Help with Process on my System -TSK-MGR

[Guest]

Can someone help me to verify how many process my system should be running?
I have a DELL 4550 with 80G-HD, 1 GIG RAM. My system is running 49 process
as per the task manager.
Do I need all this processes running? Will this slow my system down?
Please help as I am curious.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Can someone help me to verify how many process my system should be
running? I have a DELL 4550 with 80G-HD, 1 GIG RAM. My system is
running 49 process as per the task manager.

There is no special number that *should* be running. It depends on what you
install and how you use your computer. But 49 is by no means an unusual
number. I have more than that.

Do I need all this processes running?

I can't tell you what you need from this distance, but there's no reason to
suspect that you should get rid of anything.

Will this slow my system down?
Please help as I am curious.

*Anything* you run uses memory, CPU cycles, etc., and therefore slows your
system down. That doesn't mean you should rush to get rid of anything
running. Some things slow the system down a lot, others slow it so little as
to be unnoticeable. Some of these are part of Windows. And running some
things is critical, for example to protect you against intrusions and
malware. It would be foolish to get rid of your anti-virus program,
firewall, etc. because they "slow you down."

 

[DanS]

Can someone help me to verify how many process my system should be
running? I have a DELL 4550 with 80G-HD, 1 GIG RAM. My system is
running 49 process as per the task manager.
Do I need all this processes running? Will this slow my system down?
Please help as I am curious.

Is that 49 processes directly after boot up before you launch anything ?

Even though some people here might say 49 is not too many, I MUST
disagree with that. That is WAY too many to be running at a fresh boot.

Since it's a Dell, it came pre-configured with all kinds of worthless
software that starts on boot up. Do you have more than 3 or 4 icons in
the system tray at login ? If so, then too many. Disable the one's that
you don't use, first thru the program's preferences. If not there, then
the Startup menu group, then finally through MSConfig.

My PC here, at a fresh login, has only 20 or 21 processes running, and
this includes a realtime Anti-spyware program, NAV, and ZoneAlarm. (And I
don't have AOL either, which uses 3 or 4 processes.)

A friend of mine just bought a new Dell and the first thing he did was to
uninstall MOST of the pre-installed s/w, including ALL packages listed in
the Add/Remove programs that begin with Dell..... (There was like 14 or
16 of them.) Then disable un-needed services.

I'm sure you can cut at least 20 processes out of there.

Regards,

DanS

 

[Guest]

Is that 49 processes directly after boot up before you launch anything ?

Even though some people here might say 49 is not too many, I MUST
disagree with that. That is WAY too many to be running at a fresh boot.

Since it's a Dell, it came pre-configured with all kinds of worthless
software that starts on boot up. Do you have more than 3 or 4 icons in
the system tray at login ? If so, then too many. Disable the one's that
you don't use, first thru the program's preferences. If not there, then
the Startup menu group, then finally through MSConfig.

My PC here, at a fresh login, has only 20 or 21 processes running, and
this includes a realtime Anti-spyware program, NAV, and ZoneAlarm. (And I
don't have AOL either, which uses 3 or 4 processes.)

A friend of mine just bought a new Dell and the first thing he did was to
uninstall MOST of the pre-installed s/w, including ALL packages listed in
the Add/Remove programs that begin with Dell..... (There was like 14 or
16 of them.) Then disable un-needed services.

I'm sure you can cut at least 20 processes out of there.

Regards,

DanS

----

Ken -& Dan - I removed some pre-installed programs. I noticed that I have
several of the following which duplicate:

svchost.exe (6 processes)
3 on svchost.exe -- System
2 under NETOWRK SERVICES
1 under Local services
-- Why do I need 6 of these?
also I noticed duplicates on:

rundll32.exe (Why 2 of these?)

ADSER~1.EXE - System (Is this spyware?)

How do I remove some processes so they will not run on the system or do I
need them?

Thanks for your help.

 

[DanS]

Ken -& Dan - I removed some pre-installed programs. I noticed that I
have several of the following which duplicate:

svchost.exe (6 processes)
3 on svchost.exe -- System
2 under NETOWRK SERVICES
1 under Local services
-- Why do I need 6 of these?
also I noticed duplicates on:

rundll32.exe (Why 2 of these?)

ADSER~1.EXE - System (Is this spyware?)

How do I remove some processes so they will not run on the system or
do I need them?

Thanks for your help.

There is typically several instances of svchost.exe running. It is
exactly what it's names says, ServiceHost. This exe is actually running
the sevices.

Go to sysinternals.com and download their ProcessExplorer. It will give
you MUCH more info than the standard process window. It will look at each
svchost process and will tell you which service each hosts. Just dbl-
click on any SVCHOSTS.exe and to bring up the properties box. Then there
is a 'Services' tab, which will tell you what services that particular
SVCHOST hosts.

RunDLL32.exe is a valid Windows file. It is also a 'host' program of
sorts. But RunDLL32.exe should not be running all the time and has been
used to run spyware/adware on occasions. One time when it SHOULD be
running is if you boot your PC and the 'New Hardware Found' dialog opens.
At that point, if you look at the processes, there will be a RunDLL32.exe
instance, and if killed, the 'New hardware Found' dialog will disappear,
so it is a real program.

ADSER~1.EXE sounds fishy to me, ProcessExplorer will give you all the
details about it.

You should run the complete battery of Anti-Spyware/Adware on your PC IN
SAFE MODE, ALWAYS ! This is the first thing to do before anything else.

Of the stuff you un-installed, how many of them had startup programs ?
Did you get the number of processes down at all ?


DanS