Background Programs - What really needs to be running?
 

I have found that since installing Yahoo DSL, I tend to be running low on system resources a lot and can't multitask as much as I could before.

My computer is a Dell, P3 1GHz, 512 MB RAM. Windows ME

Here is what is running in the background when I CTL+ALT+DEL.

Explorer
CManger
EnterNet
Ipclient
Ipmon32
Cc
Tgcmd
Dssagent
Cfd
Devldr16
Poproxy
Loadqm
Directcd
Navapw32
Systray
Point32
Mdm
Speedkey
Ahqtb
Loader

Seems like a ton of stuff. I know the first several are DSL programs. But when I start up, with no active program running, my system resources are already down to less than 50%. What can I get rid of? Or what can I do to improve the efficiency of my machine?

A quick search of the Microsoft Knowledge Base will tell you what default background processes run with Windows.

As for your system resources being around 50% free, that's been a long-standing issue with Windows 9x and ME. If you want to be rid of "low system resources" you'll need to upgrade to Windows 2000 or XP. They handle memory differently and while you _can_ run low on resources on 2000/XP, it's not that same problem you're experiencing. In fact, the only time I've ever had problems with low system resources under 2000/XP is when an errant program is consuming all the available RAM and virtual RAM in the system. 99% of the time, I can open a ton of stuff without incident.

Someone else might explain it better that this, but upgrading to 2000 or XP wll be worth the time and money.

This guy Black Viper has a whole low down on what each one does and if you need it or not.

http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

that helped some, but didn't tell me what the stuff was (or at least not where I was looking)

Go to black viper he has a very good list of what you need to have running and what you can turn off. He might even have a program to make the changes for you ( not sure).

Here is a link that i have used to try and identify unknown/unfamiliar background processes http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm
Also it probably isn't a bad idea to run adaware or spybot to clear out any spyware that might be running on your system.
I can also tell you that some of the processes listed (devldr16, ahqtb, etc) are programs "needed" for some of your hardware to work (devldr16 = nvidia video card, and ahqtb = creative sound card), but usually a google search has helped me identify some of the "weird" process names.

thabks for the links that helped me out alot understanding my comp

i'll download Spybot. I used to have Grokster, and that was chock full o' spyware shenanigans

Thanks for the links, been looking for the explainations for some of the more cyrptic programs.

In all truthfulness, you probably dont "need" any of those programs, with the exception of explorer and perhaps others. To tell you the truth though, even your "needed" programs for things like creative sound blaster, and nvidia, are completely unnecessary. looks to me like your running proxy software, and it also seems that you have an Ms mouse. you can disable both of those processes. I have no idea what point32 does, but I do know that Ms mice dont need it to work and that it always installs it for ms mice. thats just an example

good luck

Run as little as possible. Seriously. Don't be one of those guys that has a 4-inch system tray loaded with crap (bigger is definitely not better in this case....heh heh....)

Things in your system tray to shut off:

WinMX (unless youre downloading)
QuickTime (spyware anyway)
Cheesy app "quickloaders" (WTF for???)

all i have in my system tray are:

The little mouse icon
The volume control
Norton Anti-Virus
SBC Yahoo DSL Connection Manager
AOL IM
Mozilla

I would say: Kill all sbc stuff (completely uninstall it) except e300.
e300 is the only thing you actually need anyway, and if you ever happen to lose it, you can call us and say, "Hey, I just need e300 installed." and we do it.

google each process and read what you get.

I'll bite. :) I'm killing time, so, I'll help you out.
Caveat Emptor (or something rather) You need to determine for yourself if you need them or not. Some of them are tricky to get rid of, but luckily, there are some pretty good sources out there.

I found almost all of these here http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm and used this as a jumping off point to run them through Google. I think it worked out pretty good all round. :)