A program that closes unnecessary processes. A program for viewing and closing unnecessary processes on your computer

If your computer is running slowly and your hard drive space is overloaded, clear it of unnecessary programs and components, and also disable unnecessary processes and services. This can be done using standard Windows tools or using third-party programs.

Where do unnecessary programs come from?

What programs and processes can be removed in Windows 7

In Windows 7, there are three categories of data that load the system - programs, processes and services. The program is installed on the computer to perform the function required by the user. The process can be a system one, necessary for the correct operation of Windows 7, or a user one, launched along with the program. Services on the system start by default and are disabled through Computer Management.

Processes can be disabled through the “Task Manager” (instructions are given below).

Table: which processes can be disabled without harm to the system

Process Description
officeResponsible for the operation of Open Office.
reader_slAdobe Reader Accelerator.
hkcmdAn Intel process that accompanies computer hardware.
adobeARMChecks for Adobe Reader updates.
RAVCpl64Audio manager from Realteck.
CCCA control center for ATI video cards, only needed if you play games.
neroCheckLooks for conflicting drivers.
jqsSpeeds up Java programs.
juicyLooking for updates for Java.
wmpnetwkWindows Media Player search engine.
osppsvcProtection of MS Office 2010 programs.
sidebarResponsible for the operation of Windows 7 gadgets.
nwizResponsible for nVidia NView actions.
atiptaxxProvides access to the settings of ATI video cards.

Do not disable the Explorer.exe process - stopping it will remove desktop icons and the Windows taskbar.

Table: processes that cannot be disabled

Process Description
taskshotHost file.
msdtcTransaction coordinator for network systems.
smssWindows session management.
wininitAutorun programs.
winlogonLogin to Windows.
servicesStarting Windows services.
explorerDesktop, shortcuts.
spoolsySupports a print queue.
lsmManages the state of sessions.
taskmgrResponsible for the operation of the task manager.
searchindexerSearch indexing.
csrssResponsible for console applications.
sppsvcWindows platform protection.
svhostResponsible for network communication.
conhostFor processing console windows.
lsassMaintains local user security.

If you are unsure whether a process can be terminated, open the location of the executable file. If it is located in the Windows system folder, do not stop it.

Windows 7 prevents the user from completing some particularly important processes. When you reboot, the system starts them again.

In addition to processes, the Windows system runs services, some of which can be closed using the Computer Management menu without compromising the security of the PC. List of services that can be stopped:

  • Fax;
  • Windows remote control;
  • remote registry;
  • remote desktops;
  • Bluetooth support;
  • remote desktop server;
  • secondary login;
  • smart card;
  • remote access auto connection manager;
  • distributed transaction coordinator (DTC);
  • ktmrm for KRT.

If you are not using a local network, disable the NetBIOS Support Module service and switch the Computer Browser service to manual mode.

The image download service cannot be disabled if a scanner or webcam is connected.

How to erase programs and stop processes on Windows 7

You can remove utilities and stop processes in several ways: through the Start menu, using the Control Panel and Task Manager, as well as using specially designed programs.

How to Uninstall Programs and Disable Services from the Start Menu

By opening Start, you can view the list of programs and remove some:

The disadvantage of this method is that after erasing a program using Windows, its files and residual entries in the registry are saved.

You can also stop services from the Start menu. For this:


Do not disable all services in a row - some of them are responsible for the correct operation of Windows.

Video: disabling unnecessary processes and services

How to erase an application from the Control Panel

To uninstall the utility, it is not enough to erase the folder where it is located or the icon from the desktop. You can use the uninstaller from standard Windows tools.

  1. Click on Start and select Control Panel.
  2. Open "Uninstall a program".
  3. The computer will open a list of programs running on the computer, in alphabetical order.
  4. Click on the name of the utility that you will uninstall and click “Uninstall/Change” at the top of the window.
  5. Confirm the deletion in the pop-up window.

After uninstallation is complete, you may need to restart your computer.

Video: uninstallation from Control Panel

How to stop processes through Task Manager

To stop processes running in Windows, launch Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del.


