Why of there always crap running in the background??? - Vibrant Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Ok our forums are rather in depth and involving, which makes finding information that could be rather old in the grand scheme of things but here's a question. How come when I go into my advance task killer there are always programs that I have not ran, running in the background and some of those programs I have never used. Every once I awhile I will get a dialog box saying that so many apps have between killed. Why is that?
Rastlin
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Some of these are necessary for the android system to function (like when you ctrl alt del in windows for example) others can be from things that update like weather widgets and others are just bloatware.

A lot of the things in the background that run are TSR programs, (terminate stay resident) Their impact is they take up some ram space but when these program ar not being used, they do not (or theoretically do not) have any impact on performance or battery. They facilitate speeding up the phone when they are called on to perform. This has been a standard in computing for 25 years. The most common or most needed routines are setup in this way.

oka1 said:
A lot of the things in the background that run are TSR programs, (terminate stay resident) Their impact is they take up some ram space but when these program ar not being used, they do not (or theoretically do not) have any impact on performance or battery. They facilitate speeding up the phone when they are called on to perform. This has been a standard in computing for 25 years. The most common or most needed routines are setup in this way.
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THIS. However, if you still have bloatware installed, those programs could be doing behind the scenes business as well.

TheSneakerWhore said:
THIS. However, if you still have bloatware installed, those programs could be doing behind the scenes business as well.
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Click to collapse
I wish you guys would stop telling users this ..... Advanced Task Killer DO NOT report in a smart way .. It basically just shows what is cached in the phone's memory, giving the user the illusion that the system is out of or going to run out of memory .... The reason google stopped these task killers from killing other apps is because in its auto kill function, a task killer will bog down the system while fighting to kill apps only to have them re open ..... The phone has a built in task killer, which ONLY shows running apps ( ones that are using CPU and memory) and will use androids memory manager to stop them ... If you are on xda and have not already rooted your phone, I would advise you to do it, download autokiller memory optimizer... This is not a task killer but a tool used to tweak the system's built in memory manager .... Its 200% safer and will keep your phone running smooth ..also once rooted you can delete apps that concern you, but be warned, some apps may be needed by the system and deleting them might cause issues, so please use good old common sense .... hopes this helps ....

Task killers should now be a thing of the past. Newer android OS's 2.0 and above do a much better job at managing running tasks all by themselves. I now only use the included task killer if one app has completely hung on me which is rare. I don't use task managers to kill all running tasks when running benchmarks either because all that does is cause those necessary tasks to start back up during the bench and thus lowering the overall score. Cool, we just had an earthquake.

just get the xda super power app, no task killer needed, has app specific section, that you can confiure every app by itself to be killed on screen off if is running.

Related

Best task killer..

Can anyone suggesr me which is the best task killer available in the market..m using task killer from rhythm software..
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gupta.anurag08 said:
Can anyone suggesr me which is the best task killer available in the market..m using task killer from rhythm software..
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Click to collapse
I'm running on the Advanced Task Killer, I do not have any issues with them. What's your problem?
I tried 2 3 task killers and all were showing different 'available memory'
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Yeah, ATK is the best task killer app I've been using
gupta.anurag08 said:
I tried 2 3 task killers and all were showing different 'available memory'
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It is because different task killer have different security policy, which allow them to show the system apps or not. So, in the lower security policy, you can see more running apps and gain more memory after kill them
i do have a question. why are you using a task killer?
I'm not having a dig at people that use them, but more trying to educate people that they are not required
"free memory" is not indicative of a healthy system in linux based machines.
please remember the way in which linux based OS's (which Android is) handles memory. Basically, if you have a heap of free memory it is simply wasted, the OS is not running any more efficiently. It is actually slower.
Here is a quick overview. Written for the desktop computer perspective, but translates over to a mobile phone OS quite well.
"Traditional Unix tools like 'top' often report a surprisingly small amount of free memory after a system has been running for a while. For instance, after about 3 hours of uptime, the machine I'm writing this on reports under 60 MB of free memory, even though I have 512 MB of RAM on the system. Where does it all go?
The biggest place it's being used is in the disk cache, which is currently over 290 MB. This is reported by top as "cached". Cached memory is essentially free, in that it can be replaced quickly if a running (or newly starting) program needs the memory.
The reason Linux uses so much memory for disk cache is because the RAM is wasted if it isn't used. Keeping the cache means that if something needs the same data again, there's a good chance it will still be in the cache in memory. Fetching the information from there is around 1,000 times quicker than getting it from the hard disk. If it's not found in the cache, the hard disk needs to be read anyway, but in that case nothing has been lost in time."
Read more here - http://www.linuxhowtos.org/System/Linux Memory Management.htm
So u mean to say that we shud not use task killers?
Wat if i exit a game in btw then wat happens..will it get automatically killed??
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gupta.anurag08 said:
So u mean to say that we shud not use task killers?
Wat if i exit a game in btw then wat happens..will it get automatically killed??
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Click to collapse
Nope, that is the reason why i have to use task killer
For me, it help me save much of battery
Since I stopped using a task killer my battery is better.
Don't use a task killer for a week and watch the difference.
gupta.anurag08 said:
So u mean to say that we shud not use task killers?
Wat if i exit a game in btw then wat happens..will it get automatically killed??
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Click to collapse
yes and yes!
if your phone requires the resources, it will kill tasks that are no longer required. its all automatic. let it do it itself and you will have a much happier phone
AND better battery life, because the android OS is not continually restarting processes that your task killer deems unnecessary. I would trust the actual OS over a 3rd party app. It is designed that way for a reason (see my previous post).
mrtim123 said:
i do have a question. why are you using a task killer?
I'm not having a dig at people that use them, but more trying to educate people that they are not required
"free memory" is not indicative of a healthy system in linux based machines.
please remember the way in which linux based OS's (which Android is) handles memory. Basically, if you have a heap of free memory it is simply wasted, the OS is not running any more efficiently. It is actually slower.
Here is a quick overview. Written for the desktop computer perspective, but translates over to a mobile phone OS quite well.
"Traditional Unix tools like 'top' often report a surprisingly small amount of free memory after a system has been running for a while. For instance, after about 3 hours of uptime, the machine I'm writing this on reports under 60 MB of free memory, even though I have 512 MB of RAM on the system. Where does it all go?
The biggest place it's being used is in the disk cache, which is currently over 290 MB. This is reported by top as "cached". Cached memory is essentially free, in that it can be replaced quickly if a running (or newly starting) program needs the memory.
The reason Linux uses so much memory for disk cache is because the RAM is wasted if it isn't used. Keeping the cache means that if something needs the same data again, there's a good chance it will still be in the cache in memory. Fetching the information from there is around 1,000 times quicker than getting it from the hard disk. If it's not found in the cache, the hard disk needs to be read anyway, but in that case nothing has been lost in time."
Read more here - http://www.linuxhowtos.org/System/Linux Memory Management.htm
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Click to collapse
The idea is absolutely right if memory is being used for apps you are likely to open frequently. ATK allows you to unselect the apps you want to keep running. That way you can unselect the ones you use the most and then use the widget to kill everything else.
I notice when I press the home screen many apps don't kill them selfs and after a while I have loads of apps running and the system starts to lag, specially when I try to run something else.
