Possible OT - Computer Processes

dfred wrote on 4/7/2008, 1:55 PM
I responded to a post in VMS and thought I'd throw out the question here as well.

There was some discussion about how many processes should be running on a computer at any given time. To find out how many you have press CTRL>ALT>DEL and look under processes.

How many are supposed to be running and how does one know which ones are okay to delete and which are necessary for smooth operation of the PC? I currently have with CPU Usage changing anywhere from 4% - 13% (briefly). Seems to be more in the 5-9% range. Wait...now as I'm watching that window it briefly jumped up to 54% and is now back down to 4% again.

Thanks.

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 4/7/2008, 2:05 PM
Get rid of all of them that you can. They are not your friend and are usually put there by programmers that think they have the exclusive right to your PC.

How to get rid of them?

Two ways.

1. Click on the Start button and then click on Run. Type MSCONFIG and press Enter.Click on the Startup tab. Uncheck everything and re-boot. If something doesn't work right, or some program complains, go back to MSCONFIG and re-check whatever process you think is associated with the program that is complaining. This is usually straightforward to figure out.

While in MSCONFIG, you can also click on the SERVICES tab. Then, click on the Manufacturer heading to sort by that field. Leave alone everything associated with Microsoft. However, feel free to uncheck anything from other manufacturers. Most processes that are actually needed will automatically start when needed.

2. The other way to do this is to find the Options setting for each of your applications and turn off "install at startup" or "load icon in Systray" or preferences with similar names. This will often take care of removing the process.

I mentioned the other day that I did work for a friend at his business site, and he uses the identical laptop to mine. His is 10x slower (actually probably worse than that). I didn't have time to tune it up, but a quick Ctrl-Alt-Del revealed a HUGE number of background processes, none of them viruses, that were just completely killing his computer.

So, in summary, get rid of them all.

[Edit] Here is a snapshot of all my processes.

Just to emphasize, this is the entire list.

The "iedit.exe" is the snapshot utility used to take the screen grab, so ignore that. I have used this computer every day since December 2002, and it still outperforms (other than rendering) just about any other computer I have used. All applications (except for Vegas, DVDA, and my photo editor) load in under one second, and response to every operation is instantaneous.

rs170a wrote on 4/7/2008, 2:38 PM
I grabbed this from the Sony Knowledgebase a long time ago.

Mike


Close all background applications.
This is not limited to the programs that show in the system tray.
Do a ctrl+alt+del and end task or process on as many applications as you can, leaving only
Explorer and Systray for 98 or ME.
For Windows 2000 and XP move over to the Processes Tab and click the "Image Name"
heading at the top of this window twice, you would be able to view these items by alphabetical order.
For Windows 2000, you should only have:

explorer.exe
lsass.exe
mapisp32.exe
mstask.exe
services.exe
smss.exe
spoolsv.exe
stisvc.exe
svchost.exe
system
system idle process
taskmgr.exe
winlogon.exe
winmgmt.exe

For Windows XP, you will only need next to your user name:

explorer.exe
taskmgr.exe

Next to "system":
csrss.exe
lsass.exe
mspmspv.exe
services.exe
smss.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe
system
system idle process
winlogon.exe
blink3times wrote on 4/7/2008, 3:40 PM
It depends very much on how you have your system setup. There's nothing wrong with running a lot of processes, but you do have to make sure you have the required system and memory to handle the processes you want to run plus the work that needs to be completed.

I never have anything less than about 57 processes going on at any one time. But then I run things like CoreTemp, hard drive monitors, and such in the background. In spite of all the processes running, I still come up with an above average HDV render time (HDV render test) because I built the computer with a lot of processes in mind.
apit34356 wrote on 4/7/2008, 4:48 PM
"never have anything less than about 57 processes going on at any one time. "

Blink, come back from the Darkside! ;-) You were drawn to the Evil Empire once thru AVSForums and HD DVD insiders! Think of your family, spare them the public embarrassment of being listed as King of clutter! ;-)
dfred wrote on 4/7/2008, 5:57 PM
After unchecking items in the SERVICES tab, I received the message that some could not be stopped because I need to log in as the administrator. The thing is, I am logged in as the administrator. Any advice?

I checked your screen shot but it is so small I cannot read it, even with my glasses. I tried going to larger view font but it did not change the size. Any advice about this?

Thanks so much. I don't mean to be a pain but anything I can do to make this run faster/better will be helpful. I've been using this system since November '07 and, knock on wood, have had no problems. So maybe leaving well enough alone would be a good thing but reading about the processes peaked my curiosity.
blink3times wrote on 4/7/2008, 6:36 PM
"Blink, come back from the Darkside! ;-) "

Lol.

In all honesty, I run a pretty clean computer. In fact I'm very close to anal about it. In fact, as we speak I'm preparing another "clean" copy of Vista to replace the one I'm on now... this one has been running for about 2 months now and is long overdue for renewal. (I keep a clean base version of vista on disk image and rebuild new once a month or so).
blink3times wrote on 4/7/2008, 6:41 PM
"After unchecking items in the SERVICES tab, I received the message that some could not be stopped because I need to log in as the administrator. The thing is, I am logged in as the administrator. Any advice?"

Are you talking about MSConfig??

Don't use that to discontinue services.
You're better off going to:

control panel\administrative tools\services

There you will find each service listed and their properties. It will tell you which services depend on what and it will allow to to set the services up so they can start automatically, manually, or disable. It also gives a brief description of each service.
johnmeyer wrote on 4/7/2008, 7:39 PM
I checked your screen shot but it is so small I cannot read it, even with my glasses. I tried going to larger view font but it did not change the size. Any advice about this

OK, you can download it and zoom in to your heart's content:

Processes
NickHope wrote on 4/7/2008, 10:19 PM
I'm using Microsoft's Autoruns instead of msconfig etc.. It combines everything in one place. Just untick what you don't want. I like it and there's no annoying prompt when you restart like there is with msconfig.

However I've recently finished configuring my new laptop and on a standard boot up there are 55 processes running! And that's without a load of stuff that I could have had if I didn't know better, like qttask.exe. I'm using AlacrityPC to stop a lot of them for a capturing or editing session but that still leaves 36 processes. I've got the ones John has, plus stuff I need like ShuttleEngine.exe and ipoint.exe, and then a bunch of others that I'm pretty nervous about stopping. John that is one seriously pared down system! I need to have another go at streamlining mine.

OK, here's a question. Say you want 2 modes on a laptop.... mode 1 for sitting in Starbucks surfing, chatting etc. etc. with all the processes going, and mode 2 for a hardcore Vegas session... what's the best way to achieve this? 2 different login accounts? Or just let everything startup and then kill it off again with AlacrityPC or Enditall or whatever?
ushere wrote on 4/8/2008, 12:29 AM
xppro 18 months, sp 3 (6months ago), usually 50 processes, occasionally run ace utilities, (regularly bk-up with acronis), and (touch wood), not a wobbly or blue screen.

i used to be pretty anal about the whole kit and caboodle, re-installing xp, progs, et al. now i'm not interested - have better things to do than watch little blue lines creeping ever so slowly across the screen. well, that is, unless i'm getting paid for it.

i prefer to spend my 'off-line' computer time reading this group, trying to get the hang of protitler, and playing with my stills work in ps.

then again, maybe the whole thing would rocket along if i did spend some time scratching my hard drive ;-)

leslie