why do i have so many things running in the background but only 4

things checked on the startup menu.

earlier today, something started running in the background and wouldnt stop until i restarted my computer. when i looked at the task manager, i noticed that i have 16 tasks open as we speak, but all i have open is firefox with 2 tabs using flash player and 4 tabs total.

what are these extra processes running, do i need them, and if i dont, how do i close them and make sure that this doesnt happen normally?

AddRAM said:

Post a 2 shots of msconfig 1 showing the services tab and 1 showing the startup tab.

In search box type msconfig

Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

here is the startup tab...
https://www.sevenforums.com/attachmen...1&d=1359588868

the services tab has has about 170-190 things checked. do you need me to attach a shot of all of them? the reason i ask is because i can only take a shot of about 12 of that at a time because the box doesnt have the option to enlarge it to full screen view.

16 Processes in Win 7 is too low - did you click on "Show processes from all users" at the bottom of the Task Manager Processes window?

Do you know what specific process you are questioning with "something started running in the background"

I usually have 50+ processes running during normal use...
Win 7 does start and run normal maintenance tasks as needed...I wouldn't disable them...

DavidW7ncus said:

16 Processes in Win 7 is too low - did you click on "Show processes from all users" at the bottom of the Task Manager Processes window?

Do you know what specific process you are questioning with "something started running in the background"

I usually have 50+ processes running during normal use...
Win 7 does start and run normal maintenance tasks as needed...I wouldn't disable them...

i clicked "show processes from all users" and the number is actually 57 processes and what im using now is about normal.

i think what may have caused the slow down was a program called "carbonite" which is a program which automatically saves any unsaved content that i have it programmed to save. but slowing down like that to the point that i have to restart is unusual. idk why that happened.

AddRAM said:

I see 2 right away, roboform and carbonite. Why are they running at startup. Why do you need roboform and personally, I do backups manually. But I`m just pointing out 2 programs. But now you have an idea of what`s running at startup.

If you look at the services tab, check the box that says hide all microsoft services and you will see what else is running. You have to identify each process and decide wether you want it running all the time or not. After checking that box I only have 7 services running. ( or showing, as it were )

after clicking "hide all ms services" there are far fewer boxes checked. if you still want to see, here are the screen shots.

https://www.sevenforums.com/attachmen...1&d=1359590656
https://www.sevenforums.com/attachmen...1&d=1359590656

idk what all of those are for exactly but after restarting, it appears that the problem is solved.

I agree with AddRAM's suggestions...

Beyond that, if you do have a need to optimize Win 7 take a look at this tutorial by Brink.
Optimize Windows 7