Task manager - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777

What's your opinions on task managers? Advanced Task Killer the best? The built in one? Just curious what the general concensus was.

You don't need one, the phone does this plenty fine by itself

yoderk said:
You don't need one, the phone does this plenty fine by itself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure if this is indicative of me being too untrusting, but it seems that if I check either the built in task manager or Advanced task Killer, I always have about 30 apps running. I kill them and about 30 minutes later they are all running again. Apps that I don't or am not using (maps comes to mind).

According to Lifehacker in quite a few places (I can't post links because I'm new here, but search Google), they aren't worth your while. I use Watchdog to keep track of my CPU usage.

if you must.. use the one built in. Otherwise they are highly advised against. For that very same reason. You kill 30 apps and they come right back. Once in awhile I will check the built in task manager- its usually stays accurate maybe 1 or two apps running like xda or browser, but most of the time my apps behave.
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I use Autostarts.
It's not a task manager as it doesn't kill the app right away but it helps to disable the app from autostarting everytime.
Don't you wonder why is BLOOD AND GLORY running in the background when you haven't even opened it.
I hate games and apps doing background stuff when I don't need them.
LBE plus Autostarts is my combo.
LBE to disable access to apps from my personal data and autostarts to manage when apps should run.
Games should run when opened, not background data mining.

Silenus21 said:
I use Autostarts.
It's not a task manager as it doesn't kill the app right away but it helps to disable the app from autostarting everytime.
Don't you wonder why is BLOOD AND GLORY running in the background when you haven't even opened it.
I hate games and apps doing background stuff when I don't need them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should look into Autostarts, I barely play that game maybe once a week so I usually freeze it after I am done playing. Lol
Same thing happens with a few other games...
That is the only thing I do not like is background games/apps that do not need to be running since I have yet to open nor plan to and are sitting there doing who knows what.
Was always looking for a "msconfig" type thing for android.

I like the built in one....i wouldn't use any other.

I just is the built in one.....mainly to kill fb if i don't back out. It rapes cpu when you aren't using it
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stalked_r/t said:
Not sure if this is indicative of me being too untrusting, but it seems that if I check either the built in task manager or Advanced task Killer, I always have about 30 apps running. I kill them and about 30 minutes later they are all running again. Apps that I don't or am not using (maps comes to mind).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats the way Android works. It doesnt mean those apps are actually running, it just means Android allocated memory for those apps but it will remove it if it needs that memory space. Dont kill it ... you're creating extra work because Android will just reallocate that memory space again.

nyydynasty said:
thats the way Android works. It doesnt mean those apps are actually running, it just means Android allocated memory for those apps but it will remove it if it needs that memory space. Dont kill it ... you're creating extra work because Android will just reallocate that memory space again.
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Click to collapse
Ahhh. That makes more sense. Still a little new to android.
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I grabbed Autostarts and its awesome, had so many pointless events that I disabled.
This one in particular made no sense to me at all.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Now I can get the games I been wanting to play but always get triggered for no reason and run in the background like Blood and Gory & Tap Tap Revenge.

+1 for Autostarts. Been using it since my Captivate days. More than well worth the 99ยข I paid for it back when.

LiLChris06 said:
I grabbed Autostarts and its awesome, had so many pointless events that I disabled.
This one in particular made no sense to me at all.
Now I can get the games I been wanting to play but always get triggered for no reason and run in the background like Blood and Gory & Tap Tap Revenge.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait I wouldn't be quick to judge these as useless. Autostarts lists all of the possible intents that the Android OS publishes. What you are seeing are lists of apps that are registered to receive certain intents. I like to imagine intents as flags that go up saying "hey something happened" and this lets apps know that something occurred.
I downloaded the app and read that com.google.googlenav.friend.reporting.LocationReportingIntentReceiver is registered to handle the action android.intent.action.BATTERY_LOW. What this is saying is that googlenav is registered to respond to the BATTERY_LOW flag. This could mean that the location reporting stops to save battery when the battery is low. Disabling this would mean that service will not stop and continue to report location.
This is only a guess as to how the locationreporting service works for googlenav but it's a great example of how Autostarts works and how you should be careful when using Autostarts.

Silenus21 said:
I use Autostarts.
It's not a task manager as it doesn't kill the app right away but it helps to disable the app from autostarting everytime.
Don't you wonder why is BLOOD AND GLORY running in the background when you haven't even opened it.
I hate games and apps doing background stuff when I don't need them.
LBE plus Autostarts is my combo.
LBE to disable access to apps from my personal data and autostarts to manage when apps should run.
Games should run when opened, not background data mining.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Forgive my ignorance... But what is LBE?
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S Captivate using XDA Premium.

