Too much stuff running in the background
mattt181
Enthusiast - Level 3

I have a Casio Commando Gz'One.  I installed an App called Advanced Task Killer to be able to turn unnecessary things off that are constantly running the background.  What I have noticed is even right after I run Advanced Task Killer, there is A LOT of stuff that keeps turning itself back on.  How can I permanently turn off apps/stuff that I rarely if ever use? 

As an example of Apps/stuff that constantly is on and turning itself back on in the background........My Verizon Mobile, Gallery, Camera, Desk Cradle, Mobile IM, Skype Mobile, Slacker, City ID, etc etc etc.

I'd prefer to not have all this stuff constantly running in the background and using up memory.  I notice that when I don't run Advanced Task Killer for a while my phone responds slower and slower and the longer I leave things be, my available memory available goes down......

How do I do this?

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

You are making things worse by killing all those applications. By stopping the applications, you are causing the phone to just reload the applications back into the phone's memory and draining the battery faster.

Uninstall ATK and install this task manager instead. Go through the settings to view the system processes. This application will divided the applications into active, service-only processes, inactive (cached), and internal system processes.

https://market.android.com/details?id=nextapp.systempanel

Read this article.

http://www.androidcentral.com/ram-what-it-how-its-used-and-why-you-shouldnt-care?style_mobile=0

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

Re: Too much stuff running in the background
demmo86rt
Champion - Level 3

In addition to what said, I want to add that, as you use your phone, it will stop loading these apps that you don't use into memory, and start loading the ones you actually use.  If your phone starts to have noticeable lag, reboot it, that will have a much better effect than killing off apps for no reason.

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
Dave-in-Decatur
Specialist - Level 2

Thanks, Ann, that's a great article, very helpful to a veteran Windows user like me, who isn't used to RAM being managed this way by the OS.

I  just did a quick check on my Samsung Stratosphere using Menu > Applications > Memory usage, then tapping Running. There's a lot of stuff running, and I do wonder about some of it. Slacker Radio, for instance, which I've never used and don't intend to use, has been running for 24 hours and is using 2.3 MB of memory. When I press and hold it, I get a screen informing me that it was started by an application called Tap to stop, and a warning, "Service started by application. Stopping service may cause application to fail." If I throw caution to the winds and tap Stop anyway, I get another message, "Stop this system service? Some features of your phone may stop working correctly until you turn it off and then on again," at which point I grab caution back from the winds and hit Cancel.

So, granted that I should just leave things alone and "let Android be Android," as the writer of the article you linked to says, I'm still curious. What the heck is the application called "Tap to stop"? I don't see it anywhere. What feature of my phone would fail if I forced Slacker Radio to stop?

Thanks again for the article. It's fun to learn about a new OS.

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
Ann154
Community Leader
Community Leader

The "tap to stop" isn't an application it is an instruction of how you can stop the cached application if you choose to.

I have Slacker Radio preinstalled on my Thunderbolt. I know when I first got it the phone was caching Slacker for use. I have never used it either. As I used the applications that I want to use, the phone started to learn to preload those applications and not load Slacker or the other pieces of "Bloatware".

I have only one piece of Bloatware that is inactive cached and it has not used any of CPU time. I won't stop it even though it was loaded 15 hours ago and my Tbolt has been running for almost 3 days.

I'm most definitely NOT a VZW employee. If a post answered your question, please mark it as the answer.

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
Dave-in-Decatur
Specialist - Level 2

Thanks, I thought "Tap to stop" sounded more like an invitation than an app. And yet, curiously, when you do "Tap to stop" you get these dire warnings. Anyway, I'm going to live dangerously and stop the darn thing. But I take your point, and I'll try to resist my urge to micromanage!

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
demmo86rt
Champion - Level 3

You will get those warnings for any pre-loaded app, because those are in the system partition (which is also why you can't uninstall them). Anything in the system partition has the possibility of bring tied into vital system processes. You can always experiment, if you kill something and your phone goes wonky, reboot and never kill that app again.

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
Dave-in-Decatur
Specialist - Level 2

Thanks. So far no wonks from stopping Slacker. But in the future I think I'll take good advice and leave things alone.

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
pat3332
Contributor - Level 2

I routinely clear the cache, or force close Slacker and all of the Facebook related apps at least twice a day and it causes no problems with the operation of the phone. Since I never open them, I don't think any of them are really using that much in the way resources, it just makes me feel better.

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Re: Too much stuff running in the background
jrh4054
Specialist - Level 3

I've been using my first smart phone for several months now.  It has been my experience that task killers do more harm than good.  I was using ATK.  My email client quit working and I couldn't send or receive emails.  I learned from VZW Customer Support that app killers can cause issues like this and many more.  After I deleted ATC, my email started working again.   Another important thing I learned about Android phones is that when you quit using an app you touch the back key to get to the home screen.  If you touch the home key, that app/s you were using stay active and in the RAM. 

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