Out of curiosity, you say you have ~40 process running in Win7, but how many "handles' are running.
I was waiting to see if Kermit was going to explain what he meant by how many "handles" running.....
unlike WinXP where one would use CTRL/ALT/DEL or go to START/RUN/taskman for Task Manager
you can get more resourceful information in Windows 7 by going to START/search program & files/ and typing in "resmon" instead
for example: by doing as I have just said and typing in resmon in the START/programs & files/ then clicking on it
I am able to view the following:
- Processes ( my untweaked Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit has 36 processes running at Idle )
- Services ( I have a total of 64 Services either running, set to automatic or set to manual ( note: regardless of what they are set to they all say Running, I have many more Services, but they are listed as STOPPED )
- Associated Handles ( I have a total of 1,505 associated handles )
NOTE: Associate handles are listed as the following types:
ALPC Port
Desktop
Directory
Event
File
Job
Key
Mutant ( <---mainly deals with Cache, temp files, temporary internet files , etc... )
Section
Symboliclink
Window Station
Associated Modules: ( similar results to those of Associated handles, although if I remember what I researched this deals more with processes running............ BUT DON'T QUOTE ME ON THIS )
one should do their own research, when wanting to learn how to TWEAK their OS.........
as I posted earlier, I have not bothered with installing FSAutoStart or Alacrity PC on this PC I am using , that I built back in Summer of 2008........ I prefer to research myself, read up on & learn about the internal workings of the OS I am using, and then Tweak my OS manually..........heck doing so means I have 1 less program running than I would if I used something like a "Game Booster" or "Program Killer" to do the work for me )
a very good website, that I have used in the past to help me start out learning what is and is not OK to shut down on windows OS's is:
www.blackviper.comI am sure their are several other Great websites with great info........ I only listed BlackViper's website as a starting point
I hope this helps & is of some value to those using Windows 7........
WARNING: TWEAK AT YOUR OWN RISK
edit: this has been edited to fix TC's lacking typing skills 