Should I have all these programs running?

[Brenda2007]

Alright, I'll try the registry cleaner and go to my "happy place" when the computer turns on and that stupid black screen comes up..it's literally for about 2 seconds then it's gone

[DennisD]

Alright, I'll try the registry cleaner and go to my "happy place" when the computer turns on and that stupid black screen comes up..it's literally for about 2 seconds then it's gone

 

Hi Brenda, from your pics it looks as if you have the same pc as me, Compaq.

 

That black boot screen is perfectly normal, and the couple of seconds are there to enable you to, if I remember correctly the last time I used it, press escape to hold that screen and choose a different boot option, such as go straight to the Recovery Console, which I've sadly had to do on more than one occassion.

 

I've got 3 choices on that screen, boot normally, recovery console, or boot directly into Power Shadow (just a program I have installed).

 

The other thing I'm not sure about, but I get similar error warnings every time I use and then close down Sonic.

 

Were you by chance using Sonic Digital Media some time before you closed down?

 

Edit: If you take pics of your screen, just take them at an angle, and the flash won't reflect. Been there and done that as well.

[1984]

You can input those .exe file names into a search site called ProcessLibrary.com. If it has info about the file it will tell you if it's necessary to have running or not. See a screenshot of a scan I did. Note: Ignore the Run a Free Scan on that site, it's an affiliated advertisement.

 

Of course you can disable some startup programs with Windows' MSCONFIG which allows you to very easily undo disabling a startup program versus just outright deleting it's startup:

Start->Run->Type in: MSCONFIG

 

In Windows XP Pro services can be disabled using (just make sure you don't disable stuff you aren't sure of):

Start->Run->Type in: services.msc

 

awesome link that process library. now that i know about it, itll come in super handy! nice!

[Andavari]

awesome link that process library. now that i know about it, itll come in super handy! nice!

It's alright but the damned ad's really make it cluttered. It's not bad for looking up a couple of entries but anymore than that blah, piss on it. I wish Microsoft or another site had something like that, minus all those text ad's.

[Brenda2007]

Hi Brenda, from your pics it looks as if you have the same pc as me, Compaq.

 

That black boot screen is perfectly normal, and the couple of seconds are there to enable you to, if I remember correctly the last time I used it, press escape to hold that screen and choose a different boot option, such as go straight to the Recovery Console, which I've sadly had to do on more than one occassion.

 

I've got 3 choices on that screen, boot normally, recovery console, or boot directly into Power Shadow (just a program I have installed).

 

The other thing I'm not sure about, but I get similar error warnings every time I use and then close down Sonic.

 

Were you by chance using Sonic Digital Media some time before you closed down?

 

Edit: If you take pics of your screen, just take them at an angle, and the flash won't reflect. Been there and done that as well.

 

Nope, haven't used sonic at all. The thing is that never happened to me until I followed the original instructions. I'll try what you did and see what happens

[Brenda2007]

awesome link that process library. now that i know about it, itll come in super handy! nice!

 

Yeah but you have to really know what you're doing..i messed up my pc

[Anthony A]

Yeah but you have to really know what you're doing..i messed up my pc

 

I hate to say it but when you started this thread I knew it would end this way. You dove far too fast into this. I cut my processes down from almost 60 to under 20. It did not happen over night. It took weeks to accomplish this problem free. I Googled each process and there are many sites with info on what each process did and if it was safe to stop or not. I looked at multiple sites because some had different opinions on what was safe and what was not. Than I made a list and separated into obviously safe, probably safe, and unsure. I killed a few at a time and used the machines as normal for about 5 days to make sure some obscure setting or function that was not obvious at first wasn't messed up. Take note and remember what the processes were and if your not sure make a restore point. Than and only than did I move on to another couple processes. This went on for weeks until I got my running processes down to an acceptable level. There were many sites with good info but this one by Black Viper was the most helpful to me. http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

[MikeW]

Yeah but you have to really know what you're doing..i messed up my pc

 

Your best way to overcome this I think is to boot your PC from your original XP CD and carry out a windows repair. This will restore the damged or missing files without losing any work or programs.

 

This link is a good guide - http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[hazelnut]

Yeah but you have to really know what you're doing..i messed up my pc

 

Yes Brenda that is right, but be positive, you have learnt a lot from this.

 

 

Mistakes are just learning curves in life

[Brenda2007]

Awww..thanks guys I have learned a lot and I thank you all so much

 

Now I'm off to ask more questions..lol

[Brenda2007]

I hate to say it but when you started this thread I knew it would end this way. You dove far too fast into this. I cut my processes down from almost 60 to under 20. It did not happen over night. It took weeks to accomplish this problem free. I Googled each process and there are many sites with info on what each process did and if it was safe to stop or not. I looked at multiple sites because some had different opinions on what was safe and what was not. Than I made a list and separated into obviously safe, probably safe, and unsure. I killed a few at a time and used the machines as normal for about 5 days to make sure some obscure setting or function that was not obvious at first wasn't messed up. Take note and remember what the processes were and if your not sure make a restore point. Than and only than did I move on to another couple processes. This went on for weeks until I got my running processes down to an acceptable level. There were many sites with good info but this one by Black Viper was the most helpful to me. http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

 

I know, I tend to do that. I'm surprised I still have a working computer. I don't want to mess with it more than I have to but there are so many programs in that taskbar that I don't know what they are. And when I do a search on them, some don't even come up.

