Community Newsletter: Q&A: How do I disable unnecessary programs running in my PC’s background?
- 9/25/08 12:59 PM
ASCOTT3..>> Roboform vs KeePass vs CloakPass
by Harlans daughter - 9/25/08 10:49 AM In reply to: Password protection - Try Roboform by ascott3Thank you for your information on RoboForm. Since I had never heard of this product, I did a search at PC World, and there I found this article from Steve Bass (one of my favorite people!). I'm pasting just a bit from an article about what Steve says about products like this here:
You probably know I'm a RoboForm fan, to the extent that I'd give up a browser if it was incompatible with RoboForm. (It's officially known as RoboForm Pro Password Manager & Form Filler.) You can read about it and I encourage you to download the free version to try out the program, and eventually buy it. I can guarantee that once you get through the short learning curve, you'll rely on Roboform the way I do.
If you're not willing to shell out $30, you might want to try KeePass. It's free, open source, and has many of the functions that are built into RoboForm.
Password Cloaking
Here's something profound: "The more complex you make your passwords, the harder they are to crack. but the harder they are to remember." That's from the makers of CloakPass, a smart, free utility that handles the job of making your simple-to-remember password something extraordinarily difficult for a hacker to break.
STEVE BASS @ PC World
Again thank you for the information. I am going to do more research on RoboForm and the FREE KeePass and FREE CloakPass.
Would it be wrong of me to ask in this forum if any of you have KeePass or CloakPass and how you like those programs? If you feel that this question would be a distraction to the original posters question, then please do not reply with information on these programs. I just don't want to be more guilty of distractions to her, and I admit to making distractions, for which I am sorry. Thank you, Mary
Access Manager
by Old Dog New Tricks - 11/15/08 3:45 PM In reply to: ASCOTT3..>> Roboform vs KeePass vs CloakPass by Harlans daughterHi Mary,
Also dont want to sidetrack, but check our www.julienpasquet.net here in France (you can read it in english) for a password program called Access Manager. Have used it for 2 years now & no problems.
Peter
Piece of cake, sort of.
by theboyd - 9/12/08 5:30 PM In reply to: How do I disable unnecessary programs running in my PC’s background? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I'd suggest that the first step is downloading and installing a great piece of software called WinPatrol by BillP Studios. Once installed, you'll be able to see what starts when your computer starts XP in addition to other tasks as well. After you see what all is running, then you can decide what stays and what is deleted. As a general rule, if it's Microsoft's I'd let it stay, anyone else is up to your discretion. Good luck: theboyd
I also recommend WinPatrol
by ctrl_alt_delete - 9/12/08 5:46 PM In reply to: Piece of cake, sort of. by theboydWinPatrol is great in that it not only allows you to turn off startup programs that are already installed, but if you let it run in the background (don't worry, it uses very little system resources), it monitors any future changes that are made to Windows (such as new startup programs, new ActiveX controls, new IE Helpers, new services, etc.) and gives you an opportunity to allow or deny those changes. That way you can stay on stop of any new programs that make changes (such as adding itself to startup) without your knowledge.
If you purchase the Pro version (the basic version is free), it also gives you exclusive access to a database with info on thousands of startup programs, to help you decide what to leave on or off; however I've been able to make do with the free version by simply googling the program's name.
There are other programs that do the same thing (e.g. Spybot's TeaTimer), but I found that WinPatrol does it the best, IMO.
WinPatrol
by grahamstroud - 9/15/08 12:06 AM In reply to: I also recommend WinPatrol by ctrl_alt_deleteI couldn't agree more. Win Patrol does a really good job of letting you disable programs running in the background and warning you of changes being made to your system. What's more, you can see which programs you've diabled and switch them back on again if you've made a mistake. I'd steer clear of Spybot's TeaTimer - it's not easy to use.
Simple and Free
by dmerrick12953 - 9/12/08 5:33 PM In reply to: How do I disable unnecessary programs running in my PC’s background? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
The simpliest easiest way I have found is a program called "Start up Inspector for Windows". It is free and it works perfectly. You can shut off or turn on programs you want. It will make suggestions but you have final choice. Quick Simple Free - can't beat that.
dmerrick12953 -
by catlady9tails - 9/20/08 3:44 PM In reply to: Simple and Free by dmerrick12953I downloaded (start up inspecter for windows) and it worked thank you catlady
Disabling Unnecessary "Background" Programs
by Myron Achtman - 9/12/08 5:37 PM In reply to: How do I disable unnecessary programs running in my PC’s background? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hello Kate,
There is no way that the average computer user could begin to guess which "background" applications can be disabled. Even if you knew what to disable, chances are you wouldn't know how to turn off a task.