Sorry didn't see the thread.
Do a market search.
LBE Privacy guard.
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I second LBE Privacy Guard and Watchdog.. both great apps. LBE lets you decide what apps are allowed to do with your information and connections, so that even if one is running in the background, it can't accomplish anything you don't want it to. You can even choose whether an app is allowed to use cellular data, or just wifi. It's personally one of the most important apps on my phone, and it's never caused a problem with any of my 100+ apps.
Watchdog simply keeps an eye on all the running apps, and lets you know when one of them uses up more resources than you designate. It's basically the 'Gingerbread' version of task-killers, which are counter-productive with Gingerbread and newer versions of Android.
Android 2.3+ in itself does a great job managing apps in the foreground and background, but it's still reassuring to have an app keeping an eye on them just in case. Overall though, if you keep killing apps over & over, the OS just has to waste resources and battery life reloading them into the memory. Just because you see them running in the background doesn't mean they're actually active, just queued in case you decide to launch one.
Another great app for monitoring these apps is System Monitor. You can see exactly what apps are running in the background, as well as how much resources they're using. It even keeps a history (in the pro version) that lets you see your worst offenders over the last few hours/days/weeks etc.

zoso28 said:
I second LBE Privacy Guard and Watchdog.. both great apps. LBE lets you decide what apps are allowed to do with your information and connections, so that even if one is running in the background, it can't accomplish anything you don't want it to. You can even choose whether an app is allowed to use cellular data, or just wifi. It's personally one of the most important apps on my phone, and it's never caused a problem with any of my 100+ apps.
Watchdog simply keeps an eye on all the running apps, and lets you know when one of them uses up more resources than you designate. It's basically the 'Gingerbread' version of task-killers, which are counter-productive with Gingerbread and newer versions of Android.
Android 2.3+ in itself does a great job managing apps in the foreground and background, but it's still reassuring to have an app keeping an eye on them just in case. Overall though, if you keep killing apps over & over, the OS just has to waste resources and battery life reloading them into the memory. Just because you see them running in the background doesn't mean they're actually active, just queued in case you decide to launch one.
Another great app for monitoring these apps is System Monitor. You can see exactly what apps are running in the background, as well as how much resources they're using. It even keeps a history (in the pro version) that lets you see your worst offenders over the last few hours/days/weeks etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android already has built in system img mgmt. Configuring this does wonders on a device specific basis. I think common knowledge also indicates that mostly avoiding task killers might be preferred in most situations. For instance CM7 has a built in cache mgmt system. Others are available for use with Sammy ROM (Romtoolbox etc)
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Amplified said:
Android already has built in system img mgmt. Configuring this does wonders on a device specific basis. I think common knowledge also indicates that mostly avoiding task killers might be preferred in most situations. For instance CM7 has a built in cache mgmt system. Others are available for use with Sammy ROM (Romtoolbox etc)
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Exactly...

