Keeping your PC Updated and Running Smoothly. Today we’re going to talk about improving your PC’s performance beyond the basic steps we’ve already covered thus far. Chances are your computer runs perfectly well until you start stressing it, and then it will obviously slow down as it is given more demands. At first glance Task Manager looks like nothing more than a geeky way to tell you what you already know, the names of the programs running on your PC. Explore out favourite Task Manager tricks, though, and you'll. Download32 is source for running programs shareware, freeware download - Running Recorder, Running Recorder, emProcess Manager Pocket PC, emProcess Manager Pocket PC 2002/2003, System Info ActiveX (OCX), etc. How to Find Hidden Programs Running on My Computer; How to Find Hidden Programs Running on My Computer. Startup Programs in Task Manager. Some of the hidden processes on your computer are started when you launch. This article provides basic information about how to use Windows Task Manager to start programs. Programs that are running; Processes that are running. Yet, there’s still those times when your system just bogs down and doesn’t seem like it wants to budge – like it’s stuck in mud and switching between apps seems to take an age. If your system feels slower, then it most likely is. Many performance problems can simply be tracked down to too much overhead and too few resources. Ever wonder if your PC is keeping secrets from you? The freeware utility What's Running reveals all your system's active processes, services, drivers, and connections. It's like Windows Task Manager, except far. How to find programs running in the background? Application Management in Configuration Manager Packages and Programs in Configuration Manager. Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager continues to support packages and programs that were used in. In other words, your computer can only handle so many simultaneously running processes before it starts to show signs of strain. This may manifest as long load or boot times, or applications may hang or stall, or the computer may exhibit signs of instability such as blue screens or sudden restarts. This is the practical advice lesson and it will be here that we talk about improving your diagnostic skills with the all- powerful “Task Manage,r” which is far more useful than its simple name would imply. Before we do that, however, we’re going to delve into something very important which is very often neglected by a vast number of PC users: updates. Keeping Things Properly Updated. Computer dictionary definition for what task manager means including related links.If your system isn’t regularly updated, it could be compromised and open to attack from hackers. Microsoft regularly issues patches and security updates and if your system isn’t set to download and automatically install them, or you’re not super diligent about checking for, downloading, and installing these updates, then you put your system at risk. Perhaps even more important, however, are those other little programs that don’t always get star treatment: Oracle Java, Adobe Flash, and Adobe Reader. While we did cover these plugins in the previous chapter, we want to stress again how important it is that these types of programs, any program really, are kept up- to- date. Windows update. Windows provides a utility, aptly named, “Windows Update,” that allows you to keep your system patched and secure (to an extent) from any malicious attempts to gain access and seize control of your computer. When you first create a master or administrator account on a new Windows install, you will be asked whether you want updates to download and install automatically, or if you want to do this manually. We highly recommend you allow Windows to take care of updating itself. Nevertheless, if you think you want to handle this portion of PC maintenance, then you need to know how to use “Windows Update” so you never miss a critical update. To open “Windows Update” you will need to open the Control Panel. This is true whether you’re on Windows 8. Windows 7. In Windows 8. PC settings” in the Metro interface under “update and recovery.”For the sake of consistency, let’s stick to the desktop version. Once you’re familiar with that, the Metro version is pretty much the same thing. When you first open “Windows Update” you will see its status, such as whether “you’re set to automatically install updates.” In the following screenshot, we see we have 3 three optional updates available, but we also initiated a manual “check for updates” and we see we have one important update too. You can click on the links to see what these updates are. You should install whatever important updates are available, but you can be a bit pickier about optional updates. In fact, you can even right- click on an update and hide it, so it no longer shows up in “Windows Update.”Worry not, if you find you really need the “Bing Bar” or “Bing Desktop” or some other hidden update, you can use the “restore hidden updates” function. All- in- all, “Windows Update” is a cinch to use, so if you decide to attend to your own updates, it’s usually a matter of remembering to install them. Luckily, you can set the level at which important updates occur with “Change settings.”