I recommend a program called Fix-It Utilities 8 Professional. This package contains a full suite of utilities including one that identifies and explains what the various background tasks are doing. Furthermore, it ranks the tasks to give you an idea of how important or unimportant they are.
You can toggle tasks off or leave them on after reading a brief explanation that describes the "app." You'll be amazed how many unnecessary programs are running on your system. Disable them and your XP system will run "lean and mean."
Fix-It Utilities 8 Professional
by tedtks - 10/27/08 12:28 AM In reply to: Disabling Unnecessary "Background" Programs by Myron Achtmanwent to cnet download - saved this ' fix it ' but it
came up with an error = 'not a valid win32 file'
not to mention that they want $30 for it.
Downnload "What's Running"
by Calicoe - 9/12/08 5:56 PM In reply to: How do I disable unnecessary programs running in my PC’s background? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
A program called What's Running will not only stop programs, processes etc. it will also start them sgain if you run the program and check the ones you want restarted
What are those programs that load at start-up ?
by anolehippy - 9/12/08 5:57 PM In reply to: How do I disable unnecessary programs running in my PC’s background? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
GO TO this site... http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php?filter=&letter=A
This site will identify most of the programs in your start up list which you can access by ; Click the Start button...Click RUN...type MSCONFIG...Press Enter...Click on the Start Up tab. The list at the URL above does a good job of explaining the actions of the entries and even suggests whether or not you should disable them. From here it is up to you to decide which programs you should leave and those you can do without (as the software you run varies from that of everyone else). The nice thing here is you can disable them, reboot and if you have a problem, you can re-enable them. GOOD Luck
What about programs with a series of squares in Startup List
by QuartetmanIA - 9/21/08 5:57 PM In reply to: What are those programs that load at start-up ? by anolehippyI ran msconfig and looked at the startup tab. There were two entries with strange characters (squares) for the name. I have no clue what they were. Thinking if it doesn't have a valid name, then it can't possibly be worth keeping so I disabled them.
After my WindowsXP restarted and I started my session, I got a pop up box saying something about these missing files (square characters for a name) being referenced in the registry. So I enabled them again, which didn't solve the problem, I got the same error after a Restart.
I finally did a system restore to get back to normal startup.
What are these programs? Can they be trusted if they don't have a name I can read or search for on Google/Yahoo? Do I need to remove them from the registry? That's a scary proposition, but still I think there is something invalid about having them in my startup.
Anybody have suggestions on what I should do about them?
Squares
by Iggyo - 9/23/08 2:03 PM In reply to: What about programs with a series of squares in Startup List by QuartetmanIAYou should probably check to see what foreign language programs/applications if any that you may have installed. Typically, they will have file names in their native language and may not display correctly. Otherwise, I'd be quite suspicious of those files/programs/processes. I hope this helps!
Programs with squares and other odd characters in them
by flyingwimpie - 10/26/08 4:30 PM In reply to: What about programs with a series of squares in Startup List by QuartetmanIAHi QuartetmanIA,
I have just found an entry that sounds like that. Have you found out what your enties are yet? I can't paste an image of mine but this describes it:
It looks sort of arabic or something, whereas all other items are proper english. The first column entry (startup item)is a ü followed by a square. The second column entry (command)is a small m followed by a square then a small superscript quote mark then a pipe symbol(vertical line) then a backslash then a ü, then another square. I tried to print these characters in MS Word using its symbols but they do not paste properly here... më`|\ü•
I have never seen such an entry in the start up items and it does not appear in Task manager.
start menu
by RDO CA - 9/12/08 6:05 PM In reply to: How do I disable unnecessary programs running in my PC’s background? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
This is the most important thing you can do to make your computer run better in all ways including faster boot times etc.
I set up computers for people and this is the way I go about it.
Go to start and run and type in msconfig than choose the startup tab--go thru the list and uncheck the items that you do not want to start and run in the background. they of course slow the computer. You will not know what a lot of the items are so you need to research each item to see if it can be turned off with out adverse things happening. Go to sysinfo.org and to the startup section and type in the command from the startup tab to see what it does. They will tell you if you can turn it off or leave it on or if it is a toss up. If you don't know leave it on. There are other sites to use also like Ultimate trouble shooter.You can always start these items you turn off so it soes not stop your useage.
Roy
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