On Jan 29, 6:27*pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
wrote in message

...
\





On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:38:03 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two programs
running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch

There is a lot more than that running. I promise. Go back to task manager
and
click on the tab for PROCESSES. That is where all the "background" stuff
shows
up. Unfortunately for you, it may not be at all obvious what some of them
are
parts of. An example would be if you had Symantec Antivirus on the
computer,
there would be several processes associated with it. One would be called
RTVSCAN, which is the Real Time Virus Scan process. There might also be
one
called DLUPD (or something like that) for "Do Live Update"

The program tab only shows user apps that are running.

You're right. *There's a bunch of stuff going on in that tab.

I think I will just leave things as they are. *Overall, this computer works
fine and everytime I mess around I regret it, mainly because I don't have a
clue what I am doing when it comes to computers.

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Eisboch- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I think once before I said good call to you on a similar subject..
so again, probably a good call.

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I
am not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and
cooling fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and
then it springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but
then starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to
completely go through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After
that, it's good for another week or so until it begins to start up by
itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch



right click on the task bar at the bottom of your screen. then select task
manager. And I am not a geek. A little geekish, maybe.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:37:09 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch


This was posted by John Wentworth back in Oct '06.

Maybe you can use it. I've not done so.

Windows XP and Me contain a program called msconfig (Start-Run-type
msconfig
and select Startup) that will identify those programs that will autorun.

Or, go to http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html for a
freeware
tool that does the same and more, and works on all Windows platforms. Much
safer than editing the registry.

At the same site look at ProcessExplorer; this is a tool that provides
information on every process running on your computer.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilitie...sExplorer.html If you're not
sure if a process should be running go to
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php to identify the good guys and bad
guys.

The Process Explorer looks interesting, but I'm semi-afraid to try it.
You're brave. Let me know what happens.
--
John H

"Eisboch" wrote in message ...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch




I use this little jewel:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

Its called autoruns.

Enjoy!

db

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:18:51 -0500, "D-unit" cof42_AT_embarqmail.com
wrote:



I use this little jewel:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

Its called autoruns.

Enjoy!

db



D-unit - I just downloaded and installed Autoruns. Cool little program.
Thanks for suggesting it. I especially like the way it can jump to the
internet for info on the files that are starting.

Again, thanks.
--
John H

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:37:09 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Been there, done that.

The Task Manager thingy magigger - right click on the Task Bar (which,
oddly enough, is an appropriate name because it actually displays
tasks) and select Task Manager.

Then, be prepared for the Wonderful Magical Journey into Arcana - The
Land of Windows Task Naming Conventions and Process Misnomers.

It's a fun world.

However, I'd look around my desktop and see what could possibly be
running. I had a similar problem with QT and iTunes - they would
start up and sit in the background, then wouldn't shut down properly
until I disabled them on startup and put them on-call as it were.

That's probably what it is - a program that starts it'self up, then
goes in to sleeper mode until called for.

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:37:09 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Been there, done that.

The Task Manager thingy magigger - right click on the Task Bar (which,
oddly enough, is an appropriate name because it actually displays
tasks) and select Task Manager.

Then, be prepared for the Wonderful Magical Journey into Arcana - The
Land of Windows Task Naming Conventions and Process Misnomers.

It's a fun world.

However, I'd look around my desktop and see what could possibly be
running. I had a similar problem with QT and iTunes - they would
start up and sit in the background, then wouldn't shut down properly
until I disabled them on startup and put them on-call as it were.

That's probably what it is - a program that starts it'self up, then
goes in to sleeper mode until called for.


PC Mag has a util called Startup Cop Pro that tells you what programs
you've installed that are actually running at startup and right
afterwards, as opposed to the Windoze "system" files, most of which are
not running "optionally." It also lets you temporarily or permanently
stop programs from running at start-up.

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I
am not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and
cooling fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and
then it springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but
then starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to
completely go through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After
that, it's good for another week or so until it begins to start up by
itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch





I have a pdf article from Tech Republic that lists XP services which can
safely be disabled. Want it emailed?

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...



I have a pdf article from Tech Republic that lists XP services which can
safely be disabled. Want it emailed?


Appreciate the offer, but the less I know about computers the better off I
am. I try to keep things v-e-r-y simple because in the past when I thought
I was smart ... I wasn't.

I can go on for hours discussing ionized gas plasmas, thin films for optics,
index of refraction, cryopumping vacuum vessels, growth characteristics of
condensed water vapor, diamond-like film structures and sometimes messing
around with audio equipment. But, I can't spell commputter.

Eisboch

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...



I have a pdf article from Tech Republic that lists XP services which can
safely be disabled. Want it emailed?


Appreciate the offer, but the less I know about computers the better off I
am. I try to keep things v-e-r-y simple because in the past when I
thought I was smart ... I wasn't.

I can go on for hours discussing ionized gas plasmas, thin films for
optics, index of refraction, cryopumping vacuum vessels, growth
characteristics of condensed water vapor, diamond-like film structures and
sometimes messing around with audio equipment. But, I can't spell
commputter.

Eisboch



Let's talk about sputtered copper on polyimide for high argon pressure.

Or not.