When you restart your computer, some processes and services start automatically. Therefore, to permanently disable it, remove the program that uses the process from startup (Task Manager, Startup tab) and disable the corresponding service.

The Startup tab displays a complete list of programs that start automatically when Windows 7 starts. Select the programs that you don't want open and uncheck the boxes next to them, then click OK. After restarting the computer, autorun will be disabled.

Other options for removing unused programs

Almost all installers prompt users to select a folder where the program files will be placed. By default, they install to the C:\Program files folder. Once you open the folder, you will see the software folders. To uninstall the program directly:

  1. Go to the folder of the utility that you will erase.
  2. Inside, find the Uninstall.exe file.
  3. Double click on the file with your mouse.
  4. An uninstaller window will open. Confirm the deletion and wait until the process completes.

A more complex method is to uninstall applications from the command line. To delete:

  1. Go to the command line. To do this, press Win+R and enter cmd in the “Run” window. Click OK.
  2. Enter the WMIC command and press Enter. You will see the inscription: wmic: root\cli.
  3. Enter the product get name request. After a while you will see a list of installed programs.
  4. Write: product where name = “exact name of the program” call uninstall. When writing the program name, be careful about case. If the name is entered incorrectly, pressing Enter will display error information.
  5. Press “Y” to confirm the procedure and wait until Method Execution successful appears.

Third-party programs to remove unnecessary files

Using Windows tools, erasing a program without “tails” is difficult. And developers come up with third-party applications - uninstallers. Instructions for working with some of them are given below.

PC Decrapifier

  1. Click Check for updates.
  2. In the window that opens, you will see the question “Are you using a new computer?” Answer without embellishment.
  3. Create a Windows recovery label and click Next.
  4. The program will automatically search for unused applications and present them in the form of a list.
  5. Select the checkboxes of the programs to be removed and click the Remove button.
  6. PC Decrapifier will prompt you to uninstall other programs manually. Perform as necessary.
  7. In the last window, uncheck the “Submit feedback” checkbox and click “Finish”.

PC Decrapifier copes well with third-party software, toolbars and applications imposed when loading other programs.

Video: PC Decrepifier review

CCleaner - comprehensive cleaning

The program cleans up hard disk space and the Windows registry. Functionality is provided to control startup and remove previously installed software. Additional functionality is located in the “Service” menu.

CCleaner finds more installed applications than the standard Windows 7 uninstaller. And after uninstallation, it “cleans up” residual files and registry entries. To uninstall a program:

  1. Launch CCleaner.
  2. On the left, select “Service”.
  3. Find the “Uninstall programs” sub-item.
  4. From the list, select the program to remove and click “Uninstall”. The “Delete” button is required to remove the name of the utility only from the list - it will not be possible to uninstall the application from the PC.

To disable/enable startup programs:

  1. Information about programs that start automatically with Windows will open.
  2. Select the program for which you want to disable startup and click “Turn off.”

CCleaner allows you to manage startup not only for Windows, but also for browser add-ons.

Video: CCleaner review

IObit Uninstaller

IObit Uninstaller is the simplest program uninstaller with a registry cleaning function. The utility offers the user a list of applications to uninstall. It is divided into categories, which you can switch between in the left menu. IObit Uninstaller works in two modes - standard and forced removal.

To uninstall the utility from IObit in standard mode:

  1. Select it from the list.
  2. Click "Delete" at the bottom of the window.
  3. The program will create a restore point, remove unnecessary applications, and then scan the system and registry for residual files and entries.
  4. After scanning, you will see a list of found components and can remove them permanently.

How to uninstall a program in forced mode (required when files are protected from deletion):

  1. Select an application that cannot be uninstalled in standard mode and click Forced Uninstall.
  2. Confirm uninstallation.

Forced uninstall mode can be used for any files. But be careful! After deleting a file, the program will check the folder in which it was located and clear it of other files.

