How do I check whats running in the background?

davidscot

Hi
Following on from my thread elsewhere in the forum (BT+computer) I was hoping someone can help here.
I would like to check what programs are running at start-up and whats running in the background as I use the computer. This would hopefully help me maximise my speeds if I can see whats running and possibly delete stuff etc, or if this is not a good idea then whatever help anyone can give to optimise speeds.
This would save me taking the computer to be checked elsewhere.
Any help or tips much appreciated.

kwikbreaks

I'm guessing Windows.
Ccleaner will show what programs get fired off during startup - http://www.piriform.com/

The inbuilt windows task manager will show current processes. Just killing processes is likely to bring grief so stick with pruning the startup ones you don't need.

OK_Sauce

Ctrl+Alt+Del select "task manager"

prowla

Ctrl-Alt-Del and select Task Manager - that has a tab to show what is running.
If you type "msconfig" into a command prompt or the "search" or "run" text box off the start menu, you will be able to choose what gets run on startup.
Note that killing processes in Task manager and/or disabling the wrong thing in msconfig can be bad news.

davidscot

kwikbreaks wrote: »

I'm guessing Windows.
Ccleaner will show what programs get fired off during startup - http://www.piriform.com/

The inbuilt windows task manager will show current processes. Just killing processes is likely to bring grief so stick with pruning the startup ones you don't need.

Yes its Windows XP package. Ive used the task manager to see whats going on and im not just going to kill processes at will, I will see what hopefully I can and cannot do to speed up things.

kwikbreaks

A google search on each process named will tell you what it does and usually if you can safely stop it from starting up.

GunJack

Also useful for pruning is spybot s&d. go into tools, system startup. It's more comprehensive than CCleaner for this purpose, and many items listed will have a description and whether it's safe to disable or not

peigi_2

I am running PC with windows XP. I have checked in the control panel and it says that SP2 needs repair but I cannot find anywhere I can do this...any help out there for this repair. I have the CD that came with the computer...:(

mickeypops

There's a piece of freeware you can google for called "Soluto Installer" which goes through all the processes that start at boot up and recommends / advises you what you need, what you don't and what can be delayed until after you've booted. It certainoly helped me.

peigi_2

mickeypops wrote: »

There's a piece of freeware you can google for called "Soluto Installer" which goes through all the processes that start at boot up and recommends / advises you what you need, what you don't and what can be delayed until after you've booted. It certainoly helped me.

Many thanks I will try - did not repair windows SP2 for you. :eek: