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I downloaded Advanced Task Killer Free, and things like Sprint Navigation, Facebook, Voice Dialer, etc, the list gets 20 programs long after about 15 minutes... this makes no sense.
Can someone who has used Android longer please explain this to me? It seems that this OS needs much more babysitting than even WM, if it's really auto-starting all this crap for no reason.
It seems like all of the applications you described are system apps that were on the phone when you got them. They may be set to automatically run. I know you wont be able to remove any of them without the phone being rooted and having su access - but i may be wrong.
When you close them, it seems like the OS is just automatically reloading them.
Careful when you kill apps, it could cause some unwanted issues.
So many of these programs have nothing to do with day-to-day operation... this is bizarre.
Does Android supposedly have built-in memory-management? IE, you exit the camera app, it eventually FORCE closes it? So far, I haven't noticed that behavior at all. That's what caused so many issues on my old WM HTC devices.
Android does have built-in memory management. It is how the OS was developed.
If you have a program running on your screen, it will use whatever amount of memory it needs in order to run it.
If the program gets pushed into the background, but is still running, it will still use the memory, even though another program is being ran using up even more memory.
Having free memory will not make the phone run any faster. Eventually the program in the background will close if not used. It will also be force closed if the system is in dire need of memory.
Android knows when it is need of memory.
There are several threads already which explain memory use if you search. Since I'm using my phone I won't go into detail but I will say that task killers are not recommended. It's much better to let Android manage the memory and processes.
My personal experience bears this out as I had a lot of strange issues like losing wireless connectivity when I was using a task killer. Now I let Android handle things and my phone runs smooth. Using a Sprint Hero with Fresh 2.1.2 ROM.
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Interesting... all my friends who use Android have task managers... Most engadget posts mention that too. Hrm... I guess I'll make sure auto-kill is disabled and just watch and see how the OS holds up.
I just got the phone this morning and was killing apps left and right. I started to get a lot of Force Close errors.
I rebooted the phone which would clear the memory anyways and I'm letting the OS handle everything now - Havent had any problems since.
good luck!
ScrapMaker said:
Interesting... all my friends who use Android have task managers... Most engadget posts mention that too. Hrm... I guess I'll make sure auto-kill is disabled and just watch and see how the OS holds up.
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Click to collapse
Honestly, if you are worried about a particular program running away and have reason to believe it, sure a task manager/task killer can be handy for that one program but historically, giving people task managers on Android causes more problems than it helps. Voice Dialer is your phone app for example and at the CDMA Hero forums, we've seen the phone do some crazy things when we removed it from the phone right after we got root (turns out that thing is hooked to more than just the "making phone calls" feature).
All that said, it's quite informative to google around about android's method of memory management. It's kinda cool!
I had a hero, and it least made it through the day. The Evo is way worse. I have no idea why some things run in the background that I've never used and have no reason to be running in the background. I'm using ATK and Auto Task Manager, which kills app once your phone goes to sleep. You just have to know what apps you shouldn't be killing. As a rule of thumb, I didn't kill any native google or HTC services. I did kill all Sprint services. Following this guide as well:http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2010/06...attery-life-and-what-this-says-about-android/
here is why you don't really need a task killer.
with that, i can say that i do have one but, i don't have any autokill going. i only use it as a last resort to kill things if i have like multiple things producing sound at once.
Honestly I can tell you from experience, that sprint bloat wear will launch on its own all day long. Even if you set ATK or AMM to nuke it, it eventually will cost more batt. in the long run because of the system resources required to launch and kill over and over again. The only way to successfully deal with the issue is to rm the crap, which requires root.
Hello XDA, this is my first post. I've had the EVO since launch and I just installed the early rooted Froyo build when it was released but that's irrelevant because this problem was there from the start. I use Advanced Task Killer and see that random apps are opening without my prompting, things like Google Voice, Gmail, Voicemail...very annoying.
On another note I have much more available memory running this unofficial Froyo, even with these apps opening at their will, than I did originally. Thanks for that, XDA.
Since you're rooted, you have two options that I know of.
Download Titanium backup and when you click on the backup/restore tab, you can click on the apps that frequently pop-up in ATK (e.g., voice dialer) and chose to freeze them. This will render the app inoperable. If you have any functional problems you can simply defrost it.
If you find that you're frozen apps are not causing any problems and you don't use them, you can then uninstall them with root explorer (or another file explore with root access).