Video: IObit Uninstaller review

Revo Uninstaller

Revo Uninstaller is a program that allows you to erase software from your computer without leaving any residue. To uninstall the application:

  1. Enable Revo Uninstaller.
  2. Select the unwanted program and click on the “Delete” icon.
  3. In the action confirmation window, select “Yes”.
  4. Select the program uninstallation method: built-in, secure, medium or advanced. Experienced users should use the advanced method.
  5. Click Next. Revo Uninstaller will remove the program and scan Windows.
  6. The window that opens will display the entries remaining in the registry. Check them and click “Delete”.
  7. The next window will display a list of folders and files saved after uninstallation. Mark the ones you don't need and click "Delete".

If when you turn on your computer, your operating system takes a very long time to load, then the problem is in those programs that open automatically. A whole bunch of applications are running at the same time. This slows down the computer significantly. Therefore, you need to disable automatic launch of applications. We will look at the most popular methods for various systems.

Autostart programs in Windows 7. MSConfig utility.

This method is very simple. Go to the Start menu. Next, enter msconfig in the search bar. Open the first (and only) result.

Here you see a huge list of applications. And they all start at boot. Please review the entire list carefully. Uncheck those utilities that you do not need at startup. Then save your changes and be sure to restart your computer. The OS should load much faster.

Tip: If you accidentally disable some essential utility, don't worry! Just go back and check the boxes in the right place.

How to disable autorun through the registry?

This is the most difficult way. It is better not to do anything in the registry, as you can disrupt the operation of the computer if you do something wrong. So, open the Start menu. Below, in the search bar, enter regedit.

Then find the two Run sections. In the screenshot you can see the full paths. One of them is responsible for automatic launch for the current user, and the other for all users.

Go there and simply remove the components of those utilities that you do not need.

Programs to disable autorun

There is a utility called Autoruns, it is quite powerful. In it you can find absolutely all applications that are launched upon boot.

You can download it from this official website: https://download.sysinternals.com/files/Autoruns.zip.

Then unpack the archive and run the utility. This is what she looks like:

Go to the Everything tab. This means that it contains programs that automatically open on your computer. Afterwards, uncheck the boxes next to those that you want to disable at startup.

CCleaner utility.

This utility is convenient because, in addition to disabling autorun, it can also remove any junk from the computer, making it even more productive.

You can download it from this site: http://ccleaner.org.ua/download.

Select the required installation. If you don't know which one to choose, then choose the first one.

Disable unnecessary utilities, and they will no longer bother you the next time you start.

This is how you can easily and simply disable any program from startup. The following methods will be discussed for other versions of Windows.

How to disable autorun programs in Windows 8

Through the system partition.

Hold down keys such as Win + R.

A window like this will open. Type shell:startup, then click OK.

The current user's applications are stored here.

And if you want to open it for all users, then enter shell:common startup.

Now just click on any of the folders that you don't need on startup and delete it.

Via Task Manager

In the following versions of operating systems, automatic startup is not located in the MSConfig utility, but in the Task Manager. Call up the context menu on the control panel with the mouse and select the item you need.

Select the application you don't need and click on the "Disable" button.

How to disable autorun programs in Windows 10

The methods listed for version 8 are suitable for this operating system. Even the location of the folders in the registry is the same.

Advice: use any methods other than the registry. Important data is stored there and can be easily damaged. If you don't understand the registry well, it's better not to even go there.

Thus, now no unnecessary applications will interfere with the computer boot. Just don’t disable all the utilities in a row. Of these, some are extremely important for the full operation of the computer.

I think everyone knows the feeling of hopelessness when time is running out, deadlines are running out, and the computer, in no hurry, is thinking about its next move. We are nervous, desperately trying to identify a very harmful virus, but everything is in vain. What to do in such a situation?

Of course, virus scanning and disk defragmentation are necessary procedures, but there are more compelling reasons for low system productivity. And that reason is background applications. By getting rid of them, you can forget about the endlessly “thinking” computer and pop-up windows for a long time.

What are background applications

A very common phenomenon is an incredible accumulation of all kinds of shortcuts on the desktop, the next destination is the system configuration in the Startup tab of the Start menu. There are even more icons here, and each one represents either an active program or an application running in the background.

