cpu usage question?

Question

I want to stop some programs from constantly running by going into my task manager and unselecting them in processes, but I have no idea which ones i can keep. is there an online directory or listing to tell you what they do? and also, when i try to turn some of them off, it gives me a warning saying it could be harmful... so does that mean definatly DONT do it, or is it just a normal warning?

Answer 1

heres a site with a list of many different proccesses on a computer http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/svchost/

http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/process

http://www.processlibrary.com

And the warning is a GENERAL warning. Like if i close itunes through the task manager in proccesses, itll give me the same warning it will give me with other programs and proccesses. The best way to keep stuff from running is to clear up your start up menu, I think you can do this by click on start -> all programs -> start up, and delete the stuff there.

Answer 2

Simple answer is, if you don't know what it is, don't stop it. Those are threads, some programs use several threads, most of them are necessary to keep windows running. Don't go by CPU usage, because CPU usage always totals 100. (100%) So if a process says 99 it doesn't mean it's using 99 percent of the total processor power, just 99 percent of what's currently being used. Going by the physical memory count will give you a better idea of what is slowing down your computer. Order it by how much physical memory it's using, and look at the few that are using the most. Look those up in a search engine and see which you can close.

Nevertheless, if you don't know what you're doing it's not a good idea.

Answer 3

another way to stop processes running is to type "msconfig" in the run box
from there, you can see what programs and processes are flagged to run at startup.
programs can easily be deselected if you wish but be a bit more selective in the processes tab
obvious ones are - if you don't have a ups, turn off the ups controller process if you don't have a smart card reader - again turn it off.
make only 1 change at a time - yes i know its a long winded way but its safe -
you may consider creating a restore point between each change just in case [unless you turn off the system restore process?]

Answer 4

Three ways to do this:
1. Go into each programs setting, and tell it to stop starting up when Windows starts. You can still start them anytinme you want.

2. Uninstall unneeded programs. To do this, open Control programs, add/remove programs, and completley programs you don't need.

3. Or you could use a free program like IOBIT.com program to optimize things.

Answer 5

Type the name in any search engine, and the first couple hits will likely tell you what it's used for.

Answer 6

try this dl
http://www.winpatrol.com/