SillyDog701 Message Centre

[Mandrake]

If you look in the Windows task manager you'll often see a lot of unnecessary background processes that are using quite a bit of ram. I'm posting this guide to help people disable some of the more common ram-hogging processes!

To check for a particular process, you open the Windows Task Manager. This is done by hitting Control + Shift + Escape on the keyboard. Click the processes tab when the task manager appears, and you should see something like the following:



Qttask.exe - This is the QuickTime system tray and is not at all needed.

To disable it:

Right click the QuickTime icon in the system tray and choose "QuickTime Preferences"



In the preferences window that appears click the "advanced" tab and uncheck the tick box next to "Install QuickTime icon in system tray" then click "ok"



Jusched.exe - This is the Java Automatic Update process and is not needed, most people just prefer to manually download new JRE releases

To disable it:

Click the start button, and then open the control panel. Double click on the "Java" icon



In the Java windows that appears click the "Update" tab then uncheck the tick box next to "Check for updates automatically. Then click OK.

Ctfmon.exe - Ctfmon.exe monitors the active windows and provides text input service support for speech recognition, handwriting recognition, keyboard, translation, and other alternative user input technologies in Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2003.

Step 1
Quit all Office programs.
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. NOTE: In Windows XP, click Start and then click Control Panel.
In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs. NOTE: In Windows XP, click Add or Remove Programs.
In the Currently installed programs list, click to select Microsoft Office XP product, where Office XP product is the name of the specific Office product being used. If you are using a standalone version of one of the Office programs, click to select the appropriate product in the list. Click Change.
In the Maintenance Mode Options dialog box, select Add or Remove Features, and then click next. This displays the Choose installation options for all Office applications and tools dialog box.
Click the plus sign (+) next to Office Shared Features to expand it.
Click the icon next to Alternative User Input, and then select Not Available.
Click Update.
NOTE: If you have multiple Office XP products installed, for example, Office XP Professional and Publisher 2002, you must repeat the preceding steps for each installed product.

Step 2: Remove Alternative User Input Services from Text Services
Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
In the Control Panel, double-click Text Services. NOTE: In Windows XP, click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options, and then click Regional and Language Options. On the Languages tab, click Details.
Under Installed Services, select each input item that is listed, and then click Remove to remove the item. All items must be removed, one by one, except the following input service:
English (United States)- default Keyboard United States 101

step 3: Run Regsvr32 /U on the Msimtf.dll and Msctf.dll Files
Click Start and then click Run.
In the Run dialog box, type the following command:
Regsvr32.exe /u msimtf.dll
Click OK.
Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the Msctf.dll file.

WISPTIS.EXE -This executable runs as a system service that provides pen-data collection for other components of the SDK. When a component needs to interact with the pen (for example, to collect ink or to detect gestures), this executable is spawned as a service to communicate directly with the input device. On a Tablet PC, Wisptis.exe interacts with the digitizer, whereas on a desktop it interacts with the mouse as well.

There is an excellent article on BoredGuru.com that describes how to disable the WISPTIS.EXE process.

Wdfmgr.exe This is included with Windows Media Player 10 and adds support for windows user mode drivers. It's not at all needed and can be disabled.

Click the start button and then click on "run". In the run box type "services.msc" then click OK.

In the Services window that appears scroll down to find the "Windows User Mode Driver Framework" service. Double click on it.



In the properties window that appears click the box to the right of the "startup type" text. Choose disabled. Now click the "stop" button. Then click "OK" and close the services window.

After killing off and preventing un-needed processes from loading some people notice a general performance improvement and a decrease in startup time. At the very least you'll have more free ram for running useful applications

I'll be adding more to this thread as I come across more un-needed processes that like to run in the background, wasting memory resources. If anyone has any comments or wish to contribute to this guide, feel free to post them here.

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Core 2 Duo E8200 (@ 3.6GHz) | Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 | 2GB G-Skill/2GB Kingston DDR2-800 RAM (4GB total) | GeForce 9800 GTX (@ 800/2000/2500)

[Antony]

Nice work, Jarrad.

An old article can help you speed up your Windows as well by trading off the visual effects. HowTo: Speed up your XP

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MozInfo701 | MacCentre701 | AntBlog701 | don't steal music.

[beanboy89]

Thanks Mandrake. Very helpful guide. I look forward to seeing any additions you make to this thread in the future.

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[profman]

I appreciate this list.

I can not find a way to get the Advanced Quicktime menu as shown above. I have version 6.5.2 on my Windows XP machine.

A recent copy the the LangaList newsletter had an item on the halting of the running of the pesky qttask.exe file:

Preventing Unwanted Quicktime "Tray" Icon

I have not yet tried this, but I sure am thinking about it seriously.

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profman, the mad chemist; User of Mozilla 1.7.1x, Firefox 2.0.0.x, & NS 7.2; Moderator of SillyDog Forums. Forum Search or NETSCAPE (+ more) SOLUTIONS

[Antony]

[beanboy89]

[profman]

[Antony]

[DJGM]

Back up your Registry first though!

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Mozilla = Swiss Army Knife: It's versatile, reliable, and contains useful tools.
Microsoft Internet Explorer = Old Swiss Cheese: Full of holes, and it stinks!

[powerwalk]

Before you start messing with the registry, try the free version of WinPatrol. It runs in the background and warns you if anyone/program is attempting to change your registry and will ask for your approval of change. Also watches for browser hijacking.

The app offers you a variety of options regarding the startup, and processes running. You can kill a startup/process for one time only, or you can completely disable it. It also provides limited info on the process in question. If you find you have made a mistake in disabling a process, the fix is simple, go back and start the process again. Many goodies contained in this program. BillP Studios, WinPatrol V10.0.1.0

There is a free version and an expanded version for sale. Be sure to download the free program. I have used this program for three years and wouldn't be without it.


Moderator edit by DJGM ... Link to WinPatrol website fixed.

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[daryn_24]

I have all of these running.. and I have a feeling that some may be viruses? is this true?

spoolsv.exe
spool32.exe
svchost.exe (two of them)
KHALMNPR.exe
U1/2chost.exe
svchost.exe

Should I be getting rid of any of these? If so how?

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[Mandrake]

Most are Windows processes, the other is a Logitech application for your mouse or keyboard. U1/2chost.exe is the only I'm not sure about.

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Core 2 Duo E8200 (@ 3.6GHz) | Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 | 2GB G-Skill/2GB Kingston DDR2-800 RAM (4GB total) | GeForce 9800 GTX (@ 800/2000/2500)