoft Defender protection after its installation. So I have to make clear on this point.
PS: in another word, I would like to find a whitelist scanner instead of blacklist virus scanner.
It's quite hard to tell which process should be running and which shouldn't. Even some Microsoft Windows programs will only run seldomly. But there's one easy thing to check: whether the application's digital signature is valid or not. The tool I use for this is:
Run the tool as administrator in order to see all processes. This step is optional. If you don't or can't run as administrator, your results may be incomplete
click on the "Process" column until it is sorted by name (to get rid of the tree-view).
Enable "Verify image signatures" in the options
This will show a new column where you can check whether the application's digital signature could be verified (or not)
You can now google for the processes that do not have a digital signature. Most suspect are applications that have the name of a large company (e.g. Microsoft) but no digital certificate. A lot of Open Source software does not come with digital signatures, unfortunately.
If you like, you can also check for results at VirusTotal.
Sort the list by the VirusTotal result. The worst numbers on my system are Brother printer drivers (no digital signature and some false positives)
As for your requirements:
If you liked Process Explorer, I may suggest another tool on top, which complements Process Explorer
Process Explorer only shows and checks processes that are currently running. But: what will your PC run in the future? Autoruns checks exactly that: programs that might run at startup, might run when you play a video etc.
Run as administrator, if you can. Otherwise the results may be incomplete.
In the scan options, activate at least the second option (verify code signatures). I also like to activate the VirusTotal option.
To get a better overview of the dangerous items, you can hide Windows items, Microsoft items (probably includes Office etc. in addition to Windows) and those items for which VirusTotal says 0
As for your requirements:
