Computer help!

[Conrad]

What ob said, and just to add, it is also worth showing Memory and each of I/O Read Bytes, I/O Write Bytes and I/O Other Bytes listed as well (you may need to click on View at the top and select columns to get all of those up). By sorting by these you can get hints suggesting if any application is leaking memory or hammering your drives as well, all of which may slow down your machine.

[Strongers]

Cheers for the help guys - I will try to make sense of your suggestions tomorrow when the black stuff has finished working its magic.

[Strongers]

So if I end a process that is needed will it just start up again when required or am I opening a big can of worms by clearing a few processes out. I have no idea what any of them do and don't want the computer to stop working all together.

[Conrad]

If you aren't sure what the process is doing then it is best not to stop it, some processes seemlessly restart. Others instantly kill your computer and reboot it.

If any processes are giving you cause for suspicion you can search on their name on the internet, there are a few good sites that list all the processes so that people can investigate what is going on.

Feel free to post any names on here, happy to offer any thoughts.

[Strongers]

I’ve looked all of the following processes up (listed under administrator) and the website advises not to remove them so I’m at a bit of a loss. I’d like to take you up on your offer, so if you could have a quick glance at these and you know of any that can be closed down I’d be very appreciative.

Asghost
Ati2evxx (system and admin)
CLI (x2)
Ctfmon
DLACTRLW
Explorer
GoogleToolbarNotifier
HP Wireless Assistant
HPQTOA~1
hpwuSchd2
iTunesHelper
jucheck
jusched
mcagent
PSDrt
Pthosttr
QLBCTRL
Scheduler
SiteAdv
Smax4pnp
SynTPEnh
Tackmgr
Wmpnscfg

Svchost is open 9 times under NETWORK SERVICE, SYSTEM and LOCAL SERVICE

Please don't waste any time on this, I'd just like it if you could let me know of any that stand out.

Cheers

[Conrad]

Off the cuff

Asghost
Some sort of backup imaging software I think, it is unlikely to be required unless you are using it, probably best to find the application and tell it not to run, or possibly uninstall it if possible.

Ati2evxx (system and admin)
Graphic driver at a guess, essential.

CLI (x2)
No idea, commonly command line interface, think it is something else in this case though.

Ctfmon
MS language bar, shouldn't really be creating overhead

DLACTRLW
no idea

Explorer
Graphic file interface, essential.

GoogleToolbarNotifier
Google toolbar, uninstall if you don't use it

HP Wireless Assistant
A driver relating to either your network card or router, probably essential for the moment.

HPQTOA~1
No idea Hewlett packard driver, probably printer or scanner, essential

hpwuSchd2
Possible a Hewlett Packard driver updater, probably not essential, but also not that damaging

iTunesHelper
Part of iTunes, uninstall iTunes if not used.

jucheck
no idea

jusched
again probably a driver updater.

mcagent
McAfee, your virus checker, essential unless you install another one (although worth looking at how the numbers are indicating it is working.

PSDrt, Pthosttr, QLBCTRL
No idea

Scheduler
I think this is Outlooks calendar scheduler, not sure though

SiteAdv
no idea

Smax4pnp
Sound driver, essential

SynTPEnh
No idea, but it is probably enhanced

Tackmgr
Unless MS have gone back to basics I am guessing this is Taskmgr, which is the task manager, essential

Wmpnscfg
I think Windows Media player configuration tool, low overhead fairly essential

Svchost is open 9 times under NETWORK SERVICE, SYSTEM and LOCAL SERVICE
This pools connections to other services, so for instance all packages connecting to the Internet (email, browser, driver monitors) will kick off a svchost process, if you kill it they will generally seemlessly start a new one, essential in any case though.

I may have a look at some of the ones I didn't know just to see if there are any obvious hogs, but they mostly look reasonable to me.

[Strongers]

I've had a few beers and played russian roulette with some that were not essential and the computer didn't blow up! Thanks for the time, I wasn't expecting that level of input - you obviously deserve your avatar.

Tackmgr - lol

[Conrad]

Typically my home machine has decided to drop a clanger today, so I will be trying to repair that over the weekend, I hate PC's

To be honest all of the stuff listed looks fairly benign, unless any of them are showing some odd numbers in Task Manager it looks like they aren't responsible for the slow machine. It may just be that your hard drive(s) are getting a bit full.

[Strongers]

It's probably all the pictures of the kids my misses has stored on here.

[Conrad]

It's probably all the pictures of the kids my misses has stored on here.

You do realise in this nice trusting modern age, that a statement like that now means that the Police are already on their way round your house to confiscate the computer.