36 Processes normal?

halfpower

Senior member
Mar 19, 2005
298
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When I hit ctrl+alt+del and then click on the "Processes" tab it says that I have 36 processes running. I don't know what most of the processes are but I'm sure some of them, such as msmsgs.exe, could be turned off somehow.

I am trying to reduce the number of running processes because I need my system resources to be free when ever my sound card and audio software want it.
 

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,944
475
126
36 is probably normal, I guess. Currently, my work system has 28 processes running, but I've disabled many of the startup items and running only necessary processes.

The easiest way is to use MSCONFIG (or other 3rd party software) to disable programs from running at startup.
 

stash

Diamond Member
Jun 22, 2000
5,468
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36 is fine. Number of processes doesn't really mean anything: people do different things on their machines. The laptop I'm writing this post on currently has 61 processes running on it. The performance is fine.
 

halfpower

Senior member
Mar 19, 2005
298
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Performance issues can arise when trying to record using ASIO. My recording application instructs my sound card to send data of the PCI bus. It then returns data so that the audio being recorded/mixed can be real time. To do this I have to set the processor scheduling to "background services" and disable my processors cool 'n' quiet feature.
 

Noema

Platinum Member
Feb 15, 2005
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I have 32 at startup, but it'd be much less if I didn't have Object Dock and like 15 Konfabulator Widgets on my desktop. :D
 

BillyBobJoel71

Platinum Member
Mar 24, 2005
2,610
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71
22 at starup, 23 normally idle, 24 when typing this, 25 when typing this and running adaware, 26 when running a norton antivirus scan too, 27 when defragmenting hard drive too. wow i can stop now/
 

imported_Phil

Diamond Member
Feb 10, 2001
9,837
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59 right now. I have a gig of RAM, I see no reason to use a stripped-down go-kart for my daily commute.
 

wexsmith

Member
Oct 7, 2004
194
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Originally posted by: Phil
59 right now. I have a gig of RAM, I see no reason to use a stripped-down go-kart for my daily commute.

LOL. I think of mine as a well oiled machine. :D 26 processes running btw.
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
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Originally posted by: halfpower
I don't know what most of the processes are but I'm sure some of them, such as msmsgs.exe, could be turned off somehow.

That's scary.
 

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
19
81
Perfectly fine; 43 processes on my laptop here, and my main system is probably running at least 50.
 

Savarak

Platinum Member
Oct 27, 2001
2,718
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81
I have 13 on startup, but everyday running including trillian, pg2, and firefox, is 16
 

halfpower

Senior member
Mar 19, 2005
298
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0
I've Firefox open and I'm down to 32 processes. I've got five SVHOST.EXE running and Norton/Symantec has a lot of stuff in there. Does any know how I prevent Windows from checking to see if updates are available?
 

n0cmonkey

Elite Member
Jun 10, 2001
42,936
1
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Originally posted by: halfpower
I've Firefox open and I'm down to 32 processes. I've got five SVHOST.EXE running and Norton/Symantec has a lot of stuff in there. Does any know how I prevent Windows from checking to see if updates are available?

You mean turning off autoupdates? It's in the my computer properties somewhere, I think. That's kind of a silly thing to do though...

Worrying about the number of processes doesn't make a lot of sense to me. :confused:
 

Valkerie

Banned
May 28, 2005
1,148
0
0
45 here, 768mb RAM

RAM is there for a reason.

Depends what the process is you know, you can be running 5 priority games on a workstation computer, and it could be running fine. Whereas, the 5 extra game processes on a regular desktop wouldn't even run at the same speed.

UT2004 can be using upto 200mb to +1000mb, and that is only one process.

For Win x64 OS, load your system with the gigs. ^-9
 

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
0
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I've Firefox open and I'm down to 32 processes. I've got five SVHOST.EXE running and Norton/Symantec has a lot of stuff in there. Does any know how I prevent Windows from checking to see if updates are available?

Why are you trying to neuter your machine?