Programmes Operating I Cant See

[Snooks]

Im not real computer technical so please use simple terms to explain.

I have an average computer, run an antivirus that does auto updates and also an ad-aware that auto updates. I often get on the computer and its very slow responding, i can tell (or feel) a programme is working in the background.

You can type and it has a time lag, or push the back button and it takes time to move, i can also see the modem lights flickering madly so its uploading or downloading something.

How can i tell exactly what programmes are doing what in the background, this will allow me to then adjust times so that its done whilst i am in bed and not bog me down when im trying to work? I did look through one tool in accessories, but it showed so many things that were running and many i didnt know, so i cant delete in case they are essential items.

Any hints?????

Thanks

[HTMLBasicTutor]

Press Control, Alt and Delete all at the same time.

This will show the task manager.

Applications tab shows the applications running.

Processes tab shows what is running.

You can click the names of the columns to sort and see what is using the most resources (either processor or memory).

Some of the names might look encrypted to you. Before you start turning things off make sure you know what they are. Some are part of Windows.

Some processes could be hogs too. So investigate names you can't figure out by looking at them to see if you really need them running from startup.

You can change the schedule of things like your anti virus scan. Usually by their interface but if you can't find where to change it in there, you can look at the Task Scheduler and make changes there.

[Snooks]

Thanks for the info htmlbasic.

I just did that and i see there is 62.

I will check through and work out what is what.

Cheers

[alexcar]

best to download something like windows defender to show you the programs that are running, programs that start when windows starts. If you want to use another spyware than you can always keep it switched off. Problem with task manager is if you don't know which processes do what than you could fiddle around and make it worse.