Acters

Acters is a system utility for Linux desktops that combines monitoring of machine state with a set of adjustments intended to change how the system behaves under load. It presents readings taken from the running system and exposes controls that act on the underlying configuration rather than only reporting on it.

The program is published by Quentin Lienhardt under the GPL-3.0 licence. It targets Linux only; there are no builds for other desktop operating systems, so it is of no use on Windows or macOS. Because the tool reaches into system-level settings, it presumes a user who is prepared to accept the consequences of changing them.

Those looking only for passive readouts of processor, memory or disk activity may find that a plain monitoring applet covers their needs, whereas Acters is aimed at users who intend to act on what they observe.