Running 72 Process

I dont know how it happened but my laptop is running 72 processes.
Any tips on which ones are extras outside normal operation

 

I'm running 86 at the moment so.....

 

download the free glary utils , it has a startup and process adviser amongst other great tools.

http://www.glaryutilities.com/

 

The more process the comp runs, the cpu gets used up, which in turn slows down the computer. DUH!

 

I'm sorry, if you're computer is running 72 processes and still isn't snappy, then you must be running a lot of bloatware. 72 processes doesn't equal 72 programs eating away at the CPU and RAM 100% of the time.

72 or even 86 processes and at idle you should only really see 2%-8% CPU usage at any given time if you're background processes aren't bloatware. First thing you should do is scan for any virus/malware, then check if any of the processes are non-essential; and maybe think about getting a faster processor. 1.4GHz single core CPU might just be why you think your computer is "slowed down".

 

Amen Brother!

 

Its not slowed down. Its very responsive. Just want to make it snappier to avoid any slow downs and making sure that nothing extraneous is running.
The processor is soldered so no upgrading for me.

 

You have essentially two types or proccesses, one to worry about and the other not too always worry about.

The first type of proccess is event driven. These are only active when an event, such as keystroke, mouse movement etc., happen. So long as the event is rare, by CPU cycles standards, they are not too wory about. They rarely have to load to the L2 and L1 cache nor actually use up CPU resources. Some event driven proccesses can be killer, like AES encryption acting on wireless data sent or recieved or say a Dolby Encoding proccess. These can be troublesome.

The second type of proccess is always active. Like gadgets constantly monitoring system resources. These proccesses are not only hitting the cpu but causing constant flushing and reloading of the L1 and L2. The more of this you go through the more the system seems slow as the CPU waistes cycles waiting on memory.

Now lastly this is why going to Dual or quad cores help out too. As they multi thread while the L2 is shared the L1's are exclusive. Since the L1's flush less often more CPU cycles can be dedicated to the thread rather than waiting on L1 Load/Flush.

So you have to be carefull of even what looks like an idle proccess. it may be very slight in cpu usage but killing the system in other ways. I always like to kill what looks like an unneeded proccess before I remove them to see how the system responds. YMMV and do so at your own risk here too.

Now understand the above is just a simplistic explination, it is really WAY more complex. It is just meant to give a gist of the issue and to give a lay person basic understanding........

 

thanks tanware.