Task Manager Processes: Which Are Safe To Shutdown

[iGuest 3]

what would happen if you were to opened your task manager,click on processes,and started ending processes ?i know that processes are programs that are running onyour system. some are being used by your system andsome are by the software that you have.but, how do you know which processes are safe to end ?i wonder sometimes if any of them have been installed as spyware ! sPyFrEeStyLe

Edited August 29, 2005 by microscopic^earthling (see edit history)

[vizskywalker 0]

If you end a process required for windows, one of two things will happen: a) windows will hang or the process will restart. If any other process is ended, the program running that process will end, or, if it is a multiprocess program, lose that functionailty or restart the process. To see what a process does and if it is safe to end or not, check out http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/.

~Viz

[Grafitti 0]

basically running xp i haven't had windows hang on anything being shutdown. it'll just restart or refuse to close the process, you know, "this is a critical system process and cannot be ended" message.Killing certain processes will activate the NT authority protection, which shuts your computer down in 60 seconds... if your computer has been hacked then it's good, but if you were just fiddling around and don't want to lose your other work or just go through the whole rebooting process, open the run dialog, enter "shutdown -a" without the quotation marks. and it will end the automated shutdown process.

[GameUltra 0]

But then you would be running without what are possibly essential system processes...You should probably let it end, if your going to go screwing around with files you don't know anything about you should back-up anything you're working on...

[evion 0]

So far over my years of shutting down processes that i have no idea of, I've been 100% lucky in all my actions. Basically, i try not to shut down anything with username of "System" in it. I know all the programs i have in my computer and if i see one that is running but I'mnot using I'll just shut it down. Problem is, most viruses don't run as processes and can be really annoying when you try to find their name and go to the Symantec website or something to get a definition. The worst part of having a virus ruin your computer is when it shuts down your data recieving part of your internet. You will not be able to update your definitions if you have not(Which i usually don't), and when you open up task manager to shut down unknown programs you might get rid of the "good" ones. So when I'm surfing unknown websites, i just stick to my Apple Powerbook. Heh.

[iGuest 3]

Well you usually know which ones are safe to shutdown by looking at there names for instance if i had aim open and i saw aim.exe i would no that would terminate aim but mostly the not safe ones wont let you shut them down or if you think u just did just click on run and retype the process u just terminated. Good Luck.

[magiccode91405241511 0]

this is my computer state that use min. process.

[wutske 0]

Terminating services will only affect the system untill you reboot, so it's better to terminate them in the management console and change their boot settings.

A good site (visited it today and disabled somes services too ) is http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm .

If you REALLY don't know what you do, you should check dependencies, make shure you have made a systemrestore point, registry-backup and remember what you changed.

Ow, and another thing that might happen when you disable a wrong services is that famous 60sec. shutdown dialoge (remember the virus that kept shutting down computers all over the worlld ). Try it, kill the RemoteProcedureCall

[kobietaryba 0]

Hi sPyfReEsTyLe!Easy way to check witch processes you can shut down is to check out http://www.checkprocesses.com/.

[Ronel 0]

its just simple, most of the processes in the username of:

<your username>

except explorer.exe are mostly safe to shut down.

just be careful.
Edited August 9, 2007 by Ronel (see edit history)

[iGuest 3]

KILLING explorer in TASK MANAGER then....Task Manager Processes: Which Are Safe To Shutdown

If you KILL explorer in TASK MANAGER, your desktop icons will all vanish.  If this happens, click on FILE, NEW TASK(run), then type in EXPLORER.  Desktop appears as if refreshed, explorer is running again, all is good.

-reply by BEVK