Processes

[MIGhunter]

I was reading a FAQs and it said to turn off everything but windows and taskmanager. I am using winXP and when I hit ctrl+alt+del it brings up the processes but there isn't a task manager or windows. How can I figure out what processes are running on my computer (i.e. what do the abbreviations mean)? The same goes for running msconfig. How can I find out what the abbreviations are. I would like to turn off all the stupid stuff but don't want to turn off the stuff that I need. Thanks.

 

[Ilmater]

First off, Windows is not called Windows (as you probably already know), it's called explorer. Secondly, you are more than welcome to close Task Manager, though you won't have to turn it off in msconfig. Task Manager is just the small Windows program that tells you which programs are running and how much of your resources they're taking up. Systray is what you don't want to turn off. As for the rest, the easiest thing to do is to bring up the Registry Editor and check on the Data in the String Values associated with the processes. That way, you can go to the given spot and see for yourself what it is. I didn't know what my gamma loader was until I looked at the path and realized that it was the stupid little program that Adobe uses to optimize your monitor (mine's a 19" Sony Trinitron and doesn't need optimizing thank you very much), so I deleted its String with confidence.

As far as keeping these programs off, I'd do the same thing; Registry Editor. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to Start - Run - type in regedit and hit enter. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE - SOFTWARE - Microsoft - Windows - CurrentVersion - Run. In that Run key, you'll see a list of String Values. These are the programs that run when Windows opens. If they load, then some of them will be left in RAM. Not a huge problem, but I'm extremely anal about anything running on my machine. Therefore, I try to get rid of as many of these as possible. Sometimes, you'll even find some programs in HKEY_CURRENT_USER - SOFTWARE - Microsoft - Windows - CurrentVersion - Run. I'd get rid of those too.

Technically, msconfig will do the same thing, but there are two reasons I go to these registry keys:
1) This is where the root of the problem is. Msconfig looks here to find out what you have set to run when Windows opens,so why not go there yourself instead.
2) Msconfig will only read those programs that were in your system when you booted, so programs that like to put themselves in there every time you start them up (DAMN YOU REAL PLAYER!! I CURSE YOU TO THE NINTH LAYER OF BLOODY HELL!!!!) will get past msconfig until you reboot again and see that damned blue circle and exclamation point.

If this doesn't help, you can list out some actual programs you're not sure of and I'll try to find out what they do. I've seen a lot so I'm pretty familiar with most of them.

 

[MIGhunter]

Thanks for the help.

 

[Ilmater]

np. Glad I could help.

 

[MIGhunter]

OK. I did what you said and except for the real player update, I needed the other stuff. There were only like 6 files and 4 of them were for my zip drive. But I still have like 25 processes running. I have no clue what they are. Here are 2 links to the picture of my task manager. Sorry, I was too lazy to type it. I also left them at the default image quality to make it easier to read.

Task manager
Task manager-the part that was cut off.

I also re-read my original post. I don't know what I was doing. I ment explorer and systray. Sorry for the confusion and thanks for the help.
Mike

 

[Ilmater]

Don't worry about the size of the pictures. I've got a 3mbps connection at home and at work.. well, I work for a telecommunications company, so you can imagine that it's not slow.

I can't figure out why you have 4 svchost's running, but I wouldn't bother with them unless someone smarter than I could tell you what they're there for. Nothing in that run directory is neccesary. That's why I like using it. The only thing in my directory at home is the program for my Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer 3.0A. However, it's only a luxury because I like using the extra buttons on the side. If I were to have it not run, the mouse would still work, just not with the two side buttons. I'm 99% positive that your zip drive is the same. The best way to find out is to export everything in that Run key. Just click on the run folder, go to the Registry menu and click on Export Registry File. I like to be sure that what I did worked (you want to be able to get those back easily if need be), so just open the .reg file from where you saved it with notepad. The file is very small and to the point. It should include everything that you have in that directory. Now, delete those files and restart windows. See if your zip drive works, and I bet it will. Those files are for extra things. XP knows what a zip drive is and how to work with it from the driver. You shouldn't need the extra programs running. If you want to just get rid of some of them, you can just keep that .reg file and delete the String Values one at a time, leaving out those that work. The nice thing about going into the registry is that you can only disable completely useless things... usually.

From what I see, ADService should be useless, but I'd see if you can find where ADService.exe is on your computer. If it's in the windows directory, I wouldn't screw with it. alg.exe is (I'm totally guessing here) some type of math program? That shouldn't need to run. I'm quite sure that the TICIcon and ADUserMon processes can go. SOUNDMAN can go. Imgicon can go. atiptaxx I'm not so sure of. Just from the ATI, I'd guess that it's an ATI program for an ATI vid card, so if you have an ATI vid card, that's probably what it is and you can get rid of it. That is, unless it's some type of overclocking program that has to stay running, in which case you have to ask yourself: is it worth it to have programs running in the background, slowing down my processor, in order to have a slightly faster vid card. Probably not, but you can make the call. Another good indicator that something useless is running is if there are things in your systray. The yellow speaker is the only thing that needs to run in order for your computer to work. Actually, it doesn't either, it's just that I can never seem to get rid of it and so I stopped trying to find out how.

