What is running in the background

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G

Guest

I have a notebook computer with Windows XP and I notice that the hard drive
runs alot when I am not doing anything. I leave the computer on all the time
and this goes on even after several hours of idle time. So what is going on ?
Roy
 
No I have Indexing disabled. I do not have any spyware or virus. I have 5
antispyware, antivirus and zonealarm firewall and check for updates daily,
scan all 3 times a week.
Roy
 
Hi

Are there any 'suspiscious' looking processes running in Task Manager? Or
is there an entry in msconfig>startup that you are not sure of - something
may have installed itself in the background, which may not be picked up
anti-spyware programs?
 
Thanks I'll try that and see what is going on. My old Windows 98 notebook do
not do this so it makes me wonder what happening. My notebook is running good
and have no problems with anything else.
Roy
 
Roy,

Adding to the expert advice that you received already, here is some more
info for you:

Disk defragmentation and auto-layout
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...lp/html/xehowdisablingdiskdefragmentation.asp

BTW, that article was originally written for XP-Embedded. However, the
"EnableAutoLayout" registry setting very much applies to Windows XP Home and
Professional. Personally, I would not disable this feature, as it runs
during the idle time and does not affect my work anyway.

Description about this feature, as shown in Tweak UI screen:

"Optimize hard disk when idle" check box allows Windows to rearrange
files on the hard disk when the computer is not in use to improve
performance.

If you don't want this feature, you can disable the auto-optimization
feature using Tweak UI. Download/Install Tweak UI and run it. Look in the
General section, and uncheck "Optimize hard disk when idle".

TweakUI for Windows XP: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/tweakui.htm

Manual registry edit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SOFTWARE
\Microsoft
\Windows
\CurrentVersion
\OptimalLayout

Value name: EnableAutoLayout
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Possible values: 1 | 0
 
Thanks for the help. I already have Tweak UI installed and Optimize hard disk
when idle was checked and that is probably what it is. I will leave it
checked. I am always wanting to know what is going on with my computer.
I really appreciate the responses from people who know alot more about this
stuff than I do.
Again thanks to all.
Roy
 
In Task Manager I have 28 processes running most of the time and have checked
them all out msconfig has 6 at startup and I know what they all are. I think
it is disk defrag running. Thanks for all the suggestions.
Roy
 
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