Summary: There may be many programs running on your machine. It's not always obvious exactly what they are or why they're running. We'll look for some clues.
What's this program running on my machine?
As you use your Windows machine there may be many programs running - some of which you can see and some of which are running in the background. In Windows 95, 98 and Me, pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL will present you with a list of the programs running on your machine. On Windows NT, 2000, XP and 2003, running task manager (right click on the clock or any open space on the task bar and select Task Manager) and selecting the Processes tab will show you that list.
It's probably a longer list than you expected.
So what are all those programs running on your machine?
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Some will be fairly obvious based on their name. For example a program called "msnmsngr" is MSN Messenger, the MSN Instant messaging program. "CMD" is the "Command Prompt". But CSRSS? LSASS? SVCHOST? For these and many of the others we don't immediately recognize we need to look a little deeper.
One of the tools I use the most is Process Explorer (procexp) by the folks out at Sysinternals.com. Think of it as task manager on steroids.
Just running procexp will answer the question for a number of programs running on your machine. Procexp will list them much like task manager did except with much more available information including a description if there is one.
The columns available to be displayed in procexp are extensive - one that I've added to my default display is "Command Line". Much like a previous article about What's This DLL? simply knowing where the program was loaded from on disk will often tell us what application it is a part of. For example it didn't dawn on me what "ypager" was until I saw that it had been loaded from "\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger". That made it fairly clear that it's Yahoo's instant messaging client.
If it's not obvious from the description or the command line then my next step, again much like the DLL search, is Google. For example search on "LSASS.EXE" provided me with a site that told me it was the "The Windows Local Security Authority Server Process" the component of windows that handles local security related requests. In other words, a key component of the operating system itself.
I also recommend Microsoft's Support Site. The problem with both it and Google is simply that there are often a lot of unhelpful entries to wade through. LSASS, for example, returns a plethora of articles on the Microsoft Support site dealing with specific issues relating to LSASS but not a clear definition of what it is. Nonetheless, both can be valuable aids if you can sort the wheat from the chaff.
Most of programs can be identified by the steps above, at least to the point of understanding what application they belong to or whether they are part of the operating system.
One program, "svchost", usually has multiple copies running at the same time on Windows NT, XP, 2000, and 2003. Labeled only as "Generic Host Process", it deserves a little more attention that I'll save for a separate article.
Related:
Ask Leo! - What's this DLL (or EXE)?
Ask Leo! - What is svchost, and why is here more than one copy running?
Ask Leo! - What's all this stuff running after I boot Windows?
Article C1851 - October 17, 2003
What is the program running in the background? On the task bar there is a task w/ a box in it. When I click on the task nothing happens. Before I was able to log off the computer and it would disappear but now it constantly stays on the screen. Can it be a virus?
Posted by: Jenny d at August 4, 2007 1:49 AMhow come my computer got lagier the next day and what antivirus do you recemend that i should use
Posted by: quoc at October 13, 2007 12:46 PMMy wife downloaded two screen savers, :(
When she tried to install something went wrong.
now the two .exe files are on the desktop (where she DL them) and we can't delete/move them and no screensaver to run.
When we try to delete them we get a message telling us that another program or person is using them.
I have tried several online Virus/spyware, etc and although they found and cleaned a few things it did not fix this one and we still can't get rid of them.
I tried to look them up in the task mgr and I see no listing or anything out of the normal.
Can you help????
Posted by: Dale Black at February 24, 2008 7:03 PMI even log off and progam is runnig
Posted by: babe at March 30, 2008 9:43 AMWhy when I go to shut down my pc does this pop up
Posted by: Marilyn at August 13, 2008 8:50 PMcome up that says other people are on your computer and if you shut down now they will lose information? Has some person or persons hacked into my computer?
I am tring to speed up my computer, I have a HUGE list on the "started" services from control-adm tools-services. I am scared i may delete the wrong ones. I did you answer this question 'I WANT TO END SOME OF THE PROCESSES RUNNING ON MY COMPUTER BECAUSE THEY ARE MAKING MY COMPUTER SLOWER... HOW DO I KNOW WHICH ONES NOT TO END, WHICH ONES ARE VERY IMPORTANT, AND WHICH ONES I CAN END???" Does deleting the history on your pages make it slower or faster? Help
Posted by: Beverly Adams at October 28, 2008 10:56 AMi have deleted my history ,cookies , removed stuff i dont use thru the removal tool in control panel, delete recycle bin,run spy ware, defragment tool. What else can I do to Speed up things.
Posted by: Beverly Adams at October 28, 2008 11:01 AMk so i am listing this on many sites trying to find an answer to this process. running on my win 2000 laptop its called trickler_bic_do. if anyone has an idea on this process's origins it would be helpful. when this is running system resoures are used upp at an alarming rate until reduced to zero and cpu stays pegged full load. it can be ended but starts back up just as fast. not seen as virus by many many checkers or ad adware or ect... any help would be useful
Posted by: jonathon at November 24, 2008 11:55 PMgo to download.com and search for malwarebyte then do full system scan then remove the spywares
Posted by: shahin at September 7, 2009 9:12 AMwen I try to close my computer it says I have a program running, when I try to close this program it says task manager warning trying to end this process could cause losing data. How do I get this off my screen.
19-Nov-2009
Posted by: arlene vera at November 18, 2009 8:36 AM