Physical Memory Usage Question

[BaldEagl]

Serenity, 73 processes and 5% CPU useage is way too much.  Got to blackviper.com, click the left nav bar for your operating system and service pack and go down the list with services open from control panel/adminitsrative tools.  I use the average of the default/safe/trimmed settings. 

You should be able to trim about 20+ processes safely.  It a process isn't listed on the site then it's not a default windows process but rather something you installed, in which case you should be able to recognize what it is and make a decision on it.  Normally, I'd turn off all auto updaters but you might want to leave your security software enabled.

You'll want to get around 50 processes max and 0-2% CPU useage at idle.  This will also bring memory useage down.

[Serenity]

Serenity, 73 processes and 5% CPU useage is way too much.  Got to blackviper.com, click the left nav bar for your operating system and service pack and go down the list with services open from control panel/adminitsrative tools.  I use the average of the default/safe/trimmed settings. 

You should be able to trim about 20+ processes safely.  It a process isn't listed on the site then it's not a default windows process but rather something you installed, in which case you should be able to recognize what it is and make a decision on it.  Normally, I'd turn off all auto updaters but you might want to leave your security software enabled.

You'll want to get around 50 processes max and 0-2% CPU useage at idle.  This will also bring memory useage down.

My problem is, of those 70, the ones you see in that screenshot are the only ones visible. There are only 20 I can see and thus close, and of those, (The ones in the screenshot) messenger, OpenOffice and Firefox are the only programs I can shut down without the computer crashing or something else failing. I determined that through the less-than-ideal process of trial and error.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

My problem is, of those 70, the ones you see in that screenshot are the only ones visible. There are only 20 I can see and thus close, and of those, (The ones in the screenshot) messenger, OpenOffice and Firefox are the only programs I can shut down without the computer crashing or something else failing. I determined that through the less-than-ideal process of trial and error.

Click the 'show processes for all users' tab to see the rest.

If even that won't show the rest of the processes you have hidden stuff running and that can only mean one thing basically.

[batch]

73 processes running?  HOLY CRAP!

when I have AH running and including my stick software I have a total of 11 processes running

just from your visible list there are at least 10 that can be turned off without hurting anything........

Im sure if you went through each item you could easily get your running processes down very low and still have
everything you need to function

[OOZ662]

Keep in mind that that's Vista...

[AirFlyer]

Basically, I had the same with problem with Win7, it's a bit tougher to trim down then XP is.

[BaldEagl]

I'm not sure about Vista but you don't want to do this from the Task Manager.  Go to Start, Control Panal, Administrative Tools, Component Services, Services (local).

[Serenity]

73 processes running?  HOLY CRAP!

when I have AH running and including my stick software I have a total of 11 processes running

just from your visible list there are at least 10 that can be turned off without hurting anything........

Im sure if you went through each item you could easily get your running processes down very low and still have
everything you need to function

Like I said, everything on that list other than messenger and firefox cannot be shut down without something failing to work properly on my computer. I have tried all of them to see what happens.

[OOZ662]

I can see ten proccesses in that screenshot that I would want to fail while I played.

You ought to use something like AlacrityPC.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Ahh I missed the part with him having Vista..

In that case you should definately not mess with memory consumption things as Vista handles memory totally differently than XP. Also processes that could safely be turned off in XP may cause undesired effects in Vista.

My best advice is still to leave it _completely_ alone unless you have a problem with your performance. In which case install XP instead.

[Serenity]

Ahh I missed the part with him having Vista..

In that case you should definately not mess with memory consumption things as Vista handles memory totally differently than XP. Also processes that could safely be turned off in XP may cause undesired effects in Vista.

My best advice is still to leave it _completely_ alone unless you have a problem with your performance. In which case install XP instead.

Performance is not at all an issue, I was just curious about the fluxuation.

[batch]

the fluctuation comes from having so many processes running....... any one of them might be doing something different each time (checking for an update, etc.) ...causing variations in the numbers

theres different methods for handling processes btw.... you can set them to manual rather than disabling them........ this way when a program needs them they will be opened but not before

whether you realize it or not that many processes does give you problems..... because they are always open and always doing their own thing.......... everytime you see a spike in the game or some lag....... first thought should be those processes