Related

Preventing apps from auto starting

hi all, im an owner of a sam.charge. I use the app called "System" and it lists about a dozen apps that are stored in my cache or that are using memory when I have not innitiaited the service or app...
I'm most familiar with computers so I'll relate it to that; is there some type of command line that I can use to stop some of these apps from auto start and being stored. For instance on windows you can 'msconfig' what programs are allowed to start on boot up.
Here is a list of apps that I want to stop: AccuWeather.com, Android Booster, Google Voice, HeyTell, Amazon's Appstore, Market, Music, etc.
Most are cached/ inactive but none the less in my task manager when freeing up memory when I notice things to be lagging I'd imagine these to be guilty. Android Booster always lists these as killed apps as well when optimizing...
Im familiar somewhat with how android works being that it often fills a large portion of your memory with what it wants to and frees space as it is needed but these apps for me are rarely used...
Im big on battery life being Im in and out of Sales accounts and rely on my phone heavily so I dont want these things running in the background sucking up resources. Not to mention I like a snappy phone...
If anyone could educate me on this topic Id really appreciate it... I may be mistaken on a few things so call me out on it, since im sure I am... Also, I know their are app freezers and applications you can program to kill apps at a set interval but again I would like the least amount of garbage running as I can
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Some of the basic services are must to be initiated/running all the time such as launcher, keyboard, google voice, market, etc.. so as to run your phone smoothly . This is the default setting of android os. And anyway why do you want to close/stop the services case restarting services uses more battery than kepping them running on the memory ....
mlm2588 said:
hi all, im an owner of a sam.charge. I use the app called "System" and it lists about a dozen apps that are stored in my cache or that are using memory when I have not innitiaited the service or app...
I'm most familiar with computers so I'll relate it to that; is there some type of command line that I can use to stop some of these apps from auto start and being stored. For instance on windows you can 'msconfig' what programs are allowed to start on boot up.
Here is a list of apps that I want to stop: AccuWeather.com, Android Booster, Google Voice, HeyTell, Amazon's Appstore, Market, Music, etc.
Most are cached/ inactive but none the less in my task manager when freeing up memory when I notice things to be lagging I'd imagine these to be guilty. Android Booster always lists these as killed apps as well when optimizing...
Im familiar somewhat with how android works being that it often fills a large portion of your memory with what it wants to and frees space as it is needed but these apps for me are rarely used...
Im big on battery life being Im in and out of Sales accounts and rely on my phone heavily so I dont want these things running in the background sucking up resources. Not to mention I like a snappy phone...
If anyone could educate me on this topic Id really appreciate it... I may be mistaken on a few things so call me out on it, since im sure I am... Also, I know their are app freezers and applications you can program to kill apps at a set interval but again I would like the least amount of garbage running as I can
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you find apps that you don't use, you can use a program to freeze them. Just search for freeze in the market. I personally use a free app called System Tuner. Freezing prevent them from starting up and therefore you cannot use them, but later on you can un-freeze them if you need to.
Optimize toolbox
I use this one, had a bunch of other features.https://market.android.com/details?id=cn.opda.a.phonoalbumshoushou&feature=search_result
Thanks all for the feedback...
To reply to the first response; I have read that about battery life. That, the more you kill apps and reopen them that it takes longer for the app to start up and thus sucking up battery life... I probably should not have mentioned battery life in my post being that I have a car charger and that it contradicts what im trying to accomplish (going over my post, it was stupid of me given what you just mentioned). Also, I'm not so much concerned with market apps or google voice as I am about the apps I installed myself. Those ones are the ones that bother me.
To the other posts thanks for the recommendations I will like into those options. I'm just trying to prevent extra apps from running in the background so freezing them is a last resort.
I'm looking for something that I can type in terminal possibly on program into the OS or app itself to keep it from auto starting... possibly a command line?!
Any developers input? Can this even be done. I'm still very much a beginner but its not beyond my comprehension to do something like this... I know its different but I play around with linux, web design, c++ stuff so if you post directions I can follow smoothly our atleast figure it out if you point me in the right direction
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It's not exactly what your asking for but have you tried Gemini App Manager:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.seasmind.android.gmappmgr
You can use it to disable/re-enable an app's autorun settings. When you first open it it will list all user apps currently in memory. Clicking menu then expert mode will give you a list of all apps. Long press an app then click configure autorun.
Just be careful with changing the autorun settings of system apps like market.
"preventing apps from autostarting"
I like this topic a lot!
I think the question(s) and "assumptions" the OP holds are all valid. So I'd really like to hear the answer to the actual question, not a spew of why the question isn't valid.
How do you stop apps from starting up on their own? (like microsofts msconfig)
Pretty simple question and I cannot find the answer! I've been in software for many year and I'm rather stunned by the responses people are giving - which basically say "who cares, android O/S handles it for you".
Well, lets face it:
*If* the user didn't call for the app, and had no desire to use it, then the "system" loading it even ONCE, is one too many.
*If* the app is a DESIRED app, (OR device required), *BUT* uses data - then if the user didn't want to use it; "yet" - then thats DATA & BATTERY life --> **WASTED**
If the user suspects the APP is misbehaving; one sure fire way would be to SEE it running, when they didn't ask it to!
If you are pure paranoid, or simply want extreme app control....
The kinds of answers people are giving is truly along the the lines of "we dont know, but you're silly for caring"
SOYLENT GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:cyclops:
jr67 said:
It's not exactly what your asking for but have you tried Gemini App Manager:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.seasmind.android.gmappmgr
You can use it to disable/re-enable an app's autorun settings. When you first open it it will list all user apps currently in memory. Clicking menu then expert mode will give you a list of all apps. Long press an app then click configure autorun.
Just be careful with changing the autorun settings of system apps like market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to test this out too! And I'll post success if it does well!!!

[Q] Amazon App Store keeps resurrecting itself. How to kill it?