Background programs in Windows 7 start automatically when the system starts, and sometimes we don’t even suspect that we have up to two dozen programs running in the background that we’ve never even heard of. As a rule, these are useful utilities, antiviruses, all kinds of download managers, etc., that get into the system as a free load in addition to the programs that we install ourselves or download from the network. Poor system performance is due to the fact that background files consume a lot of memory. The problem can be solved quite simply - disable unnecessary applications and services.

Ways to identify and remove background programs

The methods described above are simple and accessible to everyone; with their help you will free up the RAM of your machine and significantly increase its performance.

Video to help:

userologia.ru

Disable programs running in the background

In this article I continue the theme of optimizing your computer; today we will stop some programs running in the background to speed up and operate your PC.

In the last lesson, we disabled programs from startup (if you haven’t read this lesson, I advise you to start there, the link is at the end of this article), thereby increasing performance, and now we will disable windows services running in the background.

Any of these services can be either system or third-party, but they all eat up a small part of the system’s resources; if you consider that there are several dozen of them, the load increases noticeably.

Of course, in most cases, system programs running in the background are needed for normal computer operation, but there are some that are not needed at all and are unlikely to be needed by anyone.

When disabling yourself, you need to be extremely careful; when disabling any process, you need to know what it is responsible for so as not to harm the OS. Below I will give a small list of what can be excluded and what can be switched to manual mode.

What programs can I disable?

To do this, you need to enter Service Management by right-clicking on the My Computer shortcut, which is located on your desktop, or in the Start menu, select Computer. In the menu that appears, select Manage

then click on Services and applications and the last item Services. Here you can see all the necessary and unnecessary programs running in the background; in total, I have more than 150 of them!

First of all, I advise you to look through the entire list and find some familiar programs that you may have installed and simply disable them.

Read also: How to make a mobile version of the site

For example: torrent clients µTorrent or BitComet can be safely disabled, unless of course you distribute some files day and night. Skype program (Skype) if you call once a month then why will it consume resources every day for nothing?

Also with other programs, if there is no need for it to work every minute, feel free to stop it. Do not be confused in any way, disabling a program does not mean it will not work in the future! When you need it, just launch it from the shortcut as you usually do.

Background mode is a standby mode, that is, the program is always running, although it is not used.

And finally, the list of Windows services I promised that can be disabled for sure or switched to manual mode.

Parental Control - disable KtmRm for the distributed transaction coordinator - manually Adaptive adjustment - disable brightness is necessary only for PC owners. with a built-in light sensor to automatically adjust the brightness of the monitor Auto setup WWAN - disable if you do not have CDMA or GSM modules Windows Firewall - disable if your antivirus has this service Computer browser - transfer manually if not using the local network Support IP Service ) - disable Secondary login - disable or manually Automatic Remote Access Connection Manager - disable or manually Print Manager - disable if you do not use the printer Windows Defender - disable, a completely unnecessary service Distributed Transaction Coordinator - disable NetBIOS Support Module - disable, but when provided that there is no local network (connection of 2 computers or more) Setting up a remote desktop server - disable Bluetooth support - disable it, I don’t think this is relevant now. Windows Image Upload Service (WIA) - if you use a scanner, then do not touch anything Windows Remote Control Service - disable Remote Desktop Service - disable Smart Card - disable Tablet PC Input Service - disable Remote Registry - everything is bad here, there is an opinion that this is their own kind of an open door for a virus that can change the system registry. We definitely turn off Fax - turn it off, it’s basically a thing of the past.

Read also: How to recover a lost PTS

To disable a service, double-click on it with the left mouse button, a window will open where we change the Startup Type value from Automatic to Disabled, then Stop//Apply//OK. This is how we deal with every service we dislike.

This is the list of services that I was able to find out about; I will be glad if anyone can add to it in the comments to this article.

This concludes this article, but we will continue on the topic of optimization, subscribe to updates so as not to miss it and other subsequent articles.

