 |
White Papers & Tutorials
Windows Processes Explained
Like most modern operating systems, Windows
can run many programs at the same time. Still, unless your computer
has several processors, it can only perform one task at a time.
To solve this problem Windows switches rapidly between all running
programs, creating the illusion of all programs running in parallel.
If you have ever experienced a crash, however, you probably
know that as soon as the switching stops working, all programs
simply stop working. This is because the processor gets locked
up in one process and stays there.
What is a Process?
While the word "program" refers to the executable
code (the exe file, for example), a process is a program that
is being executed. When you start a program in Windows, the
executable will be loaded into RAM. Windows will then add the
new process to its internal process list and make sure the process
receives some CPU time as well as memory and other resources.
A process can then request any amount of resources from Windows
as long as there are resources left. Windows keeps track of
which processes are using which resources. As soon as a process
is closed or terminated, all resources used by that process
will be returned to Windows and will then be handed out to other
processes. Unlike memory and similar resources, CPU time cannot
simply be requested but is instead shared equally between processes.
A process can also return the CPU to Windows before the assigned
time slice ends. This is actually what happens most of the time
and is the reason why your CPU usage is not always at 100 %.
Terminating Processes to Free Up Resources
Whenever a process is terminated by the user, all resources
used by that process will be released and become available to
other processes. If you are running ten processes on your system,
each process might get only 10% of the total hardware resources.
If you have a 1 GHz processor and 64 MB RAM, for example, each
process might get CPU and memory resources corresponding to
a 100 MHz CPU and 6.4 MB of RAM. This example is, of course,
greatly simplified, and in reality some processes use many more
resources than others. Still, because many users are running
50 processes or more, the amount of resources available to a
game or an mp3 player can be considerably smaller than the total
hardware resources. What can we do about this problem? As it
turns out, there is actually a rather simple solution. Terminate!
Using the Windows Task Manager
If you are lucky enough to be running Windows 2000 or Windows
XP, terminating processes can be done with the built-in Task
Manager. Although you can only terminate one process at a time
and have to guess which processes are important and which ones
are just wasting resources, the Windows 2000 Task Manager allows
you to terminate almost all processes including the invisible
ones running in the background. If you are running Windows 98
or Me, however, the CTRL + ALT + DEL screen will only list visible
processes; and terminating then often takes minutes. What you
really need for this strategy to be efficient is a new Task
Manager.
Replacing The Windows Task Manager
WinTasks from LIUtilities is an easy-to-use task manager that
replaces the built-in Task Managers in both Windows 98 and Windows
2000 or XP. Instead of listing processes with the names iexplore.exe,
msimn.exe or explorer.exe, WinTasks shows processes with their
real names like Internet Explorer, Outlook Express or Program
Manager. Not only will this help you decide which processes
can be terminated safely, but it will also help you identify
unwanted background processes quickly and easily. WinTasks also
includes detailed descriptions of all common Windows processes,
making it easier than ever before to clean up your system and
optimize the use of valuable hardware resources. Apart from
user-friendly names and descriptions, WinTasks shows you in
real time how your resources are being used and can help you
find and eliminate resources problems within seconds. The built-in
process statistics and process scripting language can also be
used to automatically optimize your system for maximum performance.
How about a script that automatically terminates unnecessary
processes and frees up resources whenever a demanding application
is started? Thanks to the detailed process statistics and logs,
you can even go back and inspect the resource usage on your
computer during the last 24 hours.
Click
Here to Get Detailed Process Information
Recommendations
for Your PC:
|
