Too many programs running

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officer

I would like to know if anyone knows just what programs should be running
in win XP. I would hope their is a list somewhere, I have currently 50
programs running and dont think I need this many as they slow the puter
down.
Thanks....Guy
 
Programs that appear in the system tray/notification area have been put
there by you, so you should know which you want to keep or not keep.. go to
each icon in turn, access the program and look for a check box that will
stop the program from appearing in auto start..

The Processes seen after opening the processes tab in Task Manager should be
left as they are unless you want to compromise your computer at some point
in the future..

You should also look to spyware as a cause of your computer slowing down..
run Adaware, SpyBot S&D, SpywareBlaster and Ewido Suite in safe mode.. all
can be found by searching in your search engine of preference..

You might also want to do some basic housecleaning.. Defragmenter and Disk
Cleanup are good for this..
 
I would like to know if anyone knows just what programs should be running
in win XP. I would hope their is a list somewhere, I have currently 50
programs running and dont think I need this many as they slow the puter
down.
Thanks....Guy
Click to expand...

You probably don't need all 50 but why are you concerned? Does the computer
seem slower? If no, then leave things as they are. XP is much better at
multi-tasking and multi-threading than previous versions of Windows
(especially Win9x series). Also many of these processes didn't exist in
Win9x or were running but not reported by its Task Manager.

There is no set list of what should be running in XP. There is wide
variance based on system hardware and software. What's right for my system
is not necessarily what's right for yours.

The System Configuration Tool (Start> Run: MSCONFIG) shows what is launched
and running at boot time on the Startup tab. Nothing from Windows has to be
here for it to run. However hardware devices may require some of the items
in order to function correctly. You'll want programs that run all of the
time, such as anti-virus protection, to be listed here too.

Going through the MSCONFIG items, figure out what each one is and if you
need it or want it. There are various lists on the internet that can help
with the identification. One that I like is:
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

When you've figured out which items you don't want:
Open the main program for that item. Look in menus and program's help file
for the setting that control startup behavior to disable it from loading at
that time.
 
officer said:
I would like to know if anyone knows just what programs should be
running in win XP. I would hope their is a list somewhere,
Click to expand...


There is no list, or rather the list is different for everybody.. The ones
that *should* be running are the ones that are useful to you and are worth,
to you, their cost in performance.

As a single example, running a firewall is needed for anybody who connects
to the internet, but useless for someone with a stand-alone computer that
never connects to the internet.


I have
currently 50 programs running and dont think I need this many as they
slow the puter down.
Click to expand...


How many you are running is irrelevant. *Which* ones they are is the
important thing. And do not assume that they all slow the computer down.
Some of them may; others may not.
What you should do is determine what each program is, what its value is to
you, and what the cost in performance is of its running all the time. You
can get more information about these at
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it there, try
google searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed
decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.
 
the truth is that programs are getting more and more vicious hogging up
memory and cpu, adding toolbars, services, shell extensions... its a
nightmare! And I am not talking about spyware... I mean the normal
applications.

For me this is called BAD PROGRAMMING....

They have no respect for the user....

I will be creating a detailed guide on how to counter almost ALL the bad
effects that these programs, that goes far deeper into the subject than
what people normaly post on these groups. However it will not be an easy
task..

This info will be on my site www.computerboom.com that I am redesigning.
 
Kenny

An interesting website.. so can you tell me how to run MS Combat Flight
Simulator 3 on an Asus P5A, !92Mb, 4Mb video card, and play against another
computer of PC Chips type, 64Mb, 2Mb video card.. both hard drives are quite
small and almost full, even without the game installed.. I do have a much
better computer that I can also connect up if necessary..
 
hello Mike, thanks... I am working on a new version of the site that will be
far better...
Since you are an MVP I will be contacting you shortly about something.

As for your question, if the game has 3d you cant do it...

3d and video is not supported unfortunatly ( I mean it works but its very
slow), since the refresh is that of a remote desktop client.

If you need to use those for normal application use like office, web
browsing etc, and use your faster computer as an application server tell me.
(the fast computer must be running XP pro if you want to do this for free).
Send me an email at kenny.open[remove-this]@gmail.com and I will explain
what you have to do to accomplish this.

Kenny www.computerboom.com
 
the truth is that programs are getting more and more vicious hogging up
memory and cpu, adding toolbars, services, shell extensions... its a
nightmare! And I am not talking about spyware... I mean the normal
applications.

For me this is called BAD PROGRAMMING....

They have no respect for the user....
Click to expand...

Personally, I avoid brand name machines (IBM, HP, Compaq, Dell, etc) for
that very reason. I buy whatever parts I need and put it together myself,
and I don't end up with a machine preloaded with gigabytes worth of useless
crapware.

And I stay away from HP printers/scanners--those require hundreds of
megabytes worth of shyte to be installed to be functional, not to mention
anything about memory/CPU usage for their stupid little do-nothing
applications...
 
I agree with that.... the only problem is that on self built you get only
one year warrantee for the machine (for most parts). I am not in the US so I
dont buy those machines you say.
I always build my own.
Some HP scanners and printers can work with the default XP drivers for
printing and scanning.

I have an hp scanner and printer and they work fine...
 
I agree with that.... the only problem is that on self built you get only
one year warrantee for the machine (for most parts).
Click to expand...

That's never been an issue for me in the ~20 years I've been building my own
PCs. In my experience, if a component's going to die, it'll either die
within its first few weeks, or when it's so old it's obsolete anyway.
Some HP scanners and printers can work with the default XP drivers for
printing and scanning.
Click to expand...

Agreed, and this is what I stick with. I have an *old* HP ScanJet 4p
(SCSI), and I love the fact that it's fully functional after a clean OS
install, without any of the garbage HP's newer scanners now require...
 
Personally, I avoid brand name machines (IBM, HP, Compaq, Dell, etc)
for
that very reason. I buy whatever parts I need and put it together
myself,
and I don't end up with a machine preloaded with gigabytes worth of
useless
crapware.

And I stay away from HP printers/scanners--those require hundreds of
megabytes worth of shyte to be installed to be functional, not to
mention
anything about memory/CPU usage for their stupid little do-nothing
applications... [/B]

I agree! The best "Dell" is one you aquire, Kill the HDD, Install XPpro,
wiping out all signs of "DELLness". I have several "Dell" customers who
are fed up with Dell and purchased XPpro and had me "Re-do" their poorly
supported, poorly set up systems.
I Reload, tweak, and burn them a "Restore" disk of sorts for about
seventy-five bucks and they're very happy with the end result. I provide
support for them also being that we just killed the warranty. I always
tell the customer that this action will void the warranty. They don't
seem to care.

Dragunov
 
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