I have Titanium Backup and didn't know I could do this, thank you very much. is there any way I could stop the apps from opening without rendering them useless?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Get Autostarts. Configure it.
If I download Autostarts, will it stop my apps from opening by themselves even if I use them occasionally?
I know StartupAuditor does, but its a paid app...
Negrito said:
I know StartupAuditor does, but its a paid app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suppose I'll go for that then
Some of the apps need to be running in order to work as they should. Unless and app is chewing up a lot of CPU you won't notice a drain on the system. A lot of these apps have services that are running constantly so they can poll the system for updates in state, say like receiving a text, call or email. Likely many of the apps are set to auto-refresh so they have to start every so often to complete a task.
ITS FINEEE!!!!
Ok, I am pretty good with computers and electronics but not so much on Android.
But I have done research from people who do know android, and will tell you what to do.
1. Don't use a task killer!!
2. Android is based off of Linux OS.
3. When you turn your phone on and launch Advanced task killer, all of your apps will most likely be "opened" however they are not running.
4. The way the OS works is by technically having all of those apps opened, but they are most likely not wasting CPU or battery, so don't worry about them, thats the way everyone's android device works.
5. Using a task killer is bad, because when you shut down the apps, eventually you will get a lot of force closes, because apps that were supposed to be open were closed and their for not running the way they should.
6. Apparently the OS runs better with more apps open, however its not like windows mobile where if you have 3 apps running at once, it will make the phone slower. Android is designed to have all apps "opened" Again it does not mean they are running.
However,
If you notice that a certain app is hogging CPU or causing poor battery life, delete it, but if you really need the app, then you can use the task killer to kill that app.
And no if used a task killer, your phone will not be ruined or anything.
Hope this helps.
agreed, don't use a task killer, they are essentially useless and just end up causing problems on the evo
What your seeing is most likely the app 'process' so it will actually work correctly.
I have a lot of apps opening up in the background on their own and eating up my memory. Things like qik, skype, city id, vz navigator open on their own even though I barely use them, if at all. My free memory keeps dropping down to around 30mb. Is there anything I can do?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
The best remedy I came up with was rooting my phone, and then installing Titanium Backup and Autostarts. Titanium can freeze the apps you never want to use like some of the crapware that comes preinstalled. For the apps that you do use, but don't want automatically opening all the time, you can use Autostarts to choose which conditions must be met for the app to open, or not open in this case. For both of those applications, you need to be rooted, and unfortunately that's the only way I know of to stop some of the apps you mentioned (especially Skype and CityID).
You can root to remove the bloatware, but that's it. Also, memory on android isn't the same as on a PC. With a PC, clear memory means a faster system, but the opposite is true for android. Because of the way it manages applications, you want to keep the memory as full as possible.
mlclm said:
You can root to remove the bloatware, but that's it. Also, memory on android isn't the same as on a PC. With a PC, clear memory means a faster system, but the opposite is true for android. Because of the way it manages applications, you want to keep the memory as full as possible.
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Click to collapse
+1
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dwray said:
The best remedy I came up with was rooting my phone, and then installing Titanium Backup and Autostarts. Titanium can freeze the apps you never want to use like some of the crapware that comes preinstalled. For the apps that you do use, but don't want automatically opening all the time, you can use Autostarts to choose which conditions must be met for the app to open, or not open in this case. For both of those applications, you need to be rooted, and unfortunately that's the only way I know of to stop some of the apps you mentioned (especially Skype and CityID).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the answer. There is a difference in night and day with my X since installed Autostarts and Fission.
If you install Autostarts and use Advanced Task Killer you will be able to kill the apps and they won't continue to run/open in the background. It's extremely worth it.
wad3g said:
This is the answer. There is a difference in night and day with my X since installed Autostarts and Fission.
If you install Autostarts and use Advanced Task Killer you will be able to kill the apps and they won't continue to run/open in the background. It's extremely worth it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search android task killers on these forums. Then listen to the posts and let android do its thing.
Task killers bog down the system because these apps are shut down while attempting to do something (sync, send data, etc). The app then realizes that it needs to complete the process and restarts. This continues over and over hogging your cpu resources and slowing down the system.
Stop paying attention to the free memory and open apps. This is not an iPhone.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
AdhvanIt said:
Search android task killers on these forums. Then listen to the posts and let android do its thing.