There are advantages in both approaches and I find a mixed combination (available with ATK) makes it best, although the user need to use some common sense to do it right. Killing everything means the system will be more responsive but regularly used apps will take longer to start up. Not killing means the apps you use a lot "startup" faster when you use them repeatedly (as in fact they never stop running) but after a bit the system will lag when using other apps and may need to use pagefile/swap to atone for the lack of free RAM. That causes page faults which make the system even slower.
The iphone developers aren't complete idiots for killing every app. They have a priority for system responsiveness and they did achieve it at the cost of background running apps. I like the possibility to choose what I want to keep running and kill the apps I'm not likely to use again and it's one of the reasons I picked android.
A little Offtopic to both ifanboys and ihaters:
I never owned any apple product as I think of them as over priced. That said I think the iphone has great merit and I doubt very much we would have Android if the iphone didn't pave the way. Besides I jailbreak my brother's 3G and made it multitask enabled. Now it runs apps in background and there is little diference between it and my android. Except for the extra 200€ it cost, the lower hardware specs and expensive service provider contract my brother pays for a mandatory 24 months, while my X10 cost ~65% initially and came free of any contract.
well said, PCO
pco.vaz said:
I notice when I press the home screen many apps don't kill them selfs and after a while I have loads of apps running and the system starts to lag, specially when I try to run something else.
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Click to collapse
Thats what I and others have found, which is why some people choose to use one, myself included. Someone posted a link to an article last week with similar information posted here about the OS handling itself, but the comments section of the article were full of comments similar to what pco and myself have said, so it's all down to personal preference whether or not you choose to use one.
I did use a task killer for a while, then stopped. Personally my phone is better without. I have nothing except weather that updates automatically, I do it manually when I need it.
It is one of those things, just like on a laptop, everyone has different configurations and usage patterns that results will vary.
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Don't apps exit when you keep hitting the back button? And for games doesn't hitting exit shut down the app?
I thought its a feature that apps don't close when you hit the home button?
gavriel18 said:
Don't apps exit when you keep hitting the back button? And for games doesn't hitting exit shut down the app?
I thought its a feature that apps don't close when you hit the home button?
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Click to collapse
The browser for instance doesn't. Same with many other. I think it's up to each individual developer to program that behavior for his app.
I got Visual task switcher and I notice lots of apps just stay running forever.
Task killer caused probs for me. A daily switch off doesnt hurt, but have run mine for 7 days and been ok. Even a bberry cant do that!
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Guys, don't use home button to exit apps.
Will just send them in background.
Use the back button... this won't exit (most of) the apps but will put them in a "sleep" state so, next time when you will use it, it will load faster.
So, again, home button will put the app in background, still running.
Test it with an audio player for ex.
Or a browser... send it in background with home button and the player will still play or the browser will still have that page loaded.
With back button, after all views are "closed" the app will close too (well, put in sleep state).
I use ATK only to kill the apps i use once in a while ... the rest of the stuff, is always in memory.
My X10 has usually about 25Mb free
Actually I used ATK to kill application that need to connect to internet, and in my case there is extra charge payment. But after i used ATK I don't notice that the battery live is longer. So I ever ask someone in my thread about after ATK kill applications and so forth....
And somebody told me to quit using ATK and now I realize that the battery last longer than before.
But one thing still bother me is:
Setting - Wireless control - mobile network - mms & data (no checklist)
means: I can not access internet and receive or send mms either.
Actually I only need MMS, not internet.
May be somebody can help me solve this problem.
Thanks.
But my conclusion:
NO NEED ADVANCE TASK KILLER.
After I uninstall ATK, my phone still running smooth and the battery last longer.
May be we just need best Cache cleaner. But I still trying some of that.
@pco.vaz
I don't want to be mean, but you are wrong.
Even those iOS versions that are not multitasking enabled keep apps in memory. Leaving an app on an iPhone resets its UI state and halts its processes, but parts of the app are left in the memory. You can see the difference in loading speed if you decide to reopen it.
There were apps that could show memory usage and clean it on the App Store, but Apple removed them. You can still get them through Cydia and see for yourself how memory management on iTouch devices actually works. Basically the iPhone goes as low as 3-4 megs of free memory and handles it in smiliar way as Android.
On both Android and iOS, apps that are in background are paused after a while and do not use processor cycles. Memory they keep occupying is overwritten if needed by another process.
I do not recommend using task killer to people who do not know what they are doing exactly. Killing even simple processes often causes phone instability and drains battery faster, as others have already said.
If you feel your phone is stalled, perform a simple reboot. There are apps that run in background (in most cases you are warned about this) or are poorly coded that could cause this behavior. Other than that, inbuilt application manager is able to force close apps pretty well, if you need to kill a single app causing problems