“Windows Update” not only handles important updates, but recommended updates, and updates for other Microsoft products like Office. You can disable these later two if you don’t want to receive them through “Windows Update”. With regard to “Important updates,” you choose between one of four different configurations giving you the full array of control over your updating process. You honestly don’t want to turn off automatic updating completely, but you can choose whether it notifies you that updates exist and then give you the choice whether to download and install them, or download them and then install them. Note at the bottom of the important updates section there’s a link “updates will be automatically installed during the maintenance window.” Click on this and you will be able to decide when Windows Update runs. By default, it’s set to run daily at 3 AM and will wake up your computer, if necessary. If you don’t want “Automatic Maintenance” waking up your computer at 3 a. Allow scheduled maintenance to wake up my computer . By and large it just seems like an accident waiting to happen, but as we said previously, you may be able to do 9. Java. Java comes with an “Update Scheduler” that automatically runs at regular intervals thus checking for, downloading, and installing updates. You can see it here in our “Startup” tab on the “Task Manager.”Updating Java manually is a cinch. Simply open your “Start” menu (it will be in “All Program” in Windows 7) and click “check for updates” in the Java menu. Alternatively, you can simply open the “Java (3. Control Panel. Once open, select the “Update” tab to see your available update options. In the following example, the updater is set to notify the user before downloading any updates. This can be changed to automatically download updates, and to then notify us before installing. If you want to turn off automatic updates (highly not recommend), then uncheck the box next to “Check for Updates Automatically.”What is recommend is clicking the “Advanced” button and altering your update schedule. In the following screenshot, we see that Java is set to check for updates every month on Monday at 5 a. It seems unlikely, no matter how bad a Monday it is, that we’ll be up at 5 a. If there aren’t, then you’re good to go (for now). Adobe Flash. Adobe Flash Player is arguably the most widely used browser plugin out there. So much so that it is largely indispensable, which makes it a very attractive target for exploits. We described how to manage extensions and plugins in the previous lesson so we’re not going to dwell further on that. For the most part, browsers, particularly Google Chrome (which we recommend) are pretty good about automatically updating plugins. That said, if want to download the “Adobe Flash Player system plug- in” (for use with other programs such as video processing) then you will be presented with the following options. There’s really not a lot to think about here, you should most definitely “Allow Adobe to install updates.” Once installed, you can administer to the system Flash Player from the Control Panel. The Flash Player control panel is similar to the Java control panel only the update settings are on the “Advanced” tab. Click the “Change Update Settings” button and you will be able choose one of the other two options. Note, you must have administrator rights to do this. To execute a manual update check, click the “Check Now” button. You will be whisked to Adobe’s Flash Player page and if an update is needed, you can download and install it from there. Adobe Reader. Finally, last, but obviously not least, is Adobe Reader. Reader, like Flash, is another (almost) indispensable utility. There are Reader alternatives out there and you’re certainly free to explore your options, but for many a user, Adobe’s offering is one of the first things (apart from another browser) that they install. By default, Adobe places the “Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager” into your system’s startup routine. This will automatically check for program updates whenever Windows starts. You can disable this of course, but then you will need to check for program updates manually. To check for program updates manually, open the Reader application and from the “Help” menu select “Check for Updates. At one time Foxit Reader was one of our favorites, but it’s since become bloated with crap. If you don’t want to use Adobe Reader, then you might want to try Sumatra PDF, which is free, lightweight, and not Adobe. Drivers. Drivers are the little bits of intermediary software that allow your hardware to work with Windows. Without drivers you wouldn’t be able to connect to the Internet or send things to your printer. When Windows 9. 5 first debuted, drivers were something of a mess and in order to fully keep on top or your system, you’d have to manually install drivers from each manufacturer, and for any new hardware you added. This situation didn’t actually start to improve until Windows XP, and didn’t become a no- brainer until Windows 7. Today, there’s almost nothing you need to do with Windows 8. In fact, we’d be surprised if you ever have to install a driver yourself again. Furthermore, if drivers do need updating, they’ll appear in “Windows Update” under “Optional” updates. That said, if you have a computer you want to play games on, we recommend installing the graphic card manufacturer’s recommended drivers. You’re almost certainly going to have a graphics chipset supplied by Intel, Nvidia, or AMD. The latter two release drivers for their chipsets on a regular basis so you can visit their downloads pages for more details: AMD: http: //sites. Pages/downloads. aspx. Nvidia: http: //www. Download/index. aspx? If you’re not sure whether you want to do this or you simply don’t care about gaming, then chances are you should just use the driver that “Windows Update” installs and you will be fine. Getting to Know the Task Manager. The “Task Manager” should be your first stop when nailing down performance hiccups.
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