Computer question

[Jay Jolliffe]

I have a pc the runs on XP. Where do you go to find out what's running in the background. I won't be doing anything on it & the little computer icon in the tray at the bottom will be working away online & I'm not doing anything online. I'd like to know whats running without me knowing it.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Jay - I am sure there are a number of ways to do this but I just hit 'Control, Alt, Delete' to bring up the Windows Task Manager. Click on Processes and it will tell you which program is using up CPU time.

[paul cottingham]

control alt delete does not always show services that are running. Task manager shows tasks, not all processes. A better way would be to find a tool that shows all processes and services, and a tool that shows all things that start on startup. These things can be done while poking around in the registry, but I seriously don't recommend it. I can't remember the names of the tools we use, but I can find out if you like.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Paul - I would be interested as the only thing I have ever used was Task Manager and as you stated - it doesn't show everything that is running.

[Michael Schapansky]

Another way to find all the services and processes running is to click Start then Run and type msconfig then press Enter.

[paul cottingham]

msconfig doesn't always show you everything either, but it is a darn good place to start. An excellent application for showing processes that are starting is "startrun". I cant remember who publishes it, but you can find it with google. There are plenty of great tools available from nirsoft that are free.

Let me say this very carefully....don't disable anything if you are unsure of it. I used to make a tidy living off people using these tools indiscriminately.

[Glenn Vaughn]

In taskmanager: click processes. Right click on a process and select "go to services" - this will open the services window with all services used by the process highlighted.

[Jeff Bratt]

A good source of Windows system utilities is Microsoft SysInternals (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx). Some relevant - and free - programs available from there are ProcessExplorer (for seeing what is running - processes and services), and AutoRuns - for finding and easily editing the 15-20 places where programs can be automatically started.

[Gord Pat]

You could also try "Whatsrunning" a freebee that will show all processes running plus a multitude of other info on what your system is doing.
http://www.whatsrunning.net/
Just be careful what changes you make to your system.