[Q] Task Manager vs. Auto Killer

Which is better/necessary for maintaining max speed and free memory?
neither, you do not need any type of task killer with android. why do people insist on using these apps.
rlxurmnd said:
neither, you do not need any type of task killer with android. why do people insist on using these apps.
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Click to collapse
You forgot a question mark.
The stock JI6 task manager and a shortcut to "running services". This will show you EXACTLY what's RUNNING on your phone. Key word is running!
rlxurmnd said:
neither, you do not need any type of task killer with android. why do people insist on using these apps.
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Click to collapse
Well I don't know why the task related apps exist. If they didn't exist I wouldn't be asking the question.
the one with the JI6 is very useful for me.
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stevenmcneal83 said:
Well I don't know why the task related apps exist. If they didn't exist I wouldn't be asking the question.
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Click to collapse
Some devs are stuck with the Windows Mobile mentality that Android requires task managers. Android will free the memory as needed, all you need is the stock J16 task manager if you'd like to close the occasional/accidentally left open app.
You guys are doing a very poor job of answering his question and most of it is misinformation.
Auto Killer is NOT a task killer. It is a memory optimizer. It basically uses the same system that is built into Android and modifies the intervals at which it clears memory. It does not kill tasks unless you specify it to.
For instance, default Vibrant is set to start freeing RAM from "empty" apps at 63 MB of RAM left. Empty apps are apps that have been sitting for awhile, not using cpu and not being used but are stored in RAM. You could see why these apps would be the first to go. Well, with Auto Killer, I can change the threshold to 98 MB so when it drops below that, the Android system frees up RAM from the apps that aren't being used.
Auto Killer is nowhere near the same as a task killer or task manager and it actually benefits your system greatly because it just modifies Android memory management system.
Again, the default Android system ALREADY starts clearing RAM automatically at 63 MB left meaning you will always have at least 63 MB of RAM unless you are using tons of apps at once, since they would all be active and Android will not free RAM from active apps unless you are critically low on memory. I'm talking less than 10MB. I like to have at least 98 MB left though so Auto Killer modifies that. Auto Killer does not modify the way Android handles apps, you just tell it the thresholds and then Android does its thing.
kangxi said:
You guys are doing a very poor job of answering his question and most of it is misinformation.
Auto Killer is NOT a task killer. It is a memory optimizer. It basically uses the same system that is built into Android and modifies the intervals at which it clears memory. It does not kill tasks unless you specify it to.
For instance, default Vibrant is set to start freeing RAM from "empty" apps at 63 MB of RAM left. Empty apps are apps that have been sitting for awhile, not using cpu and not being used but are stored in RAM. You could see why these apps would be the first to go. Well, with Auto Killer, I can change the threshold to 98 MB so when it drops below that, the Android system frees up RAM from the apps that aren't being used.
Auto Killer is nowhere near the same as a task killer or task manager and it actually benefits your system greatly because it just modifies Android memory management system.
Again, the default Android system ALREADY starts clearing RAM automatically at 63 MB left meaning you will always have at least 63 MB of RAM unless you are using tons of apps at once, since they would all be active and Android will not free RAM from active apps unless you are critically low on memory. I'm talking less than 10MB. I like to have at least 98 MB left though so Auto Killer modifies that. Auto Killer does not modify the way Android handles apps, you just tell it the thresholds and then Android does its thing.
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Awesome! Thanks so much for being thorough, I'm kinda new. One more quick question, since auto killer seems to be the best way to manage free memory, do I need to remove the task manager if I plan on using auto killer?
Yes. I use just auto killer. No task killer or anything. If I do need to close an app that is frozen or something, I just use the task manager built-in with JI6. Otherwise, just pressing the back button in 99% of all apps will properly close it.
kangxi said:
Yes. I use just auto killer. No task killer or anything. If I do need to close an app that is frozen or something, I just use the task manager built-in with JI6. Otherwise, just pressing the back button in 99% of all apps will properly close it.
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Click to collapse
The built in task manager is the one I was referring to. The one that came included with fusion 1.1. So you currently have both auto killer and task manager on your phone? Forgive me for the confusion
Yes, but like I said, I only use it when I really need to close something which isn't that often. Like if a game I am playing freezes. When I am done with an app, just press the back button and it will close. Try it.
Open an app, press home then look in the task manager. It will be there.
Open the same app, press back, open the task manager and it won't. So using the task manager is like just for emergencies if the app won't close properly.
Thanks alot man