 

Maybe starting over with exact instructions on what to do will work better for me? I promise not to have ants in the pants, I'll patiently wait (I'm in the US, so my time with you all is limited, you're probably all sleeping over there in the UK) OK. I'm going to take a screenshot of my task manager the way it is right now and we can start from there..sound cool? Here it is:

[ishan_rulz]

go here

 

SEE WHATS GOING ON ON YOUR COMPUTER HERE

[hazelnut]

Brenda, if it's of any help to you at all I have 36 running processes at the moment and will not be looking to lower it.

 

My computer works okay, so there you go

[Andavari]

go here

 

SEE WHATS GOING ON ON YOUR COMPUTER HERE

That's a website operated by the makers of SUPERAntiSpyware. It's a good resource.

[MikeW]

I know, I tend to do that. I'm surprised I still have a working computer. I don't want to mess with it more than I have to but there are so many programs in that taskbar that I don't know what they are. And when I do a search on them, some don't even come up.

 

Maybe starting over with exact instructions on what to do will work better for me? I promise not to have ants in the pants, I'll patiently wait (I'm in the US, so my time with you all is limited, you're probably all sleeping over there in the UK) OK. I'm going to take a screenshot of my task manager the way it is right now and we can start from there..sound cool? Here it is:

 

Your list looks fine to me.

[Humpty]

Prefer to run lean, mean and clean here.

 

Have deliberately dropped explorer's mem usage.

 

[Anthony A]

Same here.

 

[1984]

geeze i have like 40 processes on my desktop and 70 on my laptop...

[Anthony A]

geeze i have like 40 processes on my desktop and 70 on my laptop...

 

You could probably cut 50 from the laptop no problem.

[CraigMartin]

My Vaio had over 70 processes running out of the box.

 

After lots of research and tweaking it's now down to 20 (22 with Firefox+Task manager running). Now she runs like a Ferrari.

 

Clicky

[Anthony A]

My Vaio had over 70 processes running out of the box.

 

After lots of research and tweaking it's now down to 20 (22 with Firefox+Task manager running). Now she runs like a Ferrari.

 

Clicky

 

You could cut some more. I killed alg.exe. Not needed for the Windows Firewall anymore since SP2. I also killed Spools.exe because I don't print with the laptops. You also have two processes there for your touch pad. I killed those and my touch pad works fine. You will loose some of the advanced features of the touch pad but I wasn't using them any way.

[CraigMartin]

Are you saying theres's more horsepower to be gained...........good times.

 

Couple of quickies Anthony

 

1. So if I stop alg.exe will windows firewall still run

2 As I've got a printer, I thought I spools.exe needed to be running

3 To be honest I thought the touch pad would be disabled completely, but I'll give it a go (should have tried it before)

 

Cheers for the tips.

 

Edit:

Update: Just disabled the touch pad processes, nice, an it still works.Thou I noticed the scroll function down the side of the pad doesn't work now. But hey I can live with that.

 

Well that's 2 more down.

[Anthony A]

Are you saying theres's more horsepower to be gained...........good times.

 

Couple of quickies Anthony

 

1. So if I stop alg.exe will windows firewall still run

2 As I've got a printer, I thought I spools.exe needed to be running

3 To be honest I thought the touchpad would be disabled completely, but I'll give it a go (should have tried it before)

 

Cheers for the tips.

 

I have disabled alg and the Windows Firewall works perfectly fine. It starts up automatically on start up and runs. I posted a link to Black Viper's site in an earlier post check it out. Thats where I learned alg was not needed. I have been running without it for months now.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/Services/A...way_Service.htm

 

You need spools if you want to print. If you are not printing with the machine it's not needed. I don't print anything off my laptops so I disabled spools.

 

As for the touch pad. I killed the processes and it works fine. I lost the ability to scroll with the touch pad but so what I just use the up and down arrows which is easier any ways. Other than that it works great. This is one you have nothing to lose trying. Kill the processes and if the touch pad doesn't work no harm done. You still have the mouse working so enable the processes again and reboot and the touch pad will work again.

[Andavari]

2 As I've got a printer, I thought I spools.exe needed to be running

With some not regularly used services you can set them to Manual, and if they're needed they'll be started. I've looked at many things online that state this and that is unnecessary to have running and can be Disabled, however I prefer to set "unneeded" services to Manual just in cause they're actually needed at some point. Personally that's what I've did with stuff like A-Squared Free's "A-Squared Service" because I only run it to update, and then do a scan immediately afterwards.

 

For those not so inclined to figure out what each service does or those without the abilities of WinXP Pro there's an Ashampoo freeware called Startup Tuner 2 (note that when I last tested it the backup feature was broken, therefore it's wise to make a System Restore point before using it). However even using it you need to know what you're disabling since not everything it lists should be Disabled and instead should be set to Manual.

[JDPower]

With some not regularly used services you can set them to Manual, and if they're needed they'll be started. I've looked at many things online that state this and that is unnecessary to have running and can be Disabled, however I prefer to set "unneeded" services to Manual just in cause they're actually needed at some point.

Though some services don't start when needed if they are set to manual and have to be set to automatic