Why bother checking?

Performance. Especially when you turn on your computer. The time it takes to load each piece of software adds up quickly, increasing your boot time. This can cause instability too. There is a chance that some of these programs could be harmful, but most antivirus programs check for them. The focus here is to figure out what is running on a computer, identify the programs, and introduce tools to help with the process.

Listing What is Running

The main tool to find out what is running in Windows is the Task Manager. Use Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open it directly. There are also a variety of alternatives to choose from. For a Linux system, use the ps command or use the System Monitor. These tools will list the programs and processes that are running on your computer. Some of them will be standard process that are a part of the operating system, but many will be foreign to even experienced users.

Known Processes

Here is a list of what would appear on a Windows XP system. To be clear, these programs are a part of Windows; they are needed. What each item does is an article unto itself. What is listed here is the file name and the pronounced name of the programs. This list can change for different versions of Windows. In time, a user should become familiar with these and the typical processes of their computer.

• csrss.exe – Client/Server Runtime Server Subsystem
• lsass.exe – Local Security Authority Service
• mdm.exe – Machine Debug Manager
• services.exe – Windows Service Controller

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• smss.exe – Session Manager Subsystem
• spoolsv.exe – Printer Spool Service
• svchost.exe – Service Host (expect to see it running multiple times)
• taskmgr.exe – The standard Task Manager itself.
• winlogon.exe – Windows Logon Process

Unknown Processes

Chances are that the list of programs running on a computer is a lot longer than the list above. Keep in mind that whatever you are doing will show up in that list (which is why taskmgr.exe will not show up if you use an alternative). For example, if you are running Firefox, expect to see firefox.exe in the list.

Figuring out what an unknown program is will help you decide if you really need it. There are two main methods: find where the file is and a Google search. (A third might be to look at a program file name (e.g. Mcshield.exe) and guess what it is (McAfee).) Windows 7 and Vista users can simply customize the view to show file paths. To search for a file manually, press Win+F to open the File Search. Alternatively, we recommend the replacement Locate32. Type in the name of the unknown program (including the .exe) and search. The key is to look at the location of the program, which should tell you what it does or who the author is (McAfee being another good example). The folder it is in will probably have a name you recognize and contain documentation (e.g. readme.txt). If things are not clear by this point, turn to Google. There are a variety of websites that have archives of processes and will tell you what they do. Neuber.com is commonly seen in search results and has a more extensive list than above.

Tools to Help

Ghacks has covered an extensive list of tools that can help you in this task. Here are just a few samples.

PC Decrapifier: This program identifies useless programs, provides information on them, and gives an option to remove them.

Malwarebytes: A tool that specializes in identifying and removing malware and spyware.

Spybot: A tool that can find and remove spyware, tracking cookies, etc.

msconfig: A tool that comes with Windows used to show and control what runs when a computer turns on.

Startup Control Panel: A program designed to make it easy to control what runs at boot on your computer and can integrate with the control panel.

Some Things to Consider

Once you know what is running on your system, think through and be careful with what you want to turn off. The instructions here are designed to help you “know what you are doing,” but one article can only teach you so much. It will cause a problem if you turn off something needed (via closing, altering settings, or uninstall); it will help your computer to get rid of rubbish programs.

This address does exist within Windows but it’s well hidden.  One time when you will see it though is when you install the operating system and with Windows 7 (and Vista) it is vitally important to make certain you choose the right one.

This wasn’t a problem even a few short years ago as computers only came with a single hard drive.  With the cost of hard drive storage still tumbling though and capacities increasing, it’s becoming more and more common to find two hard disks inside a new PC and even some high-end laptops.

These disks are labelled by Windows, Disc 0, Disc 1, Disc 2 and so on with Disc 0 (zero) being the critical one to the operating system.  This is the disc on which you really should install your copy of Windows.

There’s no hard and fast rule here that says you absolutely must install Windows on this drive, in fact it will boot merrily from any hard disk in your PC and from any partition on that drive.  Windows often places a 100Mb System partition at the beginning of Disk 0 though.  This hidden partition stores the boot information for your PC.  It’s completely separate from your Windows installation but absolutely critical.

