Number of running processes?...

Hi guys,

After reading a recent post questioning the number of running processes (78), I am interested to know what sort of numbers everyone is running in XP Pro SP2.

I tend to find I am running 35~40 processes on average. CPU is a 1.8Ghz P4M on a Dell C640 laptop running 1Gb RAM. Page file useage is around 396Mb and System Cache hovers around 315000k.

Thunderbird runs constantly while the laptop is on, as does Trillian IM client - both start up automatically upon log-on. I currently have no other programs started manually, and have 37 processes running.

Very curious to know how may process other users have running before they actually start to USE their machine!

Sorry if this doesn't really make any sense... it's just one of those curiosity things!

Cheers,

Andy.

 

Hi, Andy.

I currently have 77 processes active with my Win XP Home SP2 running on 2GB RAM (currently including my web browser and email client).

Some people may consider that excessive but it doesn't bother me.

 

I have 26 processes running on my XP SP2 system with 768MB memory. The only program I allow at startup is my anti-virus suite.

 

My SP2 system has 26 processes running, 1GB RAM. It rarely gets connected to the internet, it is my gaming computer. There are 11 programs listed in msconfig -> Startup. Antivirus is run manually, only if necessary.

My Vista computer is connected to the internet. 47 processes running, 1GB RAM (only thing that stops my "Experience Index" from getting top marks ), again AV is run manually and I have done so for around 8 years, since I taught myself where threats come from.
[Story...ZZZZZZZZZZ! . I taught my three daughters how to avoid malware. I revamped their computer (after they ran the C: drive out of space ). I neglected to install antivirus or antispyware for, oh, 3 months or so. I realised recently and installed them. Antispyware had a few tracking cookies and antivirus was clean as a whistle. Maybe I should get some lessons off them ]

Matt

 

I have 47 on Vista and I haven't got much going on. Those are mostly System prcocesses as defined by TM under the performance tab.

14 processes under the Processes tab where system processes are bundled and show up as one.

 

Thank you for taking the time to answer guys. It probably doesn't mean much (if anything) to most people, but you know how it is when you have one of those niggling questions in the back of your mind!

Andy.

 

I have 75 process running also in XP SP2. The number of process is not the last or only item that will effect startup and/or shutdown time. Mine PC takes about 1 minute to startup and shutdown.

Normal newer PCs should take about 45 seconds to 1.5 minutes to startup or shutdown, if your is taking minutes then you may have some drive or hardware problems.

The biggest delays come from hardware drivers that must timeout after looking for something it is not finding. You can check the Bootlog.txt file for what is loaded during startup, you can do this a few ways either from the F8 startup of XP or the boot.ini file

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791511.aspx

Also there are utils you can run to tell you about shutdown problems, you can search MS for more shutdown hang problems. Here is a start

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316243
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308029

 

The /BOOTLOG switch may be enabled via Start > Run... > msconfig under the BOOT.INI tab.

In Windows XP, I expect the boot log file will be be named ntbtlog.txt and located in the Windows folder.

If I remember correctly, the bootlog.txt file name was used for Windows 98 machines and was located in the hard drive's root directory.

 

I'm not concerned about the startup/shutdown times really. Just timed a restart, results as follows:

Log off/shutdown (from a "working" environment) = 46 sec
Startup (to log on screen) = 44 sec
Log on (to a usable state!) = 1 min 47sec

Only have 8 desktop icons/shortcuts. I run the "quick launch" toolbar on the taskbar, and a desktop wallpaper. I imagine there's a couple seconds in there to load those up.

Trillian is the culprit for the slow time to being able to "use" the laptop, but it is connecting to AOL IM, MSN and Yahoo! Chat, and loading a large contact list. I couldn't live without it, so no complaints there.

I'm guessing that dropping any shortcuts, the wallpaper and Trillian I could lose maybe 30 seconds off the log on time.

I do stress this laptop out a bit though. I run Thunderbird all the time it is switched on. I run Adobe CS3 on it, and regularly have Photoshop and Dreamweaver running at the same time, and often Illustrator at the same time too! I'll also have Firefox open most of the time, sometimes IE7 too, and at least one instance of Windows Explorer!

VOIP Discount runs in the background too for cheap overseas calls and SMS. I guess I could run that manually as I don't take incoming calls on it (yet!), but I think that's the last of my worries! lol

I will have a look at the ntbtlog.txt file though, just out of curiosity. I love to tinker! I recently got into drive images thought because of too much tinkering!

Cheers,

Andy.