Hi,
I installed Amazon App Store app to get one of the free app of the days. But now, it keeps running in the background. Probably collecting info.
I added the app to the Auto-End list (where it SHOULD kill the app after 2 minutes of screen off). The Amazon app seems to start when phone boots up. It also someone resurrects itself. I've made sure to not use it, and at some point during the day I checked running tasks and there it is.
If I kill it manually, it eventually shows up again some time during the day.
There are other apps that turn on by themselves on startup, but don't resurrect themselves. On windows, it's easy to manage auto-startup services. It's in the administrative tool. Is there the equivalent of this on Android?
Amazon is annoying like that; it does the same thing with me. Its really not hurting your battery or phone but just looking at it can be annoying so i understand. If it really bothers you that much get "titanium backup" from the market and freeze it when you aren't using it. Also your phone is smart enough to close apps/end processes on its own, moto just put the task killer there as it really serves no purpose. Also auto killing apps isnt smart; your phone probably uses more battery when it has to open up a new process everytime you open an app since you autokill and dont let it manage process/apps on its own. Android likes to let apps that aren't being used rest in memory in the background...id suggest you stop auto killing apps and do some research for yourself on how the android linux kernel works.
Thanks.
I did read into Android developer's way of thinking about how apps on a smart phone should behave, and their philosophy regarding memory management.
However, this philosophy opens up the possibility for abuse by app developers (Amazon). Programs that I use maybe once a month really don't need to be running (especially on startup), regardless of how little memory they use up, or how awesome Android's memory management scheme is.
I don't intend on micromanaging every process. Just those that are obvious wastes.
coachclass said:
Thanks.
I did read into Android developer's way of thinking about how apps on a smart phone should behave, and their philosophy regarding memory management.
However, this philosophy opens up the possibility for abuse by app developers (Amazon). Programs that I use maybe once a month really don't need to be running (especially on startup), regardless of how little memory they use up, or how awesome Android's memory management scheme is.
I don't intend on micromanaging every process. Just those that are obvious wastes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. Try out bloatware freezer or other apps in the market that blk apps from starting up when the phone turns on. Android definitely needs to get small issues like this fixed in future builds for sure.

Are ALL apps "running" at the same time in CM9?