Valery Semenov, moikomputer.ru

moikocomputer.ru

Close background programs

There are several ways to close background programs on your computer. But since you are on a blog for beginner computer users, I will show you the simplest one. Everything is outrageously simple, for this we use the “My Computer” icon in the Windows XP operating system, and the “Computer” icon in the seven.

We hover the cursor over the icon and right-click open the “Manage” item, where after opening the “Computer Management” window, open “Services and Applications” on the left side. By double-clicking on the “Services” item in the middle part of the window, we wait for the list of background programs available on your computer’s operating system to load. After looking through the entire list and guided by knowledge gleaned from the Internet, you can stop some of them.

How to close background programs

To stop the applications you have selected, you need to hover over it and click the stop button. This method has another option, “Description” of the application, that is useful for novice users. In order to use it and not accidentally stop the desired service, you need to click on it with LMB. On the left you can get information about what you are about to close.

Thus, it seems to me that closing background programs will not be difficult for you. And if you want to get more complete information about background Windows programs, you can do this simply by following the link.

    Windows background programs

    Unblock a contact on Skype

    Remove an icon from the taskbar

    How to determine computer speed

    How to open task manager in windows 7

bakznak.ru

Background programs. Why are they needed and how to get rid of unnecessary ones

Background applications/processes are those that run in the background (hidden from the user) mode.

Some of them are not used by the user, nevertheless consuming system resources, and accordingly reducing the efficiency of equipment use; some simply litter the taskbar, desktop and list of installed programs.

Some of these programs are various services that are started by the operating system. Due to its versatility, the operating system runs a large number of applications, some of which you will never specifically need. In addition, some of the background applications in turn launch their own background applications, such as MS Office. Removing applications you don't use will help speed up system startup and free up computing power.

2.3 Via Msconfig (SCU)

4. Bring the device to a service center for repairs

1. Basic types of background applications

You can view running applications in the Windows taskbar. As a rule, these are various download managers, antiviruses, “daemons”, “wizards”, and other useful and not so useful utilities. Those that are “not so good” end up on your machine in different ways: as an “add-on” to files downloaded from the Internet, when installing various programs using the “default” method, etc. Taking a few minutes to disable unnecessary applications and services can improve the performance of your hardware. Background services compete with user tasks for memory, increasing the number of calls to the page file, thereby reducing the efficiency of the entire system.

2. Ways to detect and remove background processes

To view the list of applications that start automatically, click “Start” - All Programs - Startup.

“Honest” programs are reflected here; you can remove them from startup by right-clicking – “delete”; in this case, the program itself is NOT deleted, it just stops loading automatically when Windows starts. Other background programs are “hiding”, and we need to be able to find them.

Pay attention to your computer's taskbar (usually the lower right corner). There are shortcuts to programs that are launched by default

In this case, we see the uTorrent download manager, 2GIS update agent, Skype, DAEMON Tools lite disk emulator and others.

Fig.2. List of programs in the taskbar

The programs that we see in the taskbar can be unloaded by pressing the right key:

Fig.3. Shutting down (unloading) programs

Note: when you use the Exit button, Exit the unloaded process starts again when windows is restarted. If you need to turn it off permanently, use msconfig, regedir.

2.2 Using the task manager (ctrl+alt+del)

Having launched the Windows task manager (by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete), you can look at the list of background services. Windows distinguishes between user applications and system services. On the “Applications” tab you can see running programs, on the “Processes” tab there is a list of system services and application components.

Fig.4. Task Manager, Applications tab

The End task button can be used to kill a program or process

In the Processes list you can see the same programs that we saw on the taskbar and more. For example, the explorer.exe component is the familiar Windows Explorer, and iexplore.exe is the Internet Explorer browser.

Fig.5. Task Manager, Processes tab

Modules you don’t need can be removed by clicking the “End Process” button. You can safely delete processes:

Internat.exe - keyboard layout indicator;

System Tray (systray.exe) is a program that creates icons in the system area of ​​the Taskbar.

Note: the unloaded process starts again when windows is restarted. If you need to turn it off permanently, use msconfig or regedir.