Task killers bog down the system because these apps are shut down while attempting to do something (sync, send data, etc). The app then realizes that it needs to complete the process and restarts. This continues over and over hogging your cpu resources and slowing down the system.
Stop paying attention to the free memory and open apps. This is not an iPhone.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except you can put exceptions into what apps to kill.
EtherBoo said:
Except you can put exceptions into what apps to kill.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read this
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
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AdhvanIt said:
Search android task killers on these forums. Then listen to the posts and let android do its thing.
Task killers bog down the system because these apps are shut down while attempting to do something (sync, send data, etc). The app then realizes that it needs to complete the process and restarts. This continues over and over hogging your cpu resources and slowing down the system.
Stop paying attention to the free memory and open apps. This is not an iPhone.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're missing the point. Autostarts doesn't allow the app to start in the first place so it doesn't bog down the system or hog resources.
Correct me if I'm wrong but is it not Gingerbread that has added the addition of a task killer.
It's not about the free memory, my phone runs faster. I can tell a difference.
It's possible we may be talking about different things.
I'm pretty sure closing Angry Birds when it's still open because I Home Screen buttoned out of it won't make a big difference.
If you're referring to closing services while they're running, it's a different story. I skimmed through the article, it looks interesting, but I honestly fail to see how closing an app that's running... even one that might be doing something I don't want it to (like using GPS because it didn't close when I back-arrowed out of it).
When I bought my phone, I installed Weather Bug. Weather Bug kept trying to get my GPS location while I was at work. My phone barely made it through work. Anytime I checked the weather, I had to close the program through a task killer, or I'd have no battery because the phone was trying to use my GPS all day.
How does not closing that save my battery?
EtherBoo said:
It's possible we may be talking about different things.
I'm pretty sure closing Angry Birds when it's still open because I Home Screen buttoned out of it won't make a big difference.
If you're referring to closing services while they're running, it's a different story. I skimmed through the article, it looks interesting, but I honestly fail to see how closing an app that's running... even one that might be doing something I don't want it to (like using GPS because it didn't close when I back-arrowed out of it).
When I bought my phone, I installed Weather Bug. Weather Bug kept trying to get my GPS location while I was at work. My phone barely made it through work. Anytime I checked the weather, I had to close the program through a task killer, or I'd have no battery because the phone was trying to use my GPS all day.
How does not closing that save my battery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not a valid comparison. The android system manages apps, but it doesn't monitor everything that they're doing to prevent a runaway (like weatherbug). Actually read the article, then comment on it. And you do know you can turn gps off, right?
I happen to like GPS, and as long as I don't have any runaways, it doesn't drain battery since it's not used.
I'm just saying, for programs like that, Task Killers are great.
I'll read it tomorrow most likely.
I tried Watchdog and a few other task killers before finally shelling out the money for the full version of Titanium. I found that often times, the biggest cpu hog and battery killer was the task killer itself since it has to be constantly running in the background. For apps that you use on a regular basis, the best remedy for saving battery life is to just change the update interval period. By default, a lot of widgets (especially weather) update every 15 minutes, which can be a little tasking on system resources at times. I set mine to 1 hour and that helped tremendously. The main reason I went to the full version of Titanium is because it accomplishes what task killers can't by freezing apps to deny their access to open at all. Instead of removing the bloatware like CityID, VZ Navigator, and others, which will keep your phone from receiving OTA updates, just freeze them and you'll never have to worry about them. Autostarts takes care of the rest for me by allowing full control over the condition changes on the device which trigger certain applications to open. For example, I may use Google goggles occassionally, but I don't want it to automatically open in the background just because I enabled GPS. Before rooting my phone, I would normally average between 14 to 18 hours on moderate usage (with a task killer running I might add). Now, with those two applications managing things more meticulously, and chaning the update interval for all of my widgets, I get around 30 to 36 hours easily.
Yes, I read the other threads out there but no true answer.
I have a ton of apps in my auto-end list... I've heard two things, keep em on there and let them kill them but I also heard for Android 2.2 and above it actually hurts the battery life because it takes more juice to restart the app after being killed then actually leave it running. Any insight on this at all? I currently have every app that isn't a widget on the auto-end list and would like to know if I should stick to this or get them off there?
