How to check running processes and get suggestions on garbage to kill?

Question

As a good 'power user' my Windows 7 install has a few years running strongly. I just opened task manager and I have 185 processes currently running (granted most are chrome windows).

I know how to check the processes online, understand what they do, pinpoint who started them and disable them on startup or just plainly uninstall them.

What I was looking for is an automatic way to do this process since this is a bit time consuming. This seems like a good target for a very nice piece of software that does this report automatically.

For example, I noticed ipodservice running, java updater and other updaters that can be safely stopped because they usually are not needed all the time I'm running the PC. Also some stuff that is not 'malware' but is crapware or at least not really 100% needed.

I know how to analyse this manually, what I am seeking is an automatic and quick way that understands that 'ituneshelper.exe' is used by iTunes and if you don't use itunes a lot you can disable it without major troubles. (and tells you what the problem is if you disable it).

Edit: startup lite is a software that helps a bit with this, but it's somewhat limited and only targets things on the startup list.

Answer 1

You can go to msconfig to disable startup processors. But be aware, you can also kill your pc of you do this incorrectly. I recommend AVG PC Tuneup, I use to use this then I realized I could do most the stuff it could do by myself

Answer 2

You're asking for a program which is off-topic here on SuperUser.

So instead of providing that, I'll give you the right approach here.

Go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and look in this list and remove anything you don't really need. Reboot, and your processes list will be shorter.

Yes, there are programs to manage a system based on programs with long loading times etc and offer you to clean them, but if you're going down that road, consider to reinstall your windows. It is always going to be the best option in regards to get performance back.

Answer 3

Disable Java Update Scheduler at your own risk: out of date java installs account for a lot of virus/malware infections.

I think the issue here is that you are assuming every task slows your system by some set increment. The real question is, how much CPU and how much memory does each one consume? If it's tiny (i.e. Java Update Scheduler uses 3.2MB of memory, and so far on my system .2 seconds of CPU time while the system has clocked 40 hours of core time, so something like .0002% utlization) then hunting them all down and closing them is a monumental waste of time, since you can barely measure the speed increase from that, let alone perceive it as a user.

But, no doubt, it is good to know what's happening on your system and what is really taking up resources because you very well might have a task stealing meaningful CPU and memory while providing no benefit to you. To do this on windows 7, use a tool like Sysinternals Process Explorer to dig into the process time and private RAM usage, and compare them to something like the search indexer (which is enabled by default and probably consuming a relative lions share of the resources.)