2.3 Via MSCONFIG (SCU)

In Windows, there is a special utility “System Configuration Utility” (SCU). It can be launched by specifying MSCONFIG in the program launch line Start -> Run. It is simple and easy to use and allows you to manage running applications. The utility contains several tabs that allow users to change OS startup parameters.

Programs, the list of which we see in SCU, are deleted there. SCU allows you to experimentally significantly increase system performance and remove all unnecessary things. Once you find a program you don't need, you can remove it from the download list in the SCU panel.

Fig.6. SCU Utility (MSCONFIG)

2.4 Through the windows registry (regedit)

Programs that are registered in the system registry upon startup can be uninstalled using the REGEDIT program (win + r keyboard shortcut, regedit.exe command). As always, before making major changes to the system, we do a backup and, as always, we do this only when we are completely confident in our abilities. Most often, such programs are located in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\windows\CurrentVersion\Run branch. Removal from the program is carried out by deleting the corresponding registry line.

Unfortunately, not all programs can be removed using the methods listed above. Microsoft will not allow you to delete, for example, Windows Messenger. This rather useless program is installed by default, and is not visible in the Add or Remove Programs dialog of the Control Panel. If you want to remove one of these programs, you will have to edit the SYSOC.INF file, which is located in C:\WINDOWS\INF by default. To do this, we first find the header, which contains parameters for loading various windows components. Those of them that contain the "hide" parameter are not visible in the Add/Remove Programs panel, for example msmsgs=msgrocm.dll,OcEntry,msmsgs.inf,hide,7 in the case of Messenger, after removing this component parameter they become visible in the installation panel and uninstalling programs.

3. Background services, pages and other processes

In addition to background applications and processes, there are also background pages, services, etc., but we will talk about them next time.

itprofi.in.ua

Closing background programs

Windows background programs have their positive and negative sides. But having an average-power computer in our arsenal, these applications irritate us more than they delight us. Take, for example, the long loading time of the Windows operating system, which is caused by a large number of programs launched at startup. Therefore, the purpose of the lesson on our website about making money in the section everything about computers is aimed at obtaining information about closing background programs.

There are several ways to close background Windows OS programs. In order to get information about them, you can follow the path: Start -> All programs -> Accessories -> Run - msconfig, after which we get into this window, where we select the “Services” item in which a list of applications opens, both running and stopped.

After going through this list, you can pick up a dozen more that you don’t need, which I recommend stopping. To do this, you need to “uncheck” the application name and click the “Apply” and “OK” buttons. I can’t promise that after a reboot your OS will run like a hare, but visible improvements will appear. Because by stopping a large number of unnecessary services, we free up RAM, a sufficient amount of which has a positive effect on the performance of the OS.

The next way to view background programs running on your computer is to log in through Computer Management. To do this, hover the cursor over the “My Computer” icon and right-click the “Manage” item. Having found the line “Services” in the left column, click on it and wait for it to load and display all applications running in the background.

This method is good because here we have the opportunity to obtain information on any of these programs. To do this, you just need to click on it and read “Description” in the left column. And in order to “Disable” the service, you need to right-click under the menu and select the appropriate item.

In these two simple ways we can close background programs that interfere with the normal functioning of our computer. If you find the information useful: “How to find out if your phone is being tapped,” you can get it simply by following the link.

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It's no secret that over time your computer starts to work slower. Fortunately, this is fixable. It is enough just to carry out regular optimization, remove unnecessary information garbage and follow some rules. This does not require third-party programs; you can get by with those built into Windows. My story will be about them.

I’ll start with simple optimization methods and end with more radical ones that require increased attention.

Remove unnecessary programs

I'm sure there are one, two or more programs on your computer that you haven't used for months. It is recommended to remove such programs in order, firstly, to free up space on your hard drive, and secondly, many programs have components that slow down the system a little. For example, Guard Mail.ru is usually installed along with Mail.ru Agent, which does not understand what it does in the system, supposedly protecting against something unknown. Go to Start - Control Panel - Installation and removal of programms(for Windows XP) or in Start - Control Panel - Programs and components(in Windows Vista and 7) and using this useful tool we remove all the programs you don’t need. Remove only those programs whose name and purpose you know. I strongly I recommend removal the following programs, if you have them: [email protected], [email protected], AlterGeo Magic Scanner, Yandex.Bar, WinZix, Google Toolbar, Bing Bar, StartSearch, Update Software, Speedbit, Ask toolbar, Ask.com, Gator, QIP Internet Guardian.

