How do I recognize unnecessary background programs?

[Atoon]

I have 38 processes running and I know I need to trim that down. Is there some registry of vital & non-vital programs?

[Roscoroo]

this can tell you what most tasks do ...

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

id guess about 15 or so are unneeded processes.

you can get Hijack this  and post up its log file  here and we'll take a look at it for ya .

becarefull deleating anything using hijack this until ya know whats what ... it is the most hard core you can get  for killing spyware,adware,and even virous's that you cant remove with an AV program.

[Balsy]

Originally posted by Atoon
I have 38 processes running and I know I need to trim that down. Is there some registry of vital & non-vital programs?

do a BB search on "hardware profile". There is a way to setup a profile at "boot" just for aces high.

My profile has 13 processes running, and zero startup programs.

It makes a WORLD of difference.

Balsy

[Ghosth]

Currently running 23 with everything up. I could cut that to 18 by shutting down my AVG antivirus & skype.

Current list of processes

Taskmgr
avgamsvr
Skype
avgemc
avgcc
explorer
avgupsvc
Firefox
spoolsv
svchost (x 4) Anyone know why I need 4 of those suckers?
ksass
services
winlogon
alg
csrss
smss
devldr32
system
system idle processes

dunno if that will help or not but there ya are.

[ramzey]

i have 53 and still running smooooooooooooooooth

[Rolex]

You can also download this: FSAutostart - Right click and save

See what is running, take the recommended action on each and select the AH.exe file. It will shut down the processes, start Aces High, then restart the processes after you quit the game.

[Atoon]

GREAT! Thanx for the info guys.

[straffo]

Originally posted by Ghosth
Currently running 23 with everything up. I could cut that to 18 by shutting down my AVG antivirus & skype.

Current list of processes

Taskmgr
avgamsvr
Skype
avgemc
avgcc
explorer
avgupsvc
Firefox
spoolsv
svchost (x 4) Anyone know why I need 4 of those suckers?
ksass
services
winlogon
alg
csrss
smss
devldr32
system
system idle processes

dunno if that will help or not but there ya are.

svchost "host" services not having an associated executable (ence the name) being DLL based.

A Win32 service is equivalent to a Unix daemon (a program running in background providing functionality )  

Now what is the difference between a user application and a service ... (short version).
A service run without having to log on to the computer (in fact it log but on a special account,not a user account).
It still run after the user as log off.
A service has few entry point usualy 3 : start ,stop and run.
each one (and especially run) should execute fast or windows will consider the service as hanged.

[Ghosth]

TY Straffo Sir