What and How Many Programs ought to be running in Windows Task Manager?

Question

Is there a source of what each program listed in the Task Manger is doing ; why it is there :what does it leave on my computer? 

I see programs that I do not recognized:  explorer.exe is liking some IExplorer code even though I only use Firefox, Opera for my browsers? 

I have several exe's running on my machine like:  svchost.exe ;  ToolBarUpdater.exe ; avgwdsvc.exe; and others.   What are they?  Who wrote them?  Are they save?  Are the necessary?

ray_diator · Accepted Answer

Windows has a process called explorer.exe which should not be confused with Internet Explorer (iexplore.exe).  Explorer.exe is a critical component of Windows and should not be terminated.

svchost = Service Host

There are many Windows services running and each one is for a different service.

To find out which process does what, do a Google search on the process name e.g. iexplore.exe.

Sara · Answer

When you click on 'my computer' it uses IExplorer. You don't just use it to surf the net. 

Just google those things. It will tell you. They are ok.

But if you recognise the programs that are running - like for instance - yahoo messenger - and it doesn't need to be running, you can click on it and hit 'end task' and it will shut it down. You can do this with frozen programs too. 

but if you go to START, then RUN, then type in MSCONFIG and then select the START UP tab you should take the check marks out of everything that doesn't need to be started up everytime you turn on your computer. Things like messenger, bitcomet, quicktime, or whatever else you have on your computer don't need to be running until you need them to. But ONLY if you recognise the program and know what it is. Otherwise you might mess up your computer.

Trending News

What and How Many Programs ought to be running in Windows Task Manager?

2 Answers