The screen shows you the Image Name (the name of the executable file),
the User Name (which tells you who “owns” the process; it can be the
system itself or the logged-on user), the CPU usage (a report on the per-
centage of time a particular process used the CPU since the last update)
and the Mem Usage (the amount of system RAM taken by the back-
ground process).
Some of the processes may be recognizable, but others may not; you may
be able find the meaning of some of the jobs by using a search engine on
the Internet. One interesting web site is at http://www.answersthatwork.com.
Click the Task List button to look up descriptions of many tasks; you’ll
find that most, if not all, are quite legitimate, but you may also find some
malware mixed in with the helpful products.At the bottom of the Processes screen are a trio of important sum-
maries: the number of processes running, the total amount of CPU usage
they represent, and the total commit charge. That last measure tells you
the ratio of memory used by all of the current processes in relation to
total available (called peak) memory. Note that peak memory may be a
larger number than the actual physical memory in the system; the com-
puter also uses virtual memory— space located on the system’s hard
drive and used to “page” blocks of information between the slower but
more capacious hard drive and the faster RAM. You can highlight any of
the running processes and then click End Process to shut it down.Shutting down background tasks .....................................................
The direct way to shut down a background task is to maximize it from the
system tray or notification area. But as you’ve no doubt noticed when you
took a look at the Processes tab, not all background tasks are evident.
First, explore how to shut down the background tasks that are minimized on
the Windows screen.
Double-clicking most icons will perform the assigned task for that program
or open a window with a set of menu choices. For example, double-clicking
the icon for your antivirus program (which is usually running in the
background all the time) allows you to run a manual scan of a particular
program or disk or to update the virus definitions. Another example of
a background program is the controller for USB or PC Card devices;
double-clicking allows you to safely shut down and remove the device.You may be able to bring forth a shortcut menu for a background appli-
cation by right-clicking the icon. For most programs, you can close or
disable a background application from this shortcut menu. However,
the program is probably set up to automatically load the next time you
reboot the computer.Chapter 18: Adding or Removing Software, for Better or for Worse 283