Programs containing the following words in their names: should not be deleted because these could be drivers or useful programs : A4Tech, Acer, Acorp, AMD, Asus, ATI, AVerMedia, BenQ, C-Media, Canon, Creative, D-Link, Defender, Dell, GeForce, Genius, Hewlett-Packard, HP, IBM, Java, LAN, Lexmark, Microsoft, Mobile, Motherboard, Mustek, nVidia, Realtek, Samsung, Toshiba, Wi-Fi, Wireless.

Cleaning your hard drive from unnecessary files

We will not limit ourselves to removing programs - we will continue cleaning further. Go to Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup:

This window will open to our eyes:

Select drive C: and click OK:

Here we press the button Clean system files to open a more complete version of this program:

Comment: in Windows XP, you don’t need to click “Clean up system files”, because this button is not there.

Then click OK, a pop-up window with a question will appear, click Delete files and wait:

The second stage is completed, we move on to the next one.

Checking and defragmenting the hard drive

What is error checking is, I think, clear from the name. You can read about what defragmentation is and why it is useful, but at the moment we just need to run it. Opening My computer(in Windows Vista and 7 the item is simply called - Computer and is located in the Start menu), then right-click on drive C:

By selecting the item Properties, we get to the window called Properties(quite logical), open the tab Service:

First of all, click Perform check:

Be sure to check the box Automatically fix system errors. Jackdaw on Scan and repair bad sectors It is advisable to install it, but then the verification will take at least an hour or more. You probably won't want to wait that long. Therefore, if your computer turns on and off without errors or freezes, if during operation there are also no error windows appearing and there are no unexpected freezes, then you don’t have to check the box. Click OK. Since this is a disk with Windows installed, the following window will appear:

Click Disk check schedule and restart the computer.

When the computer boots, instead of the usual welcome screen, a blue screen (on Windows XP) or a black screen (Vista and 7) will first pop up - do not press anything, wait - the disk will be checked. When the computer finally boots, check the remaining hard drives, if any (D:, F:, E:, etc.). CD and DVD drives, of course, do not need to be checked.

Next we move on to the second step - defragmentation. After this procedure, your computer will turn on faster, and programs will also launch faster. In the properties of drive C: click Run defragmentation:

Comment: defragmentation can also be started from the menu Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Defragmentation.

In Windows Vista, 7, 8 and 10, defragmentation is configured to start automatically, but for a number of reasons this startup may not work. For example, the computer is turned off at this time - there will be no defragmentation, naturally. So starting it manually at least once a month (more often there is no point) is more than recommended. Close all programs that you can close, then select the disk to defragment and press Disk Defragmenter. We wait for this procedure to complete, then defragment the next disk.

Removing unnecessary programs from startup

The most effective way to make your computer turn on faster is to turn off some programs that start when you turn it on. Click Start - Run or the keyboard shortcut [ Win] + [R] ([Win] is the Windows logo button between Ctrl and Alt). In the window that appears, enter msconfig:

Click on OK. The “System Configuration” program will launch, open the tab in it

Comment: This is where you can disable programs whose icons appear near the clock in the tray (bottom right of the screen), as well as Skype, ICQ, Mail.ru Agent and others that start when you turn on the computer and annoyingly interfere.

