Too many processes active - how can I manage this

[Tom S]

My Task Manager shows 80 to 100 processes are active. How do I know which

ones I can shut down? How do I prevent this many processes from becoming

active in the future? There must be a smarter way of managing my PC

resources, but I don't know where to turn. Any suggestions are most

appreciated.

 

[John John - MVP]

Tom S wrote:

> My Task Manager shows 80 to 100 processes are active. How do I know which

> ones I can shut down? How do I prevent this many processes from becoming

> active in the future? There must be a smarter way of managing my PC

> resources, but I don't know where to turn. Any suggestions are most

> appreciated.



Do a search on the internet for the running processes and find out what

they are for. Sites like these have good information on a number of

processes:



Answers That Work - Task List Programs

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm



Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Pack 3 Service Configurations by Black Viper

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm



Services Guide for Windows XP

http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm



Runscanner Public process list

http://www.runscanner.net/filelist.aspx?l=a



Startup Applications List

http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php



John

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

On Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:51:02 -0700, Tom S wrote:



> My Task Manager shows 80 to 100 processes are active. How do I know which

> ones I can shut down? How do I prevent this many processes from becoming

> active in the future? There must be a smarter way of managing my PC

> resources, but I don't know where to turn. Any suggestions are most

> appreciated.







My advice is not to attempt to shut any of them down. The number is

slightly high, but not extraordinarily so. Shutting down processes is

more likely to get you into trouble than doing anything good for you.



--

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003

Please Reply to the Newsgroup

 

[Unknown]

Modify your startup folder. Don't load programs not needed at bootup and

then check the number of processes.

Also try shutting down malware programs and then check number of processes.

"Tom S" wrote in message

news:C07B0601-3041-4CAC-8448-C756213DE64E@microsoft.com...

> My Task Manager shows 80 to 100 processes are active. How do I know which

> ones I can shut down? How do I prevent this many processes from becoming

> active in the future? There must be a smarter way of managing my PC

> resources, but I don't know where to turn. Any suggestions are most

> appreciated.

 

[db]

one method to see which

processes are vital for

windows and those that are

not is to launch windows in

safe mode.



you will likely see a much

shorter list of processes in

safe mode than in normal

mode.



this is because superfluous

processes are not loaded

in safe mode.



these superfluous processes

are the result of third party

applications that run at

windows normal startup.



a method to reduce superfluous

processes is to disable third

party applications that are not

necessary to run at startup but

configure themselves to do so.



basically one of the few programs

that should run at windows startup

is your antivirus program.



all else should be started manually

and at your convenience.

--



db·´¯`·...¸>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

- Systems Analyst

- Database Developer

- Accountancy

- Veteran of the Armed Forces

- Microsoft Partner

- @hotmail.com

~~~~~~~~~~"share the nirvana" - dbZen



>

>



"Tom S" wrote in message news:C07B0601-3041-4CAC-8448-C756213DE64E@microsoft.com...

> My Task Manager shows 80 to 100 processes are active. How do I know which

> ones I can shut down? How do I prevent this many processes from becoming

> active in the future? There must be a smarter way of managing my PC

> resources, but I don't know where to turn. Any suggestions are most

> appreciated.