Task Manager Tips/Tricks

[Franko914]

Hello All,

Thought I'd share a technique for improving your PC's performance, or at least some of the programs you run.

Windows Task Manager overview from Microsoft's web site:

Task Manager provides information about programs and processes running on your computer. It also displays the most commonly used performance measures for processes.

You can use Task Manager to monitor key indicators of your computer's performance. You can see the status of the programs that are running and end programs that have stopped responding. You can also assess the activity of running processes using as many as fifteen parameters, and see graphs and data on CPU and memory usage.

In addition, if you are connected to a network, you can view network status and see how your network is functioning.

If you have more than one user connected to your computer, you can see who is connected, what they are working on, and you can send them a message.

What the above does not cover is how you can improve performance of simple things such as web surfing or video display performance or CD/DVD burning tasks, especially if you open/run many applications concurrently/at once. Some improvement may be indiscernible, while others may be significant -- it will depend on you PC hardware configuration (processor, cache, RAM, video card, etc.) and Internet connection.

The following example will step you through improving your web browser's performance: (it looks complicated but after you've done it often enough, you'll fly through the steps quickly)

1. Bring up Windows TM by executing the three-fingered-salute: [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] at the same time

2. Click on/select the "Applications" tab

3. Right-click on your browser's icon

4. Click on/select "Go to Process" (this will take you to the "Processes" tab0

5. Right-click on the highlighted process, e.g., "iexplore.exe"

6. Hover over/select "Set Priority"

7. Click on/select "High" (you can select Realtime but for some applications, it may make it difficult to work with other running applications)

8. Click on/select "Yes" for the dialog box asking if you want to change the priority class of the process

9. Close Windows TM

That's it. I hope it improves it more than just a little. Enjoy!

Franko

 

[just a number]

thanks. I remember seeing something about that but couldn't remember where?:sad::thumbsup:

 

[SfcJones]

Thats a great tip, but remember, if you try to improve something else, you could get nasty results...

 

[Franko914]

Thats a great tip, but remember, if you try to improve something else, you could get nasty results...

True, true... Stay away from the processes that have a User Name of "SYSTEM" or "NETWORK SERVICE" or "LOCAL SERVICE" and you should be fine.

You can also overdo it by changing the priority of too many processes and end up with no improvement or even worse performance.

In a single processor PC setup, the processor is able to perform only one task at a "time" LITERALLY, even though it would appear that many processes run simultaneously. "Too fast for the eye to see..."

This perception is accomplished by "timeslicing" the processor's time. All the processes that need dedicated processor time to run are assigned "timeslice(s)" and it is in the assignment of priorities (low, below normal, normal, above normal, high, real time) to the appropriate processes that would result in improvements in performance.

A task that requires use of the PC's core/main memory (e.g., graphics-intensive games or rendering applications [CAD/CAM, etc.], image manipulation applications [PhotoShop, video-editing, etc.], CD/DVD ripping/burning applications, and to an extent web browsing, etc.) would be excellent candidates because data that goes into/out of core memory has to go through the processor first.

If you want a big kick-in-the-pants performance improvement from the get-go, install more core/main memory. For example, I bumped up my old Dell 4600 from 1 GB to 2.5 GB and the performance improvement was not only noticeable, it was downright significant (when I have saved more clams, I'll bump it up to the 4 GB max; I'm also awaiting delivery of a faster video card). Playing around with the Task Manager priorities just improves some applications even more. Worse that happened to me was the PC "froze" or appeared to and a hard-boot (shutdown, manual restart) fixed that. BTW, after a reboot, all processes start up with their default execution priorities (usually "normal").

If you do not have enough core/main memory, your processor has to use the hard drive to perform "paging" operations (note the "pagefile.sys" on C:\(root)), i.e., copies "oldest used" data in main memory to the page file on the hard drive, then overwrites the "oldest used" data in main memory with "new data" it needs by retrieving it from the hard drive (page file or elsewhere). This back-and-forth copying/deleting/overwriting of data in main memory (page faulting) will kill overall system performance. What may help in this case is replacing the slower hard drive with, say, an SATA hard drive and increasing the size of the page file. Again, if you had more core/main memory, the processor will not have to swap data in and out of memory as often. Remember that main memory speed can be up to 1,000x faster than auxiliary memory (hard drive) speed.

Regards,
Franko

 

[Franko914]

<snip> If you want a big kick-in-the-pants performance improvement from the get-go, install more core/main memory. For example, I bumped up my old Dell 4600 from 1 GB to 2.5 GB and the performance improvement was not only noticeable, it was downright significant (when I have saved more clams, I'll bump it up to the 4 GB max; I'm also awaiting delivery of a faster video card)....<snip>
Regards,
Franko

I just upgraded the main memory of three (3) desktops in my sister/brother-in-law's office last night (it was 7 degF here in Binghamton NY). They had Dell E521 2 GHz AMD Athlon processors with 512 MB of RAM (main memory), purchased in 2006.

The local Staples had 2 GB RAM upgrade kits for $60 (2 x 1 GB memory chips), a bargain especially because no shipping and handling was involved.

