Of course you can turn it off. You just press and hold the wake button on the top, and then select to power off 
Thanks Aaron ... 
Can i get some help from you all. Need to know the ups and downs of a task killer.
I see no downs in installing a Task Killer. I have the Advanced Task Killer and it really does its job of keeping unnecessary tasks from running in the background eating up memory and battery. It also automatically stops apps from running in the background. If you want to keep your battery from going from 100 to 10 in just a few hours, I definitely recommend that you download it.
I disagree && have tried both the free & one paid TK.
They are totally unnessary in an Android system (as opposed to Windows Mobile) & cause annoying reboots etc.
They don't improve battery life whatever unless you have an app that is really misbehaving (& then the CORRECT fix is to remove the offending app)
~John
Yea, I'm not buying it JMorton. Mine out of the box was half day on the battery. Most everybody else I bet would disagree as well. But really, if you have a problem with your battery draining, get it. If you don't, don't. Mines up to a day and a half now. Lovin' it.
So it's most definitely a yes from me.
Most everybody else I bet would disagree as well
You would be wrong there, when I read up on it the vast majority of knowledgable users recommend users uninstall any task killers & provide plenty of evidence that they can actually decrease battery life.
I use the heck out of my phone & it always makes it through a day of use.
~John
I disagree that a TaskKiller is not needed, I experienced more issues (Lagging and Lockup) without using a task killer, and as for battery usage, I have noticed leaving large programs idling in the background does effect the battery (And this should be clear). I don't accept someones views to heart until I test it myself and draw my own conclusion. I have ran a performance bench test of my device for a full day with task killer and without and the device without one usually locked up a number of times due to resources being ran to the minimal, but with a TK installed the device completed test without issues.Most users mistake is that they never make sure to exclude all required apps from the TK and when these apps are close this is where you usually notice issues with device.
So many are prepared to accept someone opinion before they test things for themselves, this has never been my way.. You always need to take in option that every device is different because all users use there chose of favorite software and this is something that needs to be taken in consideration on deciding what works for you are not. I have had a TK on my unit from day one of buying my Droid X and I haven't had one lockup or any lagging. But when this debate came up about using one or not, I uninstalled mine and my device went crazy, even after a hard reset and running without one the device still lagged and ran bad, so back to my TK I went and havent looked back.
One more thing, there is a diffrence between running benchtest all day and using in a real world enviroment and after using in the real world use situation for about a month or so and not having any issues, I will stick with my TK.
I too have done my own little testing and found that without a task killer going, constantly trying to close the apps that will only reopen the second they stop them, my battery is lasting longer. So for me I agree with Jmorton10
Proves the factor that devices can give different responses under curtain situations.
very interesting thread .... especially given that I jumped into this - ordered my new DROID X - ship 8/31 like everyone else.
I didn't order the extra battery, and this battery life issue has me wondering if I should have. So my plan is obviously just to try it right out of the box and get a handle on how it performs (battery) before loading additional APPS.
That was a great link jmorton10 .... very interesting discussion there that I recommend other take some mins. to read - and especially the user experience/comments at the bottom ...
I do have a **bleep** question though -- Can you actually turn OFF the DROID X ?? Is there a POWER OFF mechanism? That would be my preference for having it sit overnight (for me).
Of course you can turn it off. You just press and hold the wake button on the top, and then select to power off
Thanks Aaron ...
After having my Droid X for a full month, I've experienced better battery performance without a task killer. I average around a day and a half of normal to heavy use without one. As long as I exit any applications that do not go idle and do not allow Android to manage them properly, performance is better.
With the task killer, I'd say it was maybe ~10% less efficient on battery use compared with leaving it alone and letting Android do its thing. I suspect that was from having it kill the bloatware apps that always come back on. It bothers me that Verizon and Motorola put lame apps on the phone that cannot be removed, but they do not appear to significantly drain the battery if you leave them alone.
I tried three options: using a task killer vs. not using one and manually stopping things vs. not using one and letting Android do what it is designed to do. Leaving it alone appears to give the best performance, and it is easily lasting a full day use.
If my battery is draining faster than that, it is because I have some application running a lot of processing in the background, or I have emails set to sync constantly, or something like that. Navigation is a perfect example, because it is both using more power for the GPS being active and it is running the navigation program constantly (lots of active use of the processor). I just plug it into the car charger when navigating now, and I'm conscious to close apps like that when I'm finished using them.
The best way to know is to test it yourself. If you get better performance with the task killer, look closely at whatever third-party apps you have installed. One or more of them is probably doing some things that are not necessary to have actively running all the time, and they are causing the battery drain.
Wildman wrote:
I was wondering what option do you set the task manger on? I use the option that closes everything when the backlight is powered off instead of have it do it on a time setting, this way shouldn't use any battery power except when the backlight is powered off instead of always checking on a scheldule. I am asking because since i haven't noticed and battery drain during normal use and i am thinking this may be the differences.
That's the same setting I use. It's proven quite effective ever since I started using it.
Ok, Thank You... I am not crazy, glad someone verifies this as a fact.. I was starting to wonder if I was overlooking something, I have been using task killer without issues and it kills me to have other say that I am the only one that seems to having better luck with it than without it.. I try to be detailed on running my tests when experimenting with new software before decided if it is more a Pro or a Con and I just could believe I was the only one.
From what I have noticed the Close on Power Off feature is a more optimized method of using any Task Manager apps. I removed ATK again today and made it maybe 6 hours before I experianced a battery pull lockup situation, ATK is back in and I gave up on second guessing if its wise to use. It may not be for everyone but it seems it works best for me.
Those are the same experiences I've had Wildman. I have noticed with Advanced Task Killer set to: Crazy and auto kill: screen off, my Available memory hovers around 168-190M a day after a complete power cycle. After a complete power cycle I get about 4 hours where my Available Memory is around 240M. When I turn off Autokill I have monitored my Available Memory and have seen it drop as low as 33M. This is without me manually or auto-killing any programs.
I've read on a couple of boards where this is a known bug with Android 2.1 where your cache does not auto clear. This is supposed to be corrected in the 2.2 release we are awaiting. Once 2.2 hits, it will be interesting to see if we will still require the use of ATK. I have noticed on my wife's Droid 1 that ATK still helps on 2.2, but not the drastic swings we were seeing with 2.1.
Edit: Also I have noticed, when I turn my screen back on my phone reactivates any process that was killed before screen off.
crb79 wrote:
Edit: Also I have noticed, when I turn my screen back on my phone reactivates any process that was killed before screen off.
I have been looking at other Task Managers to see if there was any other usable ones out there and I found one that seems to work well also, have you tried ES Task Manager that created by the same developer that makes EStrong Explorer and from what I have seen so far it appears to work well and the extra plus is I love that the widget for this app allows you to see how many apps is running from the wiget without opening the app and you can close them with one click like ATK does.
ES Task Killer appeaers to resolve the apps reopening as soon as you wake up device, when I wake mine I am usually sitting at 2 - 0 app opened after wake up. Give it a look, you might like it, I am still checking systems stats before I can say its as good as ATK.
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