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Summary: You might be running many different programs on your computer and not even know it. Finding out what's running is easy using tools in Windows.
How can I tell what's running on my machine?
To many this might seem like an odd question. I mean it's pretty easy to see if your mail program or word processor is running, right? Well, yes. But there's so much more you don't see. Today's operating systems are quite complex and doing nothing your machine might have a dozen different processes running.
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In the Windows 9x world (Windows 95, 98 and Me), CTRL+ALT+DEL brings up a dialog box that lists almost all of the processes running. I say almost because portions of the operating system itself might not be represented. That's by design since in Win 9x that dialog isn't really there to give you information but rather to allow you to terminate unresponsive programs.
In Windows XP (and its predecessors Windows 2000 and Windows NT) the system includes a built in "Task Manager". There are many ways to run it, but my favorite shortcut is to right click on the clock in the task bar and select "Task Manager". It too will show you a list of applications running which may be very short much like under Windows 98. However under the Processes tab you'll find a list of all processes running on your machine - there will be many more, especially if you select the Show processes from all users checkbox. (Hint: you can click on the columns in Task Manager to sort the output by that column which is particularly handy when you want to see who's using the most memory or CPU time.)
Given the difference in size between the list of applications running and the list of processes running it begs questions like "Why?" And "What's that difference between the two?".
A simple answer is this: a process is a single running program and an an application consists of one or more processes. If you've got Microsoft Word running you'll see "Microsoft Word" in the application list and winword.exe in the process list. All those other processes? In a sense they're running as part of the operating system "application".
But what are they? Well that's going to vary a lot from machine to machine based on two things: the software installed and the hardware installed. Certainly obvious items might include your instant messaging client, or other programs you use and know about. However when you install some software packages they may cause additional processes to run on your machine even when you're not running the application. Examples include Real Player or QuickTime's update services, a fax program's receive monitor, or a virus scanner's real-time virus scanning process. The same applies for hardware, many hardware drivers include additional processes that run all the time.
There's no one answer for determining exactly what each process running on your machine is, however I do cover many of the steps you can take to figure it out in this previous article: What's this program running on my machine?.
Related:
Ask Leo! - What's all this stuff running after I boot Windows?
Ask Leo! - What's this dll or exe?
Ask Leo! - What's this program running on my machine?
Article C1872 - December 25, 2003
Excellent coverage of the subject....Thank You Leo !!!!!
Posted by: BB at November 1, 2006 9:03 AMhow do I know what processor I have. Software I want to run says I need a pentium 4, but when I check the properties in "MY COMPUTER", it says AMD athalon. What is this?
Posted by: Eric Goodyerar at January 8, 2007 11:33 AMMy home computer will not allow Task Manager to open when hitting "ctl+alt=del" How can I fix this and/or open Task Mangaer another way?
Posted by: Yrral at August 16, 2007 7:28 AMThanks in advance.
I have Windows ME...Outlook Express will not open...error says another instance of it is already running...????...I closed everything in the Task bar except Explorer and Systray...how can I get to the program that they say is already open so I can recieve mail. thanks
Posted by: GUS at September 30, 2007 10:30 AMiam srinivas,
Posted by: sreenu at May 12, 2008 10:47 PMi have one doubt , supppose in my task manager is diabled,how to i know what are the programmes going on my machine.
Leo, I just wanted to tell you I needed to remember how to open the "Task Manager" and within seconds in the second paragraph "Right Click The Clock". Short, Sweet, and too the point. Thanks.
Posted by: bob at December 20, 2008 10:15 AM
Posted by: Michael Cunningham at January 27, 2009 9:29 AMI currently run windows xp on my desktop. I have 1 primary user accnt (administrative level) and 3 secondary user acnts (limited/guest level). I use the adminstrative acnt 95% of the time. My computer is slow so i'm trying to optimize memory by elminating some start-up programs and certain processes, however, when I run "msconfig" and make my changes, I get an error message "Access Denied. You may need to be logged on as an Administrative user to make the neccessary changes".. I've double and tripled checked that my primary user acnt is an "adminstrative level" and that i was attempting to make the changes while logged on to this acnt.. any suggestions on how to fix ?
mike cunningham
WHAT PROGRAM'S DO I NEED TO RUN IN TASK MANAGER,,I RUNING XP PRO
Posted by: JHON at February 6, 2009 12:48 PMI can see what is running...but seeing it isn't helping me at all. My "Virtual Memory" seems to max out. I was gonna up it, but it's at 1000 already..and on this puter, at least, that's the max, it says. I can tell what is running, but I don't know what to do with them. For instance, it has "IE" ... in TWO places with very, very high numbers. I wish I knew what to do for this. I get soooo much 'grinding' sounds when I just want to open ONE screen. Does anyone know how to help me?
I have windows XP.
Thanks...
Posted by: Helen S at February 8, 2009 9:46 AMBewildered
hi sir my pc is too slow i am using a 256mb ram p4 prosseer deleted %temp% files defrag the disk and insceese the virtual memory but this is no responce
Posted by: ilyas at April 30, 2009 1:30 AM