Too much stuff running in the background

[mattt181]

Finally had a chance to visit the forums again.  I took Ann's advice and uninstalled ATK.  I have not installed her recommended replacement app yet. 

I started with ATK on the advice of a manager at a Verizon store because my phone was running very slow and locking up.  In addition, the manager told me to turn off or pull the battery at least every 2-3 days.  I occasionally do that when it slows way down.  Is that a bad idea also?

To update this thread and take it in a new direction......should I be getting more than 12 hours of battery use with this Casio Commando?  I MUST charge the phone every night and cannot go more than 12-14 hours on one battery charge.  It really sucks and there are times I don't make it 10 hours on one charge.  Is all the stuff constantly running causing my short battery life each day?  How do I deal with all the crap running all the time?

Is there a way to totally un-install the following...........???

City ID

Google Play Books

Google Play Movies

Mobile IM

NFL Mobile

Skype Mobile

Slacker

VZ Navigator

You Tube

and any other application that I never use that was pre-loaded on the phone?

There are other apps that I have no idea what they are or what they do.....is there a place here in the forums to search the individual ones I have questions on?

Thank you in advance

[Ann154]

Plugging in the phone every night is quite normal with theses smartphones. If you wanted longer battery life, most smartphone aren't going to cut it. An extended battery helps if the is one made for the phone. I am not sure about the Commando though.

Pre-installed applications can't be removed. At least not without some other knowledge and the willingness to void the warranty. Discussion of such topic has to occur at a different website than this one. Otherwise is against the VZW community Terms of Service.

That being said, if you are not using them, then they are not using resources of the phone. It may appear that way because the phone says that they are running or loaded into the RAM. The android system wants a full RAM. It is loading what it "thinks" that you use. If you don't use some apps, the phone will start loading those applications that you DO use. It does take several days to weeks before the android system will "learn" your new pattern of usage. It has to "unlearn" the pattern of killing the applications all the time and the system automatically reloading them. That is why I suggested the Sysyem Panel application. It DOES list the application in their application state like "active", "service" and "internal system" catagories.

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Ann, thanks for this. I continue to annoy myself with these kinds of issues occasionally, wondering why some @#$# piece of bloatware is "running" when I didn't ask it to. The piece that I hadn't fully grasped from earlier discussions is that the Android OS wants to keep the RAM full, so  it loads up what it believes it has learned that you want to use. Knowing that will help me to be patient and let it work and learn!

That being said, I did just restart my phone to switch batteries, and checking Menu > Settings > Applications > Memory usage, Running tab, I find that Media Hub, Slacker Radio, and Maps all started (among many other things) at bootup. I use Maps a lot, but never use Media Hub or Slacker Radio. May I hope that eventually the OS will learn not to load them at boot; or shall I just be patient until it kicks them out in favor of stuff I'm actually using?

[Ann154]

I can't post the screenshots from my Tbolt at the moment, but I also have Slacker and other bloatware installed on it. I usually don't reboot the phone often or look at the running application within a boot of the phone. I do know that if Slacker (or others) do load at the beginning, they don't stay loaded very long. I have other applications that run services that quickly replace the bloatware. The only two that still like to load after the year of owning the Tbolt are the MyVerizon and VZW navigator app. These will only load into memory (RAM), but don't use the CPU. I think, but have so way to confirm, that VZW navigator shares some files with the other map applications like Google Maps. I have noticed that these two applications will load after the phone has been on for some time and remain for a few hours. However they don't always stay loaded into the memory. I have run the Tbolt for days and maybe those two applications load for a few hours out of those several days of on-time.

If and when any bloatware is loaded on my phone, it does get listed under the "inactive cached processes" and never as a active or service process.

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Thanks, Ann. Out of curiosity, I may check from time to time to see if the 3 Offenders eventually get run out of Dodge. In any case, if they're not using the CPU, they're not really causing any harm. It just takes awhile for longtime Windows users to get used to this way of OS RAM management.

[mattt181]

I have loaded System Panel Lite now but haven't put it to much use yet.  Is it not advised to use this to kill tasks that I dont want or need running?  A lot of the "bloatware" that I never asked for on my phone shows in the "Service only processes."  Is it using memory or cpu power to be up and running?

Other than viewing what is running and how much cpu and memory it's using.....what other functions does System Panel Lite have that I should be using regularly?  Thanks in advance.

[demmo86rt]

You should be able to see a CPU time for each particular app, most likely it's minimal, probably less than even 5s.  I, personally, don't recommend that you kill apps unless they are using large amounts of CPU time when you haven't actually been using the apps (keep in mind that some apps are SUPPOSED to run in the background, but these should be apps that you already know are doing it).  Just because an app is shown as "taking up memory" doesn't really mean anything, it will be removed from memory if that space is needed.

[mortb]

No! These are pre-installed apps that you can not get rid of. Sorry!