ATi is the company that made the video card in your system, and no, the "ati_____" tasks do not need to be loaded. Nobody really knows why they're there.

so what do i need to do to get rid of them in my msconfig, and if i do get rid of them will my computer still shutdown properly

From MSCONFIG, go to the Startup tab, uncheck anything starting with "ati", and click OK. You'll have to reboot for the new settings to take effect. You should not have any shutdown problems resulting from this.

Yup! Nobody seems to have any idea what the ATi tasks do, but the only visible effect is that you'll have a bit more RAM free. According to benchmarks and subjective evaluation, there's no performance difference, and you can still use all the features of the card.

LOL, good luck. I emailed Dell support about this, once upon a time, and the matter was actually handled by a DellTalk moderator. I received no more information about it than what you can get from the Properties dialogs of the respective files... Atiptaax is the tray icon, Atipolab is a polling utility, usw.

I've rid myself of all the ATI stuff via MSCONFIG, too, and my I7500 still runs fine. Video looks great, starts fine, shuts down fine.

Just blessed, I guess.

Don

I haven't been able to find an answer as to the function of the ATI___ tasks; there just doesn't appear to be any literature on the subject. My best guess would be that they have something to do with video preferences. I have noticed, as you have also, that there doesn't appear to be any obvious difference whether the tasks are enabled or not (other than the minuscule increase of available resources). I have questioned ATI Technologies Inc. on the subject and await a response; you will hear from me as soon as I get it.

Hi...

 

Our Inspiron has been freezing up, now and then...Today, finally, a detected problem came up...something about

    the display driver for Mobility Radeon 7500...

I wnet to Ati...a major headache to submit the form for help...I emailed DELL...but I think one of the technicians from there sent us Ati to fix something in the first place...

 

I read that Ati is not really needed...IF we must get rid of it...and all would stil function properly...I do not know how to do the 

   Misconfiguration...rebooting...

                              thank you...

 

                                              oldjim

Hi...Oldjim here...

 

I would like to try to install a new ati 7500 on our inspiron 8100...

Could you advise me as to procedure...?

Our lcd screen has been doing some ' pixel dancing '...now and then, the whole screen kin of disintegrates...I have sought assistance/counsel on the net...from our school tech-men...

The monitor might be going out...but, I thought I should try this first...The settings in ATI  are mostly unfathomable to/for me...

                           Sincerely appreciative of any guidance one could send our way...

                                                   old jim