Windows 7 And Its Running Processes

Sean Higgins | Jun 30, 2009 | Comments

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I have a little confession. I am slightly obsessed with keeping Windows 7’s running process (when not in use, of course) number below 35. I honestly like to keep it at 30 if you want the truth. I know what your thinking – who cares and why on earth are you worried about how many processes are running on your computer? Well, I like to keep my windows rig running as fast as possible. With as little excess stuff running in the background. If you remember Vista and it’s sometimes excessive 50-60 running processes.

One of the processes that I have permanently stopped is Windows Search. I see no need to have this 3 process feature running in the background scanning and indexing my computer whenever it wants. I know where everything on my computer is located at all times. Therefore I have zero use for these processes. I have also turned off Superfetch for the same reason. I see no difference in the way my computer searches or acts. Except for, I can’t search for files from the start menu anymore. But that does not concern me at all. A few others that I keep off are Windows Defrag, Offline Files, and some others. I do not know why I am so fixated with keeping my process count as low as possible. But I am, it’s my cross to bare.

The Windows Media Network Sharing Service is a process that I love to use. But hate to have turned on.It allows streaming of media all over my house. It also allows “push streaming” to my Xbox 360. But by having this feature turned on. It increases my RAM usage by two fold. I have 8GB’s of RAM installed. With the process off, my usage is at 12% of 8GB. With it turned on my Ram usage is 24%. That is quite a jump just for one process. But it is one feature I use daily, so I keep it on. A necessary evil so to speak.

Do you turn off any of Windows 7’s processes? If so, which ones and why? Or am I alone in trying to keep a supposedly light OS even lighter?

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About the Author: I love Windows 7. Building computers, and anything tech related. I live and work in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I am currently enrolled in the Computer Information Technology program at Western Kentucky University. I have two great kids and a wonderful wife. Also I can't wait for Windows 8! Computer Specs : 2.2 GHZ AMD Phenom, 8 GB Kingston Hyper X DDR2, XFX Nvidia Geforce GTX 285 Black Edition, 2 360 GB Seagate 7200, 1 1TB Seagate 7200, 950 watt power supply.

  • Alex
    I'm unsure in Windows 7 but in Vista, disabling the Windows Search service still allows searching for Start Menu items. I never search for files using the Start Menu as it's completely impractical.

    I had it turned off for about a year but decided to turn it back on and cannot notice any difference in speed. Why? Because it's very good at only running when your PC isn't in use. I do rarely actually use it though and if I'm honest I tend to search in Non-Indexed areas, making it a bit pointless. I know where my Documents are.
    I turned off:
    * Windows Time - Completely pointless outside of the Server world
    * Windows Defender - A bit pointless when it only offers Anti-Spyware and not Anti-Virus/Rootkits/Trojans.
    * Security Center - Only because I set UAC to Silent mode and enabled Security Center complains it's turned off
    * Smart Card - Why this is ever enabled by default is beyond me
    * Help and Support - I have the Internet
  • Yeff
    First, I upgraded from XP to Vista and I'm currently using Windows 7 RC1. I am increasingly coming to believe that it doesn't matter how much RAM is used as long as it's released when the process using it is terminated.

    RAM is cheap and the more you have the less you use the swap-file. I have 3 gigs and I'm quite happy with it. Even with that much I only average just over 1 gig used.

    What I concentrate on is CPU usuage. I'm running an old P-4/2.8Ghz hyperthreading chip. I don't really experience any problems until CPU usage is almost pegged (or at) 100%. Watching HD videos is impossible with this this system but it's never the amount of RAM that's the problem.

    You have RAM to be used and if you're concentrating on limiting the amount used you're basically wasting the amount of RAM you have in your system.

    It's been my personal experience that both Vista and W7 are good at utilizing the RAM they have and releasing it when it's not in use. The more RAM you have the more RAM the system is willing to use and the less your system is going back to the harddrive. Your system is faster.

    I say give your system as much RAM as you can afford (and as much as your CPU can see) and ignore how much is being used.

    Too wordy. I'm very sleep deprived so I hope I made sense.
  • Mustafa
    I used to be care about the number of processes running when I had XP. As a matter of fact, I didn't like seeing more than 20 processes running! I used to even disable running services that I didn't need.

    But I then found out that just disabling start-up applications that I don't need is enough, and haven't faced any problems with RAM.

    I have 4GB RAM and it runs very smoothly with 50 processes. So here's what I think:
    8GB can run 100 processes without any problems, so there's no point of even trying to optimise your PC!
  • "so there’s no point of even trying to optimise your PC!"

    i mean come on....no point. there is always a point to making ones computer faster. what about disk defraging? that makes your hhd's faster...which makes your computer faster....
  • Anonymous
    I disable no processes at all.
    Why do it? They don't interfere, consume cpu or needless memory at all.
    And when I need the functionality, it's there. I don't have to turn it on again to use it.
  • John
    I've also turned off system restore. I know it isnt really a process but i find sometimes it will thrash the hard disk like mad and any program i'm using freezes (even notepad). instead i just make regular backups of my stuff in case i need to reinstall the OS.
  • colin
    the f***. the number of processes running have no correlation with performance impact. 50 processes could be running, but probably 45 of them are on standby or using 0 CPU.
    Search function uses 3 processes? So what? I can programme an executable that creates 10 other dummy processes.
    And seriously, removing most of my running processes in Windows does barely any performance difference. Well, the only difference is that I get a few errors and lot less day-to-day functionality.
  • Mustafa
    I actually meant by 'optimizing' killing unwanted running processes.

    Yes, I agree that disk and registry defraging, as well as cleaning temporary files are important to make ones computer faster.
  • Keno
    I have Windows 7 installed on my desktop(which i built 2 yrs ago*need to make a new one*) and my Dell lattitude d620.
    and i must say that i share similar prefernce, i love wen my process are low and will have the task manager running alongside almost whenever i using the pc, but there are times when i dont mind, for example i'll open photoshop, flash, illustrator, dreamweaver, and all the heavy weight programs in the adobe CS4 just to to jog the system from time to time..

    Keno From Jamaica
    Loving Windows 7,
    Cant Wait 4 Windows 8
  • sajet
    Here's a thought: install MS-DOS. That way, I'm sure you'll have less than 35 background processes, have less than 24% of your 8gigs of RAM taken up, and you can avoid all this stress.
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