Ram optimizers???

Hey...not sure if this has been answered before or not but im trying to figure out battery draining issues and one of things ive always used is ram optimizers...I have Android Booster and Android Assisant ....and then i also use the built in task manager to clear memory...shouldbi be using these apps or are they draining the battery by running in the background? They seem to clean up a nice amount of memory....and keep my phone running fast....just dont know much about them...
Sent from my GT-I9100M using xda premium
I do not think that by cleaning your RAM, you can reduce power consumption by RAM.
Actually, you do increase it. Android itself closes unnecessary applications when needed to clear memory. But, when you clean memory, either by task manager, or some custom tools, you are basically forcing applications to close and restart unnecessarily. I would say, it is additional load on CPU, and thus on battery.
For most applications, exactly startup and finish times are most expensive in terms of CPU load and battery. And most well-designed applications will not drain your battery when paused.
Reminds me of RAM cleaner programs for Windows machines, that would simply trigger excessive page faults.
while i agree with most of what you posted, there are 2 major flaws in your logic:
1. you talk about closing apps that restart on their own, but not many apps actually do that. sure, widgets, services, your launcher, communication apps and syncing apps need to run in the background, but certainly there are other apps eating away the battery, that need to be fully closed, when not needed. kies air or wifi file explorer come to mind. some of those apps don't fully close through the back button and must be killed from a task manager to save battery.
2. you say apps are paused. that is not necessarily true. many apps are capable of fully running in the background, after all, we are talking android and not iOS. we have full multitasking and apps are not generally suspended. say, you want to play a game for the first time and it needs to download more data. you can do whatever you want with your phone, open a dozen other apps, browse and listen to music, that download will continue in the background. this might fill up the ram over time, if you never close an app or apps do not allow direct closing.
there is a reason why samsung supplied the phone with a built-in task manager.
some apps are not well made and don't quit properly and need to be killed that way and killing off unnecessary apps (that won't restart) makes sense.
and let's not forget apps that get stuck but don't force close. they need to be killed as well. what else are you gonna do? restart the phone? certainly that wastes way more power than a restart of a few services.
every time you have a look at the samsung task manager or the "running" panel of "manage applications" and you use 500 something MB of ram and kill all apps, it will go down to something like 200 something, then the services restart and you are back up to maybe close to 300 (all numbers vary on your rom and apps). given that situation permanently saving 40% of ram is certainly a good reason to kill apps before you put the phone in your pocket.
I guess, then, it is best practice to kill all apps from task manager, a few times a day, especially after using several different applications and closing them. Applications that are needed will be restarted automatically.
I am not sure about running so called "RAM optimizers" constantly, though. When you are using your phone, it simply introduces more lags. Otherwise, it does nothing, if you have cleared RAM after heavy usage.
mirbeksm said:
I guess, then, it is best practice to kill all apps from task manager, a few times a day, especially after using several different applications and closing them. Applications that are needed will be restarted automatically.
I am not sure about running so called "RAM optimizers" constantly, though. When you are using your phone, it simply introduces more lags. Otherwise, it does nothing, if you have cleared RAM after heavy usage.
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Click to collapse
killing itself is not necessary in the 1st part.
the more the memory android uses the better the apps behave, thats how android is desinged.
if you people still want to release some memory just use the samsung task manager ot clear memory or "fast reboot" from market.
Thx for the posts...i deleted the 2 android apps for now to see if theres a difference...i will trybusing just the built in task manager for a few days and see how that goes. But for example i mainly use my phone for words with friends...facebook...twitter and instagram....when i run the built in task manager it frees up mabye 200mb of ram....then i would run android booster which would clean up another 200mb and would close stuff like facebook...and tweetcaster and so on....the built in task manager doesnt seem to pick up on and close everything it should...which is why i downloaded the others...my phone has 800+ mb available and i usually find that ots using 500 of those 800 at all times...i wouldbfind myself constantly closing stuff with the optimizers...but like you said...they just open up in the background again anyway. Im rooted and have got rid of all the safe stuff to get rid of and the funny thing is i still dont see much of a difference in ram consumption...i think of ram as important cause it keeps things running smooth with no lag...not sure what to do i guess...ill try it like this without the optimizers and see how things go and download them again if i get bad lag...what i really need is a actual list of my phones internal software so i can get rid of the rest of the unneeded system files...ive found similar lists..but never a list of my actual phone...theres certain stuff running on my phone that isnt in the lists ive found so i left them with the worry that i may have to reinstall the rom if i delete the wrong thing...im also a android noob...only 2 months of using it so far so ive got tons more learning to do...thx for the opinions tho...keep em coming if you got em!
Sent from my GT-I9100M using xda premium