The boot menu resides here, if you don’t have this partition you won’t be able to start your PC without detailed rebuilding of the boot system, if it’s even possible to do so as sometimes it’s not.  Either way the process is very technical and not for the faint of heart.

If you have this System partition on a separate physical hard disk to your copy of Windows you are doubling your chances that a hard disk failure will render your system unusable.  It might also be the case that you want to swap this disc out for a larger one, or remove it completely.  This can also render your copy of Windows unusable.

Hard disks, let’s not forget, are some of the very few remaining components in your PC to have mechanical moving parts (unless you’re lucky and rich enough to be able to afford a solid state disk).  The only other moving parts in your PC are fans if that’s any indication of how old the technology now is.  These moving parts can be placed under tremendous physical strain by heavy or prolonged use.

Let’s look at a hypothetical example here.  You have installed Windows 7 on Disc 1 in your computer.  This being the second physical hard disk inside the case.  Disc 0 will always carry the System boot partition so if either one of those hard disks fails you lose access to your copy of Windows.

If you instead install your copy of Windows on Disc 0 (zero) then the other disc can fail and you’ll not lose access to your copy of Windows.  Let’s not forget that on a dual hard disk system the disc that doesn’t contain a copy of Windows will commonly be used for file storage.

It’s an easy error to install Windows Vista or Windows 7 onto the wrong physical disc.  Perhaps the leads have been swapped onto the motherboard ports during maintenance or the build of the PC so that the disk on the top of the pile in the case, the one you’d assume was disc 0 now isn’t.  Alas the only way around the problem should issues occur with this is a complete reinstall, which can take many hours when you factor in all your software and settings changes.

So the next time you come to install a copy of Windows Vista or Windows 7, have a good look at the list of available disks and partitions, and make certain you choose Disc 0 for your installation.

The program uses tabs and a small sidebar menu to display information on multiple pages. The general tab at the top lists the computer’s hardware and related information. Its sidebar menu divides the information into a summary page, operating system, motherboard and cpu, and sound and display. Each page lists various information about the computer’s hardware or software. The summary page for instance lists information about the operating system, processor, hard drives, graphics card, IP address and RAM usage.

The general tab reveals all relevant information about the system. Some system information tools go into more details but in most cases those are not needed by the majority of users. The other four available tabs lists the system fonts, processes, software programs and drives. There is no interaction possible there, for instance to kill a process or uninstall a font.

The only other available feature is the ability to create a report which creates a rich test file with the most important information. It is unfortunately not possible to customize the report, for instance to include other information displayed in the application.

Sys Information, the Windows System Information Tool is available for download at the developer website. The program is fully compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the Windows operating system.

GKrellM can also display the current date and time, Internet connection and network speed, file system information, battery display, uptime and email account information besides the already mentioned cpu, computer memory and hard drive usage. Each of the available information can be disabled in case they are not needed to reduce the overall size of the system monitor.

There are several settings which can be changed for every system component that is monitored. This ranges from layout changes for the time and date to different charts but also options that can be configured. Options are for example alerts if the system load or computer memory usage reaches a limit or to select a different animation for incoming emails.

A reduction of modules that are displayed in the computer system monitor reduces the memory and cpu usage of the program as well which many will find beneficial. The program with all options and modules enabled uses roughly 20 Megabytes of computer memory. The software program is available for both the Windows and Linux operating system (Linux system monitor review by Jack)

Installed Codec (via Shell Extension City) is another fine NirSoft tool that displays all installed codecs of a Windows 2000, 2003, XP or Vista system in a table. All meaning all Codec drivers and DirectShow but not binary codecs which are used by some applications like MPlayer.

The software lists the name of the codec, its installation path and file, the company that developed it and if it is enabled on the system. Each codec in the list can be disabled which has the effect that this codec will not be used to play the supported multimedia files. Excellent if you want to make sure that a specific codec is playing certain videos.

Removing some of the installed codecs can be achieved by disabling the codecs first and checking if the videos still play fine. If that is the case I would temporarily move them to another directory and if nothing bad happens delete them from the system. Most of the codecs installed on my Windows XP system are from Nero 8 which is kinda strange because I have not installed all those additional converters and tools that come with it. The codecs seem to get installed nevertheless.