If you're still not sure, then take screenshots of your registry key and post them. That will tell me what folders those programs are in. I would most definitely recommend getting rid of the zip drive programs, but you may keep them if you'd like. Before I go, there are two things I want to mention:

1) If you're on a campus network (I see the URL is .edu), it can (and probably does) cause problems with booting up. My computer, when running Windows 2k (the best MS O/S ever!) would not shut down when I was on my campus network. I thought for sure it was a Win 2k problem, but as soon as I left campus, everything worked fine. I have not had my computer not shut down on me since - except when it locks up, which is almost never. I would suspect that if you are, this is the cause of the extra svchosts.

2) The only thing getting rid of these processes does is free up system resources, like memory and clock time, and speed up boot times. Most (if not all) of them will not cause any instability problems with Win XP, so that should not be a concern. Now, with that said, I have an Athlon 2000+ and 512MB of RAM, and I still keep everything I can from running. The only difference is a few seconds at boot up, but it's still worth it to me. Maybe it's not to you. You will know if you have too many things running (if it's not your campus network) if when you first hear the windows music (if you haven't disabled it yet) and see your background. The time it takes from seeing that screen to actually being able to open a program (IE, Mozilla, Winamp, etc.) is a good indicator of how much of your available resources these programs are using up. My comp opens programs on bootup after 3 or 4 seconds. That's about as clean as you can run. XP is a little slower at this than 2k is, but it should be close. At work, I have an older comp (a Pentium Pro at unknown speeds) and it takes a good 20 seconds to do anything.

 

[LiLithTecH]

I wouldn't go off killing all the services just yet.

ALG.EXE = Application Layer Gateway (part of XP's built in Firewall)

ADService.exe = Iomega Active Disk, (used to run Apps off the Zip or Jazz disk)
ADUsermon
ImgIcon.exe = Iomega desktop icon

Soundman = Logitech Speaker driver

TicIcon = crappy Shareware program for setting Web colors in IE

atiptaxx = ATI Task Bar Icon

Spoolsv.exe = Spooler SubSystem App (used to Load files to memory for later printing. Do Not Disable. Will disable printer)

Svchost.exe = 4 is the correct amount with SP1 installed, 3 if no SP1

csrss.exe & smss.exe= WNT/Ladex.worm virus
(check for a Lady.exe file in the root of C🙂
This virus hogs resources while hiding itself very nicely.

NMSsvc.exe = Intel NIC driver

 

[MIGhunter]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH


csrss.exe & smss.exe= WNT/Ladex.worm virus
(check for a Lady.exe file in the root of C🙂
This virus hogs resources while hiding itself very nicely.

You kidding me? How do you know this and how do I get rid of it?

 

[Vad3r]

Don't delete/remove those processses yet. Look Here first

Note: CSRSS.EXE and SMSS.EXE are filenames commonly found in the %SystemRoot%\System32 directory. Presence of these 2 files in the System32 directory is not an indication of infection.

Do a search 1st for that Lady.exe before you start deleting stuff 🙂


Found a couple of pages for what the Processes are and what they do -

http://users.aber.ac.uk/anw1/processes.html

This one has it all

 

[MIGhunter]

Thanks for the links.

I did find THIS on google. I just can't figure out if it is on mine. I was using PC-illin and it didn't pick it up. So I uninstalled it and tried to install Norton because PC-illin doesn't have it on their home page. For some reason when I download NOrton, school server, when I try to install it, it tells me that the installation wizard was interupted and to try again later. I have been trying for hours now. No go.

 

[Ilmater]

See notes below, and thanks to LilithTech for the info.

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
I wouldn't go off killing all the services just yet.

ALG.EXE = Application Layer Gateway (part of XP's built in Firewall) - OK, so this would be bad to get rid of

ADService.exe = Iomega Active Disk, (used to run Apps off the Zip or Jazz disk)
ADUsermon - So if you don't run apps off the disks, get rid of these
ImgIcon.exe = Iomega desktop icon - Absolutely doesn't need to be there, as I said before

Soundman = Logitech Speaker driver - It's not a driver, it's a supporting program. However, you may want to keep it for the hell of it

TicIcon = crappy Shareware program for setting Web colors in IE - If you don't use it, get rid of it.

atiptaxx = ATI Task Bar Icon - I guessed this one correctly; it's completely unneccesary

Spoolsv.exe = Spooler SubSystem App (used to Load files to memory for later printing. Do Not Disable. Will disable printer)
- Sorry, I didn't mention this one because you definitely don't want to get rid of it.

Svchost.exe = 4 is the correct amount with SP1 installed, 3 if no SP1 - Interesting, I didn't know there was a need for so many

csrss.exe & smss.exe= WNT/Ladex.worm virus
(check for a Lady.exe file in the root of C🙂
This virus hogs resources while hiding itself very nicely.

NMSsvc.exe = Intel NIC driver - Again, not a driver, but you might want to keep it for the hell of it

I just need to maek two things clear:

1) I only advocate getting rid of their registry entries or closing them using task manager - NEVER DO I SUGGEST DELETING THE FILES THEMSELVES!

2) There are no drivers that are processes that need to run, unless I'm terribly mistaken. Drivers aren't programs or processes or anything else like that. They're different. Therefore, while programs might be used by the add-on cards to help insure that the programs run smoothly, none of them are drivers. Think about it; you have drivers for your vid card, your modems, your USB ports and many other add-on cards. Do any of them show up as processes? No. Personally, I wouldn't really recommend getting rid of them, mainly because if even one lockup or BSOD (does XP even have these?) is caused by not having them run, it's more costly IMO than the incredibly slight gains in performance you get from not having them run in the background. Again, remember, the only reason to turn these things off is to speed things up, and I doubt your computer is dying from that anyway.