With 2.5 GB of RAM (3 or 4 slots populated), the PCs boot up to display the Windows logon in half the time. My sister logged on this morning to do some on-line banking and was shocked at how much faster the PC was. For their purposes, the PCs should be good for another 2 to 3 years, at least.

Regards,
Franko

 

[Franko914]

Checking for Malware

Here's another use for TaskManager: checking for malicious software and, in some cases, removing them with the aid of TaskManager.

Although some of the subject matter can be advanced (I won't go too much into the details because you can do damage to your Windows registry if done incorrectly), using the features of TaskManager can help confirm/identify viruses, trojan horses or worms that could be executing in your computer's core memory when it's on.

Biggest clue that malware could be running is your PC will be running very slow, basically, a lot slower than it normally runs.

Bring up TaskManager, click on the "Processes" tab, click on the "Image Name" column heading (this will sort all processes in ascending alphabetic order; click on the column heading again and it will sort in descending order).

At this point, for first time users, it would be a good idea to open:
-- a simple text editor (Notepad) or word processor (Wordpad), and
-- a browser window to Google search home page (or whatever search engine you prefer)

1. Start typing the Image Name on Notepad (e.g., "AAWService.exe"),
2. Copy-n-paste what you typed from Notepad into Google search and press [Enter]
3. Review the different "hits", (e.g., "aawservice.exe or aawservice process info for Ad-Aware 2007 Service." from www.processlibrary.com/etc.) and confirm that the process is a valid program to be running on your PC.
4. Type a short description or note on Notepad next to the Image Name
5. Go down the Task Manager list to create a list of "known good processes" which you will recognize the more often you do this.

Now, if you see a process ending in a number, e.g., "tmp0.exe" it may well be a trojan horse. If after checking in Google that it probably is, you can test if it really is by terminating the process -- if it "spawns" one or more processes, e.g., "tmp1.exe" and "tmp2.exe" then you've got a live one.

Some malware will be labeled/named simliar to known good processes, e.g., "antiviirus.exe" with the two (2) letter "i"s, or the classic "isass.exe" because the valid Microsoft process is "lsass.exe" (lower case "L") (the "i" if capitalized "I" looks like a small case "L" as in "l").

At this point, your antivirus program was unable to identify and prevent the bad boy from infecting your PC. Update your signature files, run another antivirus program with updated signature files, run, still another antivirus program. I prefer AVG, AdAware, SpyBot and MBAM.

When the malware is sophisticated enough, it can disable the processes for your antivirus programs, disable TaskManager (yup! you're screwed, but not quite totally...), disable RegEdit (yup! again, you're screwed, but not quite totally...), and disable "RUN" from your PC's "Start" desktop icon (yup! again, you're screwed, but not quite totally...). But that's for another thread that will involve editing your Windows registry files.

Regards,
Franko

 

[Franko914]

Effect on Main Memory of Minimizing Programs

You can use TaskManager to confirm that minimizing programs/applications can free up your PC's core memory to be used by other programs:

Open up three or four browser windows. Do some searches in each browser window.

Bring up TaskManager, click on the "Processes" tab, click on the "Image Name" column heading to sort the process in ascending alphabetic order.

Note the "iexplorer.exe" processes and their sizes of Mem Usage.

Minimize the browser windows one by one and note the size of their Mem Usage decrease to ~ 10% or so. The memory you freed up can now be used by other programs.

Moral of the story: minimize, minimize, minimize! especially if main memory/RAM is limited...

Regards,
Franko

 

[Brooklyn Tow]

Ive got about 10 svchost.exe....Should there only be one? and how do you know which is the good one?

Also services.exe from uniblue says it's valid and then says there are trojans also...how do you know if yours is good?

When the malware is sophisticated enough, it can disable the processes for your antivirus programs, disable TaskManager (yup! you're screwed, but not quite totally...), disable RegEdit (yup! again, you're screwed, but not quite totally...), and disable "RUN" from your PC's "Start" desktop icon (yup! again, you're screwed, but not quite totally...). But that's for another thread that will involve editing your Windows registry files.

I need this lesson.

What about when processes are in all CAPS....or CAP first letter?

 

[Franko914]

Hey Louis!

There could be several svchost.exe running at the same time, as long as the User Names are SYSTEM, NETWORK SERVICE, LOCAL SERVICE, they should be fine.

services.exe should have User Name SYSTEM. If you suspect something with this and other supposedly system files, use the following trick:

1. Start/Search/For Files & Folders
2. Select "All Files & Folders"
3. Type "services.exe" for File Name:
4. Select "My Computer" for Look In:

services.exe should only be found in the WINDOWS\system32 folder and, perhaps, in the WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 folder.

If you find it elsewhere, then, beware! One or more of the services.exe running as a process in TaskManager may well be malware (check the User Name associated with it). If you find it elsewhere, try to delete it and if it spawns, then, there is no question it's a trojan.

Processes in lower case, capital case or a mix thereof... there's no rhyme or reason as to how Microsoft or software vendors decide how to display the process label. Therefore, neither do malware writers.

Franko

Ive got about 10 svchost.exe....Should there only be one? and how do you know which is the good one?

Also services.exe from uniblue says it's valid and then says there are trojans also...how do you know if yours is good?



I need this lesson.

What about when processes are in all CAPS....or CAP first letter?