Why is it pointless to use a task killer

It 'just a habit of many displaying applications in the background to go on the Android Market and install a task killer for fear that some application in the background throughout the battery consumption and slow down the phone memory consuming.
First Step
Android is the son of Linux and not Windows, Windows programs make sense that clean and optimize your memory, not in linux and behaves the same way if you have 10 or 100MB of free memory.
How to manage Android applications
Android applications and processes have defined 3 stages:
1) Running
2) Break In
3) Stopped
Each application runs in its own process when Android starts the process need to be made and ends when no longer needed, it lives in its own world and its code running is isolated from the rest with a Virtual own machine, it is assigned an ID whose permissions are visible to the user and 'application.
If an application needs to share files with another application creates a unique ID to save memory with a single Virtual Machine she shared.
Services are active as long as they need as well as activities that require the data connection and every process of Android. To understand whether an application or any process needs to connect and see if there are updates that it is active so that makes this operation.
It is not good or terminate these operations because the process will start all over again immediately active or when we are going to open an application it will take longer to open.
All processes are terminated when there is no longer needed or when the memory required by other processes.
If a user leaves a task for a long time, the system deletes all activities except the root, and when the user returns to the task it is like you had left.
An application is running when in fact you're running and is the first system plan
When it is no longer at the center of the 'attention but can still be visible is paused and can be killata by the system in case of need for extreme lack of memory
Finally, the application is blocked, but retains all the information is no longer visible on the screen and is in the background, can be killata from Android for any other activity that requires memory.
Summing Android is designed to kill the tasks when
You need more memory
They finished their work
Are not used for a long time
Kill process "by hand" can lead to side effects such as non-receipt of messages, slowdowns, crashes, etc. widget
The majority of applications closes with the BACK button and in any case by pressing the HOME Android close the task after it has been in the background for a certain period of time.
The majority of services running in the background using very little memory when they are not doing something so all other processes (reporting, etc.)
Domada: But why do I open google maps, facebook etc. mail.
These programs are not actually "open" if you notice are all programs that need a network connection, when you turn on the phone they do nothing but check for updates and notifications and then close.
If these activities killiamo happens that most of them will re-open to start all over again or take longer to open when we need them, or worse, will not give us accurate and up to date or will not work properly as well as make a lot more processor.
stempox said:
It 'just a habit of many displaying applications in the background to go on the Android Market and install a task killer for fear that some application in the background throughout the battery consumption and slow down the phone memory consuming.
First Step
Android is the son of Linux and not Windows, Windows programs make sense that clean and optimize your memory, not in linux and behaves the same way if you have 10 or 100MB of free memory.
How to manage Android applications
Android applications and processes have defined 3 stages:
1) Running
2) Break In
3) Stoppati
Each application runs in its own process when Android starts the process need to be made and ends when no longer needed, it lives in its own world and its code running is isolated from the rest with a Virtual own machine, it is assigned an ID whose permissions are visible to the user and 'application.
If an application needs to share files with another application creates a unique ID to save memory with a single Virtual Machine she shared.
Services are active as long as they need as well as activities that require the data connection and every process of Android. To understand whether an application or any process needs to connect and see if there are updates that it is active so that makes this operation.
It is not good or terminate these operations because the process will start all over again immediately active or when we are going to open an application it will take longer to open.
All processes are terminated when there is no longer needed or when the memory required by other processes.
If a user leaves a task for a long time, the system deletes all activities except the root, and when the user returns to the task it is like you had left.
An application is running when in fact you're running and is the first system plan
When it is no longer at the center of the 'attention but can still be visible is paused and can be killata by the system in case of need for extreme lack of memory
Finally, the application is blocked, but retains all the information is no longer visible on the screen and is in the background, can be killata from Android for any other activity that requires memory.
Summing Android is designed to kill the tasks when
You need more memory
They finished their work
Are not used for a long time
Kill process "by hand" can lead to side effects such as non-receipt of messages, slowdowns, crashes, etc. widget
The majority of applications closes with the BACK button and in any case by pressing the HOME Android close the task after it has been in the background for a certain period of time.
The majority of services running in the background using very little memory when they are not doing something so all other processes (reporting, etc.)
Domada: But why do I open google maps, facebook etc. mail.
These programs are not actually "open" if you notice are all programs that need a network connection, when you turn on the phone they do nothing but check for updates and notifications and then close.
If these activities killiamo happens that most of them will re-open to start all over again or take longer to open when we need them, or worse, will not give us accurate and up to date or will not work properly as well as make a lot more processor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know I'm likely to get criticised by some for saying this but some of us have to use task killers.
My phone has an average of 140 mb free after it boots up. Add to that apps that stay in ram even when you close them and you can have as little as thirty or fourty mb free.