As you can see in the screenshot above, only 9 programs run on the author’s computer, so his laptop turns on quickly. You should do the same - uncheck all unnecessary programs. How to determine the necessary program from the unnecessary one? I'll tell you now. Firstly, look at the “Manufacturer” column. If it says “No data”, I recommend unchecking it - most often “No data” means that such a program has either already been removed or is a virus. There are exceptions, but they are rare. Secondly, look at the first column of the table, remember the name, for example - KeePass, then open this site and enter the name in the search field at the top of the page:

Then press search, i.e. "Search" in English. You will see a table with the result:

We are only interested in the column Status. Next to the program name is a letter:

  • Y- This means that such a program should not be touched; it is needed for normal operation of Windows.
  • N- Not needed or not recommended - it is better to uncheck the box.
  • U- User selection. It’s up to you to decide whether this program is needed when starting the system or not. I recommend leaving the checkbox on such programs - you never know.
  • X- Usually these are viruses, spies, etc., be sure to uncheck the box.
  • ? - It is not known what to do.

Unfortunately, not all programs are available on this site. If you can't find one, go to google.ru and enter the name of the first column there.

After you have unchecked unnecessary programs, click OK and restart your computer. You will immediately notice how faster it loads. There is also a chance that it will work faster. If you suddenly turn off some program that is important to you, it doesn’t matter, you can always check the box back.

Note: For those who want to study Windows autorun more closely, I recommend reading my article

You can view a list of all programs running on your computer using Windows Task Manager. To do this, press the key combination on your keyboard. You will see a list of processes, and the question will immediately arise: why is each specific process in this list needed? Let's figure out what it is processes and how they can be managed.

Processes– this is everything that happens at a given moment in time in the system. IN Task Manager The “Processes” tab displays all currently running programs. Processes can be “spawned” either by the user or the system. System processes start when Windows boots; user processes are programs launched by the computer user himself or launched on his behalf. All system processes run as LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE or SYSTEM(this information is available in the Task Manager in the “Username” column).

The task manager only allows you to view a list of processes and terminate their work. To do this, select the process name in the list and click the “End Process” button. This means the program that owns the process is terminated. However, it is not possible to view information about a particular process in the Task Manager.

To manage Windows processes, I would recommend using a more powerful utility called . This is an excellent free program that also does not require installation. Download it, then run the file from the folder and select the “Processes” tab at the top.
shows all processes in real time, providing comprehensive information on each of them. By right-clicking on the process we are interested in and selecting “File Properties”, we can find out the software module manufacturer, version, attributes and other information. The process context menu also allows you to go to the program folder, end the process, or find information about it on the Internet.

How to get rid of viruses on your computer using Starter?

Very often, viruses and other malicious programs are disguised as various processes. Therefore, if you notice that something is wrong with your computer, run an antivirus scan. If this does not help or your antivirus refuses to start at all, open Task Manager and view all running processes.

Pay special attention to a process if it is running as a user and is consuming too many resources (the “CPU” and “Memory” columns). If you find an obviously suspicious process in the list, end it and see how your system works after that. If you are in doubt or don’t know which program the running process belongs to, it’s better to go to Google or Yandex, enter the name of the process in the search bar and find information about it.

The Task Manager built into Windows, of course, allows you to disable processes, but, unfortunately, it provides very little information about them, and therefore it is quite difficult to understand whether a process is viral. The Starter program is much more useful in this regard.

So, to find and remove a virus process from your computer, do the following::

1. Launch the program and go to the “Processes” tab.
2. We find a process that makes us suspicious. Right-click on it and select “File Properties”. For example, I chose the file svchost.exe. In the window that opens look at the manufacturing company of this application:
The fact is that practically any process is signed by its developer. But virus applications are usually not signed.
In my case the file svchost.exe signed by the company Microsoft Corporation and therefore we can trust him.
3. If the selected process turns out to be unsigned by anyone or signed by some strange company, then again right-click on the name of this process and select “Search on the Internet” - “Google” (the Internet on the computer must be connected).
4. If the sites suggested by Google confirm that this process is a virus, then you need to go to the folder of this process (to do this, in Starter, in the context menu, select the item “Explorer to process folder”). Then, after completing the process, delete the file here this process.
If you still doubt whether it is a virus or not (perhaps you were unable to look up information about it on Google due to the lack of Internet), then you can simply change the extension of this file (for example, from .exe to .txt) and move it to another folder .

That's all. Today we learned what Windows processes are and what utilities can be used to manage them. In addition, we now know how to get rid of viruses masquerading as various processes.