"Processes" running

Humph...

Fred the computer wrote:
top - 09:35:43 up 33 days, 2:01, 3 users, load average: 0.14, 0.17, 0.25
Tasks: 140 total, 1 running, 137 sleeping, 0 stopped, 2 zombie
%Cpu(s): 5.4 us, 1.4 sy, 0.0 ni, 91.7 id, 1.0 wa, 0.0 hi, 0.5 si, 0.0 st
KiB Mem: 2052336 total, 1589368 used, 462968 free, 59060 buffers
KiB Swap: 3212284 total, 225492 used, 2986792 free, 758884 cached

That's how Linux guys do it :) 33 days uptime for this computer (my $79 special)

Any utility from SysInternals is worthwhile. Mark Russinovich is a well-known Windows expert (and a Microsoft Technical Fellow as of a few years ago)

I just ran across another utility that might be useful for identifying processes: Should I Remove It?

Autoruns has come in handy on several occasions. It has pinpointed startup services for programs I no longer even have installed. So were able to clean those entries out of the registry by deleting them in Autoruns. None of them were even displayed in MSConfig.

1492 wrote:
Windows MSConfig doesn't show all the startup processes and services that are configured to run on your system. It may surprise you just how many there are?

Try using the Free MS Autoruns for Windows. It doesn't need to be installed. You can also set it to filter out signed Windows system processes, most all required, so can just focus on applications. Right-clicking any process or service will allow you to search the net for more info. If it's unnecessary, then un-checking will disable the process or service on startup when you re-boot.

Thanks for this tip. I had never heard of this and yes, it is much more thorough than msconfig. I have shut off several things and will see if it helps my computer run better.

Mountain Mama wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
Windows 7? If so, that's probably pretty close to normal. It depends on what programs you're running. Black Viper has some good write-ups for various Windows OS's.

No, I'm still using XP.

Yeah, 60 processes running on XP is quite over the top.

Just checked my home PC and with FireFox browser running I have 29 processes running.

Take a GOOD look at your "tray icons" at the bottom right of your screen. Many of these tray icons are completely unnecessary, wasting a lot of your PCs processor and memory.

Simply put, if you have more than five or six tray icons you have too many running. When you install software it often DEFAULTS to adding the tray icon, don't allow it. These try Icons basically mean that the entire program you installed LAUNCHES and is running ALL THE TIME.

You can safely disable nearly every single tray icon and it will not affect your PC in a negative way at all, if nothing else you will gain speed back.

On edit.. as a side note, my previous company PC issued PC came from our IT dept with 70+ running proceses, that PC even thought it was a 2.2 gig dual core with 4 gig of ram was a slug. I managed to trim down the tray icons to 8 and the processes dropped to 65, better but still a slug..

I now have a company PC, 2.8 gig dual core with 4gig of ram with Win 7, 85 plus processes :M and my home PC which is a P4 at 2.8 gig running XP runs circles around the company issued dual core...

Go into your services window and look at all the services set to automatic.
Read the description and determine if you need that service. If you do not, set it to "Manual". If it is really needed for your computer, it will start when it is needed. Also, go on the internet and search for services required for you windows version. You will get loads of responses to select from to set your services. You can also look at your startup needs and disable those you do not need.

You can download a free software product at CNet.com call CCleaner. It has the software to help you determine the services and startups needed. Another free software download is McGlary Utilities which will help also.

Mountain Mama wrote:

Kennedycamper wrote:
Well you can try shutting some down & see if the computer still operates without them.

And if it doesn't, then what is one supposed to do???

If you only shut them off using the Task Manager when you reboot they will restart automatically. Some processes will not allow you to stop them.

Best thing Id recommend is uncheck the box "Show processes from all users" (usually a check box at the bottom of the display). You only need to see the processes you need.

What I have running:

If you disable/stop all processes it's possible that your computer won't boot. That's a very unwise way to check for useful processes.

Go to msconfig as described in one of the replies above and look at what is listed. Some will make sense to you as they will have names that go along with your firewall or antivirus software, audio software, etc. The ones that don't make sense you can google to see what they are. You can actually disable everything and your PC will still start but processes that you want running then will not be running. A lot of software loads a lot of unnecessary things into the start up so it pays to see what you have and disable it by unchecking it. You can always go back and check the box if you find you need what you disabled.

Mountain Mama wrote:

tkcas01 wrote:
If you are brave, click Start > Run and enter msconfig.exe. Look on the tab called startup and you can see if there is some junk starting that you don't want. You might have to search online to learn what some of the stuff is, but I do this from time to time to keep things clean. Often when you install software, it will set some agent to run at startup to check for updates, etc. Some printers also install agents that will monitor ink levels and such. Personally I can check that on the panel of the printer.

Is there any particular website you suggest to check which ones are needed?

I typically just "google" it with "what is" before it. For example, I have something in mine called "hkcmd.exe". So I would google "what is hkcmd.exe. It comes back with some websites that I have relied on before, such as:

bleepingcomputer.com
neuber.com
file.net

I just click the hits until I find the info I am looking for...