How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch

On Jan 29, 3:37*pm, "Eisboch" wrote:
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. *The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. *After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. *I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch

Open a task manager and look at the programs listed there. [ctl] [alt]
[del].

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I
am not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and
cooling fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and
then it springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but
then starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to
completely go through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After
that, it's good for another week or so until it begins to start up by
itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch

Open Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-del) and open the Processes tab.

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I
am not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and
cooling fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and
then it springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but
then starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to
completely go through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After
that, it's good for another week or so until it begins to start up by
itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch



right click on the task bar at the bottom of your screen. then select task
manager. And I am not a geek. A little geekish, maybe.

"D.Duck" wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I
am not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and
cooling fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and
then it springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but
then starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to
completely go through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After
that, it's good for another week or so until it begins to start up by
itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what
is running.

Eisboch

Open Windows Task Manager (ctrl-alt-del) and open the Processes tab.


......and prepare to be confused. You won't recognize many of the processes,
so you'll need to continue researching & asking questions. Shutting down
some of them can make you cry.

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:37:09 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch


This was posted by John Wentworth back in Oct '06.

Maybe you can use it. I've not done so.

Windows XP and Me contain a program called msconfig (Start-Run-type
msconfig
and select Startup) that will identify those programs that will autorun.

Or, go to http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html for a
freeware
tool that does the same and more, and works on all Windows platforms. Much
safer than editing the registry.

At the same site look at ProcessExplorer; this is a tool that provides
information on every process running on your computer.
http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilitie...sExplorer.html If you're not
sure if a process should be running go to
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php to identify the good guys and bad
guys.

The Process Explorer looks interesting, but I'm semi-afraid to try it.
You're brave. Let me know what happens.
--
John H

On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:37:09 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Been there, done that.

The Task Manager thingy magigger - right click on the Task Bar (which,
oddly enough, is an appropriate name because it actually displays
tasks) and select Task Manager.

Then, be prepared for the Wonderful Magical Journey into Arcana - The
Land of Windows Task Naming Conventions and Process Misnomers.

It's a fun world.

However, I'd look around my desktop and see what could possibly be
running. I had a similar problem with QT and iTunes - they would
start up and sit in the background, then wouldn't shut down properly
until I disabled them on startup and put them on-call as it were.

That's probably what it is - a program that starts it'self up, then
goes in to sleeper mode until called for.

"Eisboch" wrote in message ...
How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?
Reason I ask is that I routinely put this thing in "standby" mode when I am
not using it and it normally shuts down the display, hard drive and cooling
fans until I hit the "enter" key when I want to use it again and then it
springs back to life.

Every once in a while though, it shuts down normally to "standby", but then
starts up again by itself. The only way to stop this is to completely go
through a "turn off" cycle and then restart again. After that, it's good
for another week or so until it begins to start up by itself again.

I suspect a program is running in the background, because when I do a
complete shutdown, I see a brief window indicating that something is
shutting down, before the computer goes through it's normal "shutting
windows down" cycle.

OS is Windows XP SP2.

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Eisboch




I use this little jewel:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

Its called autoruns.

Enjoy!

db

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:37:09 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

Hope this question makes sense. I'd like to open something to see what is
running.

Been there, done that.

The Task Manager thingy magigger - right click on the Task Bar (which,
oddly enough, is an appropriate name because it actually displays
tasks) and select Task Manager.

Then, be prepared for the Wonderful Magical Journey into Arcana - The
Land of Windows Task Naming Conventions and Process Misnomers.

It's a fun world.

However, I'd look around my desktop and see what could possibly be
running. I had a similar problem with QT and iTunes - they would
start up and sit in the background, then wouldn't shut down properly
until I disabled them on startup and put them on-call as it were.

That's probably what it is - a program that starts it'self up, then
goes in to sleeper mode until called for.


PC Mag has a util called Startup Cop Pro that tells you what programs
you've installed that are actually running at startup and right
afterwards, as opposed to the Windoze "system" files, most of which are
not running "optionally." It also lets you temporarily or permanently
stop programs from running at start-up.

On Jan 29, 3:37 pm, "Eisboch" wrote:

How can I find out what program(s) are running "in the background" so to
speak?

Well!

I'd like to thank each and every one of the geeks that offered the answer
and suggestions.

Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.

I just checked the task manager and right now there are only two programs
running ... Outlook Express and Firefox.
Next time it starts doing it's automatic restart nonsense, I'll check it
again and see what else is running.
It might be "Spyware Doctor" that automatically updates itself.

Thanks.

Eisboch