I've seen apps such as facebook and tapatalk, and even some games, taking up ram even though I don't want them used once I exit from them...and when my phone gets to around fifty mb free or less it can get slow and unresponsive.
A quick kill of un needed apps makes the os perform as it should again.
It's nice to say android clears up ram as needed, and it does, but try playing a decent hd game when your ram is low and, unless you kill some apps first, you're left with a black frozen screen while it tries clearing some ram. In some cases your phone can be unusable for a while, on mine when this happens the capacitive buttons stop responding to keypresses.
Now on ics with 1 gb ram this isn't an issue but for those of us with less ram and / or an older os it is.
Ideally we could configure non system apps so that if we don't want them in ram when finished with them then they cannot auto restart.
It is a simple fact that two identical phones will perform differently if one has lots of free ram and one has most ram in use, I use an on demand task killer so that apps that stay around on exit can be stopped from eating ram and slowing my phone down so for me a task killer is not pointless specifically because it frees up ram so that something memory intensive can be run without slowing my system while android tries to make room for it.
So while I agree with the theory, in practice task killers can be useful or at least on demand ones can.
Dave
( http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAownKXmAQ/bigfatuniverse )
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk 2
I agree with how Linux handles its applications. I switch between WinXP and Ubuntu and the overall way tasks are utilized are similar, but linux does a better job at handling running applications. On windows i have Chrome open and with 9 tabs open im hitting 1.5 gb ram used. Same situation on linux i find myself hitting around 500mb of ram used. Im sure this applies to android as well.
On a side note i find that people who "Kill Tasks" are just running them because they can and are usually fixated on seeing a large amount of ram free. It just adds another reason to stay on their device. Just my opinion.
An alternative to task killers for rooted devices are apps that blocks app from running at triggers so nothing is killed at all; the apps don't run.
Eg: the autostarts app.
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gruntparty said:
On a side note i find that people who "Kill Tasks" are just running them because they can and are usually fixated on seeing a large amount of ram free. It just adds another reason to stay on their device. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use one to make sure my phones already low ram does not drop so low my phone becomes slow, which it does when you get to even just fifty mb free ram left. And to kill those applications which do not exit properly.
On an android phone that has 512 mb ram if ram gets eaten up the phone goes slow, and I know it is not just me because other users with similar setups have same issues. So I think it is too general an assumption to say we all use task killers for say a cosmetic rather than practical reason though I'm sure some do.
Dave
( http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAownKXmAQ/bigfatuniverse )
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk 2
Markuzy said:
An alternative to task killers for rooted devices are apps that blocks app from running at triggers so nothing is killed at all; the apps don't run.
Eg: the autostarts app.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately this only stops apps auto starting at boot and once you have used an app and exited it, a lot stay in ram.
Some restart when killed some don't but when your phone is on permanently as many are, having low ram can quickly be a problem.
I think part of that is the phone manufacturer as 512 mb ram, with just 140 mb free at boot, is rubbish on a dual core 3D phone but whatever the cause I find killing tasks helps make phone run better.
Dave
( http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAownKXmAQ/bigfatuniverse )
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk 2
I used to kill tasks when i was on Android 2.1 an 2.3, but since 4.0 i feel my phone gone strangely fast, and i don't need to use task killers anymore. Phone is LG GT540, so...
lewymaro said:
I used to kill tasks when i was on Android 2.1 an 2.3, but since 4.0 i feel my phone gone strangely fast, and i don't need to use task killers anymore. Phone is LG GT540, so...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to love my gt540. Didn't know you could run ics on it though, good phone for the price but didn't like the resistive screen though the phone itself can take some serious punishment and still keep working.
I love lg for their build quality, pretty hard to break them with dropping etc, but unfortunately they do bad with the software side.
Dave
( http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAownKXmAQ/bigfatuniverse )
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk 2
Good topic, I don't like the task killer!
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
In general, yes task killers are bad. But occasionally it IS necessary to kill an app. Sometimes an app will freeze. Then it needs to be killed to be able to use it again. But you can easily just go into Settings > Applications > Manage Applications, find the app and then Force Stop it. So there's no real need to have a task killer. Although I do like to have Watchdog on my phone, as it shows the amount of available CPU cycles being taken up by each app, so you can make sure background apps aren't using too much CPU. (It does also show RAM usage, but it sorts apps by CPU usage, by default at least).
Linux has nothing to do with the management of an application, the applications under Android are sandboxed in java and there is this dalvik machine that takes care of everything.
I don't get why people keep mentioning this kernel over and over, also for the biggest part of its history Android did not use a real linux kernel with vanilla flavour, only recently the Android kernel was merged with the linux kernel mainline.
This is one of the very first Google video about Android http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mm6Ju0xhUW8
edit: In this series of videos there are also references to memory management and app management.
Markuzy said:
An alternative to task killers for rooted devices are apps that blocks app from running at triggers so nothing is killed at all; the apps don't run.
Eg: the autostarts app.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right
I do the same thing
In cm9 you can enable auto close apps with long press back button
So I don't need a task killer
Sent from my LG-P500 using xda premium