By default icons of all supported sizes (12×12 16×16 22×22 32×32 48×48 64×64 128×128) are selected and displayed in the search results. Each size can be unchecked so that only those icons are displayed that have the desired size. Many icons are available in several sizes.

A click on an icon loads a detailed profile page of that icon displaying it in all available sizes. The license and the website of the developer is listed on that page as well.

Iconlook offers two additional search options. The first is the random search which displays random icons on the result page. The second is a tag cloud which is huge and kinda confusing.

Still if you are looking for icons you will definitely find a great selection at Iconlook.

The best thing is that you customize the toolboxes anyway you want. Add icons, make the toolbox transparent, let it remain always on top, use background images and much more to make it look the way you want it. I’m using it to display all of my drives and their free space in the left corner of my desktop. Clicking on a drive opens the root folder of that drive and displays the contents.

Toolbox is free and does not need to be installed at all. Just unpack it into a folder of your choice and run it from there. You can create two toolboxes that use predefined elements using the Wizard. One creates a toolbox with all of your drives and the other one with all your personal folders. If you do not want to use those you can create a new toolbox, change its size and add elements to it.

Looks good, feels good, one of the applications that I can recommend to every Windows user.

A new version was released yesterday which added support for Open Office and Nero Burning Rom Cleaning, this is a great tool, make sure you try it out.

Cleans:

* Internet Explorer Cache, History, Cookies, Index.dat.
* Recycle Bin, Temporary files and Log files.
* Recently opened URLs and files.
* Third-party application temp files and recent file lists (MRUs). Including: Firefox, Opera, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Office XP, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and more…
* Advanced Registry scanner and cleaner to remove unused and old entries. Including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more… Backup for registry clean.
* Windows Startup tool.

Crap Cleaner Freeware

CCleaner is a freeware tool that optimizes system performance and maintains privacy. It clears browsing history in all browsers applications and cleans disk space in the Windows System, Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer and some more specific advanced options. The default settings are good enough. It is probably not a good idea to select the advanced options unless you know exactly what you are doing. CCleaner performs the functions of Disk Cleanup and much more. Privacy is maintained and hard disk space is cleaned to free-up memory. It doesn’t stop there. CCleaner also features an efficient Registry cleaner which supports registry backups. This is useful if you need to reverse the registry cleaning in the event that an important registry key was deleted in the process, but this usually does not happen.

CCleaner is an all-in one program including tools to uninstall programs, customize the startup menu, manage System Restore and also has a great Drive Wiper feature so you don’t have to spend $50 on some fancy “Disk killer” software. The GUI is very easy to operate and, best of all, it is fast. The only feature that tends to take a long time is the Drive Wiper, depending on how many passes you select.

There are three versions of CCleaner and only one of them is free. The major difference is that the free version does not include support. Honestly, you don’t really need the support. Just download it and start using it. The features are self-explanatory. Download the free version directly from the Piriform site. There is no malware or spyware to worry about. Here is the link.

The download is fast and simple and the program opens right away.

The details of your operating system and computer will be listed at the top of the interface, just below the CCleaner version name. If the program is updated or a new version is available, you will be alerted to the fact upon opening it and there is no need to uninstall the old version when a new one is available.

The basic “Cleaner” will clear out temporary files, browsing history, etc. You can easily customize what will be cleaned by using the check boxes. To initiate, click the Analyze button and this will produce a list of all the “clutter” then you click the Run Cleaner button to clean.

The Registry cleaner operates in a similar fashion. Scan for Issues then “Fix Selected Issues”. You are offered the option to backup the registry before fixing. The Tools are again simple to understand and use. Select the tool(s) that you want to use and click the buttons below to execute.

Finally, the Options involve specific settings for CCleaner such as exclusions, inclusions, general settings and advanced settings. You can also set the cookies that you want to keep and the ones you don’t.

This is an excellent tool to have on your desktop or toolbar. Use it at least weekly and enjoy better performance and security at no expense.