I added and removed stuff on the auto end list and it doesn't seem to make a difference to me. I started to "freeze" apps from starting by using Titanium Backup. I know it costs a couple bucks but whenever I change ROMS, it reinstalls all my apps that I had downloaded. There's apps like weather service and news, DLNA, and a few others that I don't use but when I look at running apps they are running. Hope this helps.
cwburns32 said:
Yes, I read the other threads out there but no true answer.
I have a ton of apps in my auto-end list... I've heard two things, keep em on there and let them kill them but I also heard for Android 2.2 and above it actually hurts the battery life because it takes more juice to restart the app after being killed then actually leave it running. Any insight on this at all? I currently have every app that isn't a widget on the auto-end list and would like to know if I should stick to this or get them off there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Gemini App Manager to alter the auto-start conditions for every app. Apps don't start until I start them. Isn't a noticeable difference between startup times for me. Once they are running, I let them run or quit on exit if the option is there.
Phoneguy589 said:
I added and removed stuff on the auto end list and it doesn't seem to make a difference to me. I started to "freeze" apps from starting by using Titanium Backup. I know it costs a couple bucks but whenever I change ROMS, it reinstalls all my apps that I had downloaded. There's apps like weather service and news, DLNA, and a few others that I don't use but when I look at running apps they are running. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have TiBu and do freeze apps I don't use but I'm talking like the Market staying open after you shut off the screen or the messaging app, etc. Not apps I don't use, I'm actually talking about apps I use, apps I don't use are already frozen.
I wouldn't have anything on auto-end list... It basically force closes the app every time you exit out of it then, which is a big no-no.
The way I see it, if an app is using battery in the background, it needs to do it and shouldn't be closed. If it doesn't need to use any battery or processing power, then it won't even if the task manager SAYS it's still running (it's really minimal).
Task killers are probably only useful to kill apps that are going haywire and running when they shouldn't be...In which case, reinstall or just don't use that app.
But I say, don't put anything on auto end. If you are worried about losing battery, lemme tell you I get two days of battery life and I don't do even have a task manager. I just use setcpu to underclock while the screen is off/while I'm sleeping/etc.
I wondered about this too, and while some people still claim to get better battery life with one, I always see articles like this: http://androinica.com/2010/05/googl...-imply-task-killermanager-apps-are-pointless/ that tell me you should never use one ever.
You don’t need to kill an app just because a task manager says it’s running. Android automatically closes apps if the phone requires RAM or if that app remains inactive too long.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's also this quote that seems to argue that it's more harmful:
Applications may seem present to the user without an actual process currently running the app; multiple applications may share processes, or one application may make use of multiple processes depending on its needs; the process(es) of an application may be kept around by Android even when that application is not actively doing something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I keep something around to easily pick out running apps to force close if they're borking out on me, but I don't have any auto-kill or kill all running apps with a whitelist or anything.
Hello guys, ive juz got my iconia a few days ago.. its my first time using android. Its relatively new to me compared to apple. Ive notice that a few apps is running without me opening e application. is tis normal? ive tried to force close.. but after awhile it comes back up n running again?
What apps?
Wysłano z Acer A500
burnout69 said:
Hello guys, ive juz got my iconia a few days ago.. its my first time using android. Its relatively new to me compared to apple. Ive notice that a few apps is running without me opening e application. is tis normal? ive tried to force close.. but after awhile it comes back up n running again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally speaking, yes, this is normal.
Those apps are put into standby and some apps run automatically like Systemupdater, Acer Sync etc... Other apps, like Photo Browser 3D, nemoPlayer, even Maps etc - will start but not in the sense of 'start' like we would think. They are ready states (as I understand them) and in some cases will stay ready or swap out when resources are getting light and the OS needs more headroom.
"By default, every application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application's components need to be executed, then shuts down the process when it's no longer needed or when the system must recover memory for other applications."
So even if you don't launch and application manually, it could easy start up on it own if a component of it was executed (on some level).
It is not recommended to force-close applications unless the application is causing problems - in which case, uninstalling it is the better option.
gammaRascal said:
Generally speaking, yes, this is normal.
Those apps are put into standby and some apps run automatically like Systemupdater, Acer Sync etc... Other apps, like Photo Browser 3D, nemoPlayer, even Maps etc - will start but not in the sense of 'start' like we would think. They are ready states (as I understand them) and in some cases will stay ready or swap out when resources are getting light and the OS needs more headroom.
