[SOLVED] Need Guidance: Apps Running in the Background

KublaiKhan

Distinguished
May 24, 2015
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This is not Startup and MSConfig, for which I had a list of things I could shut off, back in the day.

Windows setup has changed since last I messed with it. Under Settings, there is a laundry list of apps that apparently plan to run in the background, sucking up battery life. I can turn them all off, or select a few to shutter.

I am out of the loop, and may be missing the big picture here, which is why I am asking: Is it not the case that most of these should be shut off?

Is there any reason some should be allowed to run in the background? I was thinking NVidia Control Panel is OK. Many people recommend shuttering Lenovo Vantage (actually, they recommend uninstalling it). But, ultimately, I am at a loss, unable to understand why all these would be running anyway.

Thanks for sparing a couple minutes of your time!
 
Solution
They're not actually "running".
Just holding a place in RAM, for if you need to pop it up. You, or some application you use.

Unless you see it consuming CPU resources in Task Manager, it is not affecting your battery life.
Even then...1% or so.
Most apps that run in the background are there to provide a service if it's needed. Contrary to what people think, having all these apps open doesn't necessarily mean they're always running and sucking up power. Most times they're on a sleep timer and every time it wakes up, it checks to see if something happened. If nothing happened, it goes right back to sleep. Sure, having more apps waking up and being serviced means more power being consumed over time, but chances are, their impact isn't as big as people think.

The problem however is what services these apps provide may not be clear. For third party applications, it's usually safe to get rid of them because they're not essential for the OS to run. However, when it comes to OS components, this is where I advise to leave them alone unless you know what you're doing. App developers can't predict how the user's OS is setup, so they assume that the default configuration is used. Disabling or removing components randomly without regard to what they might affect may cause issues that have no obvious solution.

If anything, a background service constantly being used may be an indication of a problem.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
They're not actually "running".
Just holding a place in RAM, for if you need to pop it up. You, or some application you use.

Unless you see it consuming CPU resources in Task Manager, it is not affecting your battery life.
Even then...1% or so.
 
Solution