68 processes is not excessive by any means, although you probably have some services running that are not necessary. (I have pared mine down to 48, but I run a lean machine). For information as to what services do, and whether they are necessary, I recommend this site: http://www.answersthatwork.com/ To change the status of a service, (automatic, manual, disable) click on Start>Run, and type "services.msc" (without the quotation marks) then right click on any entry>Properties to change its startup status.
[Edit]: Services running in the background likely will not prolong your startup time as much as applications (programs) that are configured to load at startup. To see which programs are loading at startup, click Start>Run> type "msconfig"> OK>Startup tab. Generally speaking, all you really need to load at startup is your Anti-virus, firewall and possibly an anti-spyware program. All others can be manually started when needed.
To prevent programs from loading at startup, uncheck their entry in msconfig>Startup tab. (This is reversible). Reboot. You will receive a nag message that you are starting via "startup" rather than normal mode- just check the box that says "don't show me this again".
68 sounds darn excessive to me... I surf the web, use media center to record TV, run outlook, and transcode or edit video concurrently and seldom have more than 45 running processes. I'm somewhere near 30 with nothing running (Post reboot).
CTskydiver wrote: 68 sounds darn excessive to me...
I'm somewhere near 30 with nothing running (Post reboot).
I've seen a seasoned regular here report 70 running processes without problems, hence my response. I guess you have to distinguish between 'excessive' and 'unnecessary'.
Disabling the dozen or so processes I found to be unnecessary didn't make much diff to my load time at boot-up (the major concern of the OP) or any other performance variable. Most of these processes were not consuming much memory or CPU time, according to task manager.
I took some time over to do it or not but i wiped every thing off my computer back to the day i got it
And turned off every thing i didnt need at start up and have to say it loads so much faster now its up in ready to go in about 10-15 secs from the password screen
After putting all the programs back on that i had i am
now down to 54 processes now which is better than what i had before (68)
I'm not talking about disabling Windows processes you don't need ... yes, there are several most people will never need and you may see a benefit from disabling them ... but not likely. I haven't gone crazy there.
Where most people get into trouble is installing too many programs and paying no attention to what those programs are doing during the install. I've seen computers with half or more of the taskbar taken up by tray icons for applications and accessories they hardly ever use. Just about everything you can install wants to have some sort of "driver helper" or "quick start" utility load on system boot so that everything is nice and ready for you when you decide to get around to using whatever it is product you installed. They are all unnecessary. You take 10 extra minutes to boot every time just so you can save 3 seconds loading "Acrobat Reader" when you might need it once or twice a week. You don't need your video driver's checking to make sure everything is installed right every boot. You don't need 17 browser toolbars. You don't need 8 virus checkers, 5 spyware blockers and 9 firewalls running at the same time. You don't need quicktime's "qttask". You don't need musicmatch's "mmtask". I use iTunes frequently -- but I never use the "iTunes Helper". You don't need "CTDVDDET", "CTSYSVOL", or "CTHelper" . You don't need "UpdReg", you don't need "NvMcTray", and you don't need "ehTray". It's all gunk. Useless. Unless you use a program everytime you sit at the computer, you don't need to allow it to start anything until you are ready for it.
It's amazing how much junk people will put up with. It's the software equivalent of Spam. "Hey, look at me! Click Me!". Rubbish.
Hi, new here & was looking around for some info. I am used to using winME. Know that all I need to run that was systems and explorer,(something along those lines,might not have the name exactily right.) What is the bare minumim to run winXP media center? Thanks for any & all help Donna
joe53
2 Intern
•
5.8K Posts
0
May 13th, 2006 21:00
Hi:
68 processes is not excessive by any means, although you probably have some services running that are not necessary. (I have pared mine down to 48, but I run a lean machine). For information as to what services do, and whether they are necessary, I recommend this site: http://www.answersthatwork.com/ To change the status of a service, (automatic, manual, disable) click on Start>Run, and type "services.msc" (without the quotation marks) then right click on any entry>Properties to change its startup status.
[Edit]: Services running in the background likely will not prolong your startup time as much as applications (programs) that are configured to load at startup. To see which programs are loading at startup, click Start>Run> type "msconfig"> OK>Startup tab. Generally speaking, all you really need to load at startup is your Anti-virus, firewall and possibly an anti-spyware program. All others can be manually started when needed.
To prevent programs from loading at startup, uncheck their entry in msconfig>Startup tab. (This is reversible). Reboot. You will receive a nag message that you are starting via "startup" rather than normal mode- just check the box that says "don't show me this again".
Message Edited by joe53 on 05-13-200606:48 PM
CTskydiver
932 Posts
0
May 21st, 2006 06:00
joe53
2 Intern
•
5.8K Posts
0
May 21st, 2006 22:00
krone64
6 Posts
0
May 21st, 2006 23:00
And turned off every thing i didnt need at start up and have to say it loads so much faster now its up in ready to go in about 10-15 secs from the password screen
After putting all the programs back on that i had i am
now down to 54 processes now which is better than what i had before (68)
thanks for the advice...
CTskydiver
932 Posts
0
May 22nd, 2006 09:00
Where most people get into trouble is installing too many programs and paying no attention to what those programs are doing during the install. I've seen computers with half or more of the taskbar taken up by tray icons for applications and accessories they hardly ever use. Just about everything you can install wants to have some sort of "driver helper" or "quick start" utility load on system boot so that everything is nice and ready for you when you decide to get around to using whatever it is product you installed. They are all unnecessary. You take 10 extra minutes to boot every time just so you can save 3 seconds loading "Acrobat Reader" when you might need it once or twice a week. You don't need your video driver's checking to make sure everything is installed right every boot. You don't need 17 browser toolbars. You don't need 8 virus checkers, 5 spyware blockers and 9 firewalls running at the same time. You don't need quicktime's "qttask". You don't need musicmatch's "mmtask". I use iTunes frequently -- but I never use the "iTunes Helper". You don't need "CTDVDDET", "CTSYSVOL", or "CTHelper" . You don't need "UpdReg", you don't need "NvMcTray", and you don't need "ehTray". It's all gunk. Useless. Unless you use a program everytime you sit at the computer, you don't need to allow it to start anything until you are ready for it.
It's amazing how much junk people will put up with. It's the software equivalent of Spam. "Hey, look at me! Click Me!". Rubbish.
catsrus
6 Posts
0
June 7th, 2006 19:00