"By default, every application runs in its own Linux process. Android starts the process when any of the application's components need to be executed, then shuts down the process when it's no longer needed or when the system must recover memory for other applications."
So even if you don't launch and application manually, it could easy start up on it own if a component of it was executed (on some level).
It is not recommended to force-close applications unless the application is causing problems - in which case, uninstalling it is the better option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes those r the apps that has been running.. tried closing them by using android task manager.. for a moment it will juz start again..by uninstalling them, wats the risks of running my other apps? will it caused any problems?
burnout69 said:
yes those r the apps that has been running.. tried closing them by using android task manager.. for a moment it will juz start again..by uninstalling them, wats the risks of running my other apps? will it caused any problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I (though others would say the opposite) do not recommend uninstalling anything that came preloaded with the tablet. Both for stability reasons and future updates - if however you're really REALLY obsessing over getting back a dozen megabytes of allocated memory from those minor apps then you're going to have to go the whole long road down root avenue and backing up those applications etc ad nauseam. You can get all the info you need throughout the forum.
My advice is, don't worry about those native apps running in the background - if the OS needs more resources it will manage them on it's own. It's not like Windows where you can kill running programs or processes willy-nilly from the task manager when you want to free up memory - in Android, the OS does this as it sees fit, on its own. If it wants more juice, it will make more juice available to itself.
I had the same issues.. a quick fix i ran was to root my tablet and install "bloat freezer" from the market.
it simply stops the processes from running, so your not un-installing them just stopping them from running, Im now seeing my free ram running at appx 65% free at any time which is much better than before.
If i do want to use skype or whatever i simply unfreeze them and freeze them again when finished..
hope this helps..
<edit>
just to let you know i have frozen all of the acer bundled apps
Freezing apps is an option. I don't do that so I have no experienced opinion as far as that goes.
i agree with gamma
These apps are not really running. They are connected to context menues.like when younare in camera app and you click the share image menus.you will see the apps that can share the image such at Facebook Picasso dropbox and so on.these are the apps setting in static mode.I know in nor totally correct but its the closes I can do to describe.if your statement needs the memory or CPU cycles these apps might be using it will shut them down..I have tested this theory by launching many apps and logging processes.
task killers running in the background work against the built in memory and resources management's.
Good luck.if im wrong anyone please correct the post.just do so nicely
Don't make the blonde geeky chic cry giggles
yyiinn said:
I had the same issues.. a quick fix i ran was to root my tablet and install "bloat freezer" from the market.
it simply stops the processes from running, so your not un-installing them just stopping them from running, Im now seeing my free ram running at appx 65% free at any time which is much better than before.
If i do want to use skype or whatever i simply unfreeze them and freeze them again when finished..
hope this helps..
<edit>
just to let you know i have frozen all of the acer bundled apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That does freeze those apps.but if the system needed that ram it would do the same.it gives foreground ape priority.if that or those apps need the resources.the system will kill the lowest priority apps.
Of course thee are some rogue apps that do not play fair.if you find them then uninstall.I use advanced task killer.but never let it run in background.just can launch it lookat what's running. Then close it it will not restart itself
I understand the memory management. But i would rather applications especially skype to run when i want and not as the system see's fit. Social jogger was another culprit they were my biggest bug bears..
yyiinn said:
I understand the memory management. But i would rather applications especially skype to run when i want and not as the system see's fit. Social jogger was another culprit they were my biggest bug bears..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can freeze those apps with titanium backup.just remember to unfreeze before you do OTA. update
yyiinn said:
I understand the memory management. But i would rather applications especially skype to run when i want and not as the system see's fit. Social jogger was another culprit they were my biggest bug bears..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those apps are not running. The may be started at boot but only partially, then they are "paused" and cached for quicker loading if needed.
Android does an awesome job at memory management and will kill apps when it needs more ram.
I dont like it either since i dont use social jogger, nemo player, acer sync and many more so you have two options
If you are rooted flash a rom without all that crap in it.
Or
Use a file manager with root access and file manipulation like 'rootexplorer' and rename those files so they wont run.
I rename them to socialjogger.apk.bak
Just adding the .bak to the filename is enough.
But dont piss around you can smoke the tablet and have to do a factory reset via recovery if you mess with the wrong file.
Just post a list of thing you wish to remove and we will be happy to let you know whats ok or not.
Oh and btw... the ipad runs a crap ton of stuff in the bckground too, apple jst desnt show you like android does.
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