reading from memory without access violation how?

[skorefish]

hello there,

Is there a safe way to read from random access memory of other programs using c++ in windows8. (without getting an access violation error.)

Is it for example possible to freeze a program and then read from the memory where it resides?
Has the os a kind of memory table where I can find all programs/threads that are running on my computer?

I read that "before win95 it was possible to read from memory on any location". How is this done in a modern os like win8?

I know, I have a lot of questions, so all kind of info about the topic is welcome...