AutoKiller Memory Optimizer

I found an application named AutoKiller Memory Optimizer by which applying its tweaks It makes my phone more smoothly and saves my battery very well!
There are some reviews below links:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=622666
http://andrs.w3pla.net/autokiller
http://andrs.w3pla.net/autokiller/details
http://andrs.w3pla.net/autokiller/kernel
If anyone has installed this application plz give your opinion !
and why would you post it in Q and A ?
All these task killers are about the war on RAM.
We, the people who grew up using windows, have an inner belief that more free RAM equals to more speed.
The thing is that android is not windows but linux based, so the rules changes to the more RAM the better perfomance.
What dois this has to do with performance & drain?
Android would load apps before you try to open them, so when you finally do, it's already opened. Android doesn't have to work hence the battery doesn't have to gas it.
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
All these task killers are about the war on RAM.
We, the people who grew up using windows, have an inner belief that more free RAM equals to more speed.
The thing is that android is not windows but linux based, so the rules changes to the more RAM the better perfomance.
What dois this has to do with performance & drain?
Android would load apps before you try to open them, so when you finally do, it's already opened. Android doesn't have to work hence the battery doesn't have to gas it.
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest to try it. you will find the changes i mean
Can't, already posted that these apps are crap.
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
Can't, already posted that these apps are crap.
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
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It's not a regular task killer such as advanced task killer or easy task killer. It's more different.
Really, what does it do?
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gastonw said:
Really, what does it do?
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
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It's not a task killer. It's an app that modify your lmk and add some tweaks. But you can kill some apps from this app too.
First Plz read reviews in first post and also these two reviews:
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Releasing RAM With Autokiller Memory Optimizer
Have you ever wished to speed up your Android, but now known how? Have you tried task killers, but found it hard to tell whether you made an improvement? In this post, we’ll look at Autokiller Memory Optimizer, an app that gives you more control over how Android releases its system resources.
“You shouldn’t be using a task killer with Android” clearly explains why the task killers are not a good solution to fasten up your system in the Android interface. Briefly, we might say that the reason that task killers are no good for Android is that the same system regulates itself for releasing RAM memory. Process are not killed when you close the app; instead the process stays open until the system itself realizes it needs more memory to run a new process. This way, you can actually gain some speed when you restart the app, as its resources may still be in memory.
Just like a computer, a smartphone uses Random Access Memory (RAM) for processing the functionality of softwares and apps. When you are running low on RAM, your phone will start to slow down, because it needs more memory than is available. As a solution to this problem, Android devices has an autokiller that automatically shuts apps down when the memory used is close to the limit. Obviously this limit depends on the capabilities and configuration of your phone.
If you root your phone (and I totally recommend you to do that) you can use apps for changing your system parameters like the RAM auto killing. One of this apps is Autokiller Memory Optimizer available on the Android Market.
As the developer says: “AutoKiller Memory Optimizer is designed to fine-tune Android system’s inner memory manager routines to keep your device fast and smooth. It also features a full-powered process manager which lets you control your whole system.”
Warning: Messing around with system configurations like this is potentially dangerous to your phone, and not for the faint-hearted! Check out our other How To articles for safer tips on improving performance.
Going for It
The system itself divides the process into six different types, and here’s where it gets technical. The six types are as follows.
FOREGROUND_APP: This is the process running the current foreground app. We’d really rather not kill it! Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup.
VISIBLE_APP: This is a process only hosting activities that are visible to the user, so we’d prefer they don’t disappear. Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup.
SECONDARY_SERVER: This is a process holding a secondary server — killing it will not have much of an impact as far as the user is concerned. Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup.
HIDDEN_APP: This is a process only hosting activities that are not visible, so it can be killed without any disruption. Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup.
CONTENT_PROVIDER: This is a process with a content provider that does not have any clients attached to it. If it did have any clients, its adjustment would be the one for the highest-priority of those processes.
EMPTY_APP: This is a process without anything currently running in it. Definitely the first to go! Value set in system/rootdir/init.rc on startup. This value is initialized in the constructor, careful when refering to this static variable externally.
For every type of app, the system has a limit of pages (1 page=4 kilobytes) predefined. Autokiller Memory Optimizer allows you to modify this.
For the changes you can make you have the freedom to set as you wish, but there is a lock on the three first types of apps (this can be removed in the Preferences tab) and there isalso a list of presets configuration as follows (the numbers corresponds to megabytes remaining before shutting apps in the last 3 types of apps): Moderate (30, 35, 40), Optimum (40, 50, 60), Strict (60, 70, 80), Aggressive (82, 90, 98), Extreme (150, 160, 170), Ultimate (200, 225, 250) and (a wink from the developer about the TV series) Lost (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42).
Autokiller presets
Within these presets, you should try different ones, because every phone has its own RAM capacity and it would not be a good idea to set a killing parameter that is very close to your RAM total capacity as your phone would be killing apps constantly and you wouldn’t be able to use it at all.
Processes list
The app also categorizes the running apps in the six types and you can kill them manually for RAM release in the tab processes and the same occurs with the services in the current tab.
Services list
This app has also a donate version with some more features like the Chuck Norris mode when you can configure the app to use aggressive killing to release memory. It also gives the ability to set a different preset when the screen of the phone is off (this is very useful because when the screen is off you do not need memory to run new apps, but it still consumes battery).
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Tweak your system thanks to AutoKiller Memory Optimizer
Summary
Relax, I’m not trying to fool you into thinking that a task killer is really a tweak. Don’t be fooled by the ‘AutoKiller’ part of the app’s name, focus on the other words instead, because AutoKiller Memory Optimizer will allow you to fiddle around and make a few adjustments. Read on and find out what kind of adjustments I’m talking about, and whether the app is worth your time.
Features & Use
AutoKiller Memory Optimizer is there to help you bring your system up to par by conducting a bit of fine tuning. The app comes with a task manager. Use the task manager to get rid of lagging processes, the logic behind this being that if you’ve got something running that’s not really doing anything useful, but does consume 98% of the CPU as well as a hefty chunk of memory you should really unload energy hoggers. Your system will thank you by running smoothly. The task manager also displays the oom_value for ever app—more details below.
The app allows you to regulate the settings for the OOM killer, the automatic killer integrated in every Android device whose role it is to create more memory space wherever possible. As you know, in the Android world applications are never halted or shut down, they are merely rendered inactive—until the memory pipes up and the Out Of Memory Killer rears its head. But when does memory shortage become critical? And who decides which apps should be banished, and when should this occur? If you want to make these types of decisions yourself take a look at AutoKiller Memory Optimizer.
Android divides running apps into six categories ranging from the app that you’re currently working with to ‘empty apps’ (i.e. apps that you left by hitting the back button at some point). Once RAM space becomes too low the OOM killer will start by banishing said empty apps, and, if need be, continue working its way up. AutoKiller Memory Optimizer lets you decide how much free RAM space is required for your device run smoothly. There are different presettings to pick from (‘moderate’, ‘aggressive’, etc) and you can check out the developer’s website to read up on user experiences.
Bottom line:
AutoKiller Memory Optimizer affords you easy access to essential systems settings, allowing your Android to perform as optimally as possible. How essential this kind of app is is contingent on lots of factors: which device you’re working with, how good the manufacturer’s presettings are and what can be done to adjust them.
Screen & Controls
AutoKiller Memory Optimizer is set up in a very logical way. While high skilled, expert knowledge of Android isn’t essential in order to get the best performance out of the controls, it doesn’t hurt to have some experience. You can find in depth information and details regarding the settings options on the developer’s website, which means that you really don’t need much background knowledge in order to get something out of this app.
If you have a bit of experience you will find that the app’s controls are intuitive; if you’ve never worked with tweaking before I recommend that you give this app a miss.
Speed & Stability
AutoKiller Memory Optimizer is fast, stabil and dependable. I’ve been using the app for just over a month and it hasn’t crashed once so far.
Yada yada, that app tells android how to behave.
Custom kernels do that as well, so there you have it
Sent from the little guy
gastonw said:
Yada yada, that app tells android how to behave.
Custom kernels do that as well, so there you have it
Sent from the little guy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol yes, the more ram android uses the better performance BUT it makes most apps to run and remain active in the background using valuable memory which I might need for something else, for example something like a HD game like NOVA 3, and battery life does increase because active app = active CPU = battery drain.
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