I'm fairly certain you can use a
imports System.Diagnostics statement which will expose the
GetProcesses and the
GetEventLogs methods. Normally this a run from the local machine but you should be able to pass the machine name to the constructor for remote operation.
For running as a local admin, can you not use the
runas command?
Good luck.
This could be scripted as a HTA using the Windows Management Interface or even as a Powershell script. Sounds like an interesting project.