Ending Background Tasks

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You may not know it, but chances are that you have a variety of programs running in the background on your computer eating up system resources. These programs can range from installed applications to hidden spyware, and are generally running without your knowledge. Closing these unnecessary background processes will help boost system performance in your game, as well as free up system resources which may be conflicting with the game. This is something you can do before starting the game every time you wish to play, and which will not permanently affect your computer.

 

To close unnecessary programs and processes on Windows XP, do the following:

  1. Hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys on your keyboard at the same time, and press the Delete key once.
  2. Click on the Task Manager button to launch the Windows Task Manager.
  3. Follow these steps to close unnecessary programs:
    1. Click on the Applications tab to view the list of active programs.
    2. Click on any program listed in this window and select the End Task button.
    3. Repeat the previous instructions until all programs have been closed.
  4. Follow these steps to close unnecessary processes:
    1. Click on the Processes tab to view the list of active processes.
    2. Click in the User Name column header to organize the processes by login.
    3. Click on any program listed next to your Windows login, other than EXPLORER.EXE and TASKMGR.EXE, then select the End Process button.
      1. Warning : Do not close any processes running under SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, or NETWORK SERVICE.
    4. Repeat the previous instructions until all programs associated to your Windows Login are closed except for the following two:
      1. TASKMGR.EXE
      2. EXPLORER.EXE
 

To close unnecessary programs on Windows 95/98 or Windows ME, do the following:

  1. Hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys on your keyboard at the same time, and press the Delete key once.
    1. Warning : Do not press Delete twice, or you will re-start your computer.
  2. Click on any program listed in this window, other than Explorer and Systray, then select the End Task button.
  3. Repeat the previous steps until only Explorer and Systray are listed.
    1. Note : Some programs can be stubborn and not close the first time you attempt to, usually requesting to close the program a second time will force it closed.
    2. Note : Following these instructions will not affect your computer permanently, these programs will return the next time you restart your computer.
 

To close unnecessary programs and processes on Windows 2000, do the following:

  1. Hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys on your keyboard at the same time, and press the Delete key once.
  2. Click on the Task Manager button to launch the Windows Task Manager.
  3. Follow these steps to close unnecessary programs:
    1. Click on the Applications tab to view the list of active programs.
    2. Click on any program listed in this window and select the End Task button.
    3. Repeat the previous instructions until all programs have been closed.
  4. Follow these steps to close unnecessary processes:
    1. Click on the Processes tab to view the list of active processes.
    2. Click on any program listed in this window, other than those listed directly below, and press the End Process button.
      1. Csrss.exe
      2. Explorer.exe
      3. Internat.exe
      4. Lsass.exe
      5. Mstask.exe
      6. Smss.exe
      7. Spoolsv.exe
      8. Svchost.exe
      9. Services.exe
      10. System
      11. System Idle Process
      12. Taskmgr.exe
      13. Winlogon.exe
      14. Winmgmt.exe
      15. For more information on these default processes, you can visit the Microsoft Knowledge Base: http://support.microsoft.com
    3. Repeat the previous instructions until all unnecessary processes have been closed.