KILLING RUNNING PROCESSES

One thing that all operating systems have in common is that they rely on hundreds of processes to run correctly. Basically, there are three main types of processes that can be running on your system - a) essential and non-essential system processes; b) processes run by applications installed on your computer; c) viruses and malware. Ideally, you'd like to have as little of the non-essential processes as possible because having too many running processes reduces your PCs speed. And you definitely don't want any viruses and malware!

To check which processes are running on your system simply launch the Windows Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc and go to the Processes tab. You will see the list of all processes running on your system and information on how much CPU and RAM they are consuming. The Task Manager also provides a PID and shows under which user profile the processes are running.

So, now you know what's running. But how to find out what exactly are all those processes, which ones are essential and which ones are not? While some process names are very straight-forward and you won't have any problems identifying the programs that run them (for example, Skype.exe), some process names won't give you any clues. But don't despair - there are plenty of ways to find out.

Manager displays running programs, processes, services, shows you which files are locked by other files, and allows you to unlock them.

Process Explorer allows you to expand process trees and view which services are part of which process. This is especially handy when you are researching a process like svchost.exe and need to know which tasks a particular svchost.exe instance is responsible for.

Now, if you want to disable unneeded processes, it's best to manage them either by disabling the software that runs them on startup or simply disable unnecessary Windows services that are responsible for running these processes. This approach is a lot better and safer than killing the process in the Task Manager. But if you are sure a process is run by a piece of malware, it's best to kill it immediately and run a scan with up-to-date security software. Here is how you can kill a process in the Task Manager:

1.  Open the Task Manager by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Esc
2. Go to the Processes tab
3. Right-click on a process you wish to stop and select End Process.