This contribution overviews recent progresses on utilizing hard probes (particles of high transverse momentum ($p_\mathrm{T}$) or large mass) to explore a variety of topics in $p$+A and A+A collisions with center-of-mass energies below 200 GeV. This includes: $i)$ search for the intrinsic charm in nucleons; $ii)$ measurements of high-$p_\mathrm{T}$ hadrons, electrons from heavy favor hadron decay, thermal dilepton and $J/\psi$ at various beam energies; $iii)$ theoretical perspective on probing collision dynamics with photons. An outlook to future measurements and programs, including phase-II of the beam energy scan program at RHIC and the NA60+ experiment proposed at SPS, is also given.