I was getting some strange behaviour in CM9 after playing movies with MX player, and discovered that it could be resolved by forcing MX player to stop via the app settings menu. In the process I also discovered something I haven't seen before in any version of Android:
every single app on my touchpad had an active "force stop" button!
I realise that this does not necessarily mean they were running. However, it's the first time I've seen this and I'm curious as to the explanation. None of the apps had been manually started, and few of them are likely to have been started as a part of sync jobs etc.
Anyone know what's going on?
android opens up apps and stores them in the ram so when u click on them they open up faster. However there are some poorly developed apps that stay opened no matter what and hog memory.
staymunch said:
android opens up apps and stores them in the ram so when u click on them they open up faster. However there are some poorly developed apps that stay opened no matter what and hog memory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I may be misreading your post... are you saying android loads apps on its own volition and keeps them in RAM? Ie. even without the user starting them?
Let me clarify: all apps--even apps that were not started by me--had the "force stop" button active. Ie. they were all (apparently) pre-emptively loaded into memory. I didn't mean that I started all my apps one after the other and then discovered that they were still in RAM
I realise Android handles processes differently from Windows, but this is something I haven't seen with any froyo or gingerbread ROM. Hence my confusion
That's how android works (and linux), not just ICS. It "loads" apps to fill up it's ram so when you click on an app, it may not have to fully load it if it's already cached. Again, they are not "running", just cached. Unlike Windows, Linux uses all the RAM it can, as it's pointless to have say 500mb of ram free when it can fill that up with pre-loaded apps. This is exactly why task killers are a no-no, as when you kill apps, android sees that free RAM space and will just load those apps back, thus causing an endless cycle.
So basically, don't worry about it, let Android do its thing. The only reason you should ever "kill" or force close an app is if it's not responding.
Aight, I'll have to take your word for it... I was just baffled because I've never seen it in the other ROMS (ie. apps loaded before they were actually started by the user) Perhaps it's because there's more RAM to fill up on the touchpad, who knows.
sitlet said:
That's how android works (and linux), not just ICS. It "loads" apps to fill up it's ram so when you click on an app, it may not have to fully load it if it's already cached. Again, they are not "running", just cached. Unlike Windows, Linux uses all the RAM it can, as it's pointless to have say 500mb of ram free when it can fill that up with pre-loaded apps. This is exactly why task killers are a no-no, as when you kill apps, android sees that free RAM space and will just load those apps back, thus causing an endless cycle.
So basically, don't worry about it, let Android do its thing. The only reason you should ever "kill" or force close an app is if it's not responding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm, not to be a jerk, but none of that is true.
stuffandcrap said:
Uhm, not to be a jerk, but none of that is true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
umm not to be a jerk but umm yes it is. Now u go read!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=6426198#post6426198
Ok, sorry, I wasn't trying to be mean, I just thought your post was very misleading.
So, I did read that link, and I still think you got the facts wrong.
First of all, managing memory in a way that you don't clean up after closed/idle processes is not the same as "pre-loading as many apps as it can to fill up the RAM"
So, a statement like this doesn't hold.
sitlet said:
as it's pointless to have say 500mb of ram free when it can fill that up with pre-loaded apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it's not. It would be pointless to go through the overhead of opening processes when they are not needed.
If you read again, you'll notice the article says "Android starts the process when any of the application's code needs to be executed", not "starts processes preemptively".
What Linux does is try to avoid deleting memory blocks unless they are required by a new process. If, as you said, it tried to keep RAM filled up at all times, the OS would be unusable.
Hope that makes sense.
It might also be important to note there is a difference between a service running, and the app running. For example Google Voice may have a service running to keep me updated regarding voicemails, but the app isn't running. In the running services I will see an entry for Google voice with an option to stop, but going to my apps and clicking force close on Google voice does not stop the service. I need to stop it from the running services menu, and if I do it pops right back. I see many services running, but I don't see many apps running, on mine.
As I understand it, apps will not resurrect themselves, but services will. I have also understood it that apps remain loaded in the RAM, after opened, but not of their own accord. RAM takes the same amount of battery full as it does empty. So clearing the app out of memory uses processor cycles, and then uses more to reopen the app later. The system is designed to operate at a certain capacity, and will free up RAM as needed. I have also heard experts say only poorly written apps stay running in the background unexpectedly. And that task killers should only be used for rouge apps.
Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
sitlet said:
That's how android works (and linux), not just ICS. It "loads" apps to fill up it's ram so when you click on an app, it may not have to fully load it if it's already cached. Again, they are not "running", just cached. Unlike Windows, Linux uses all the RAM it can, as it's pointless to have say 500mb of ram free when it can fill that up with pre-loaded apps. This is exactly why task killers are a no-no, as when you kill apps, android sees that free RAM space and will just load those apps back, thus causing an endless cycle.
So basically, don't worry about it, let Android do its thing. The only reason you should ever "kill" or force close an app is if it's not responding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Windows also caches RAM... According to my understanding Android doesn't do pre-caching like full desktop OSes do, rather it'll keep applications you've opened in memory as long as it can or until the OS feels it needs the RAM for some other operation.
Windows caching 3.6GB of my RAM
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
there is a setting in developer options to limit the amount of background apps you want running if you don't want them all running
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk

Have a question about task killer?

I have kinda nooby question... i am using a phone with stock gingerbread and i am using an advanced task killer. I know a lot of people say that I shouldn't do it, but it just makes my phone a lot faster and smoother. As a noob, i have one question: is task killer really harmful to my phone and is it better for me to not use it? If you say yes, please provide me some specific reason why. Thank you ask much guys!
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
its not that bad... but u should not kill background services!
keep settings on safe... don't use aggressive mode
applications u know u use often for example- browser or music player... u can add to excluded section... currently im using ZDBox and it works perfect... it also has additional features that you will need... hope this helps
I only use the ATK to kill an app that's not responding well.
For example, when I was using CM7, sometimes my Google Reader app would hang and display a loading symbol for a long time instead of displaying my articles, and the arrow that shows transmission over the network wasn't displaying so I knew it wasn't waiting on data, I would use ATK to kill ONLY Google Reader. Then I could go back into the app and it would load very quickly.
But since I switched to an ICS ROM, I haven't had that same issue and haven't had a need for ATK.
Also, do note that it does take processing power, and therefore battery power, when your phone decides to restart any of those apps you are killing, and it will restart apps.
For a great explanatory article, see here:
http://androidandme.com/2011/11/app...lers-still-dont-give-you-better-battery-life/
and also the links in the phrase "(see here, and here, and here)".
So in short, they are not exactly "harmful" but they don't provide any real benefit if you "kill everything, every time."
It is a common myth that more RAM = better performance, and this is a result of the market being dominated by Microsoft for so long. Android does not equal a desktop OS. Free RAM literally does nothing. In fact, it is wasteful to have bunch of free RAM. Android manages RAM very effectively and aggressively works to ensure that you have sufficient resources to do whatever it is you want to do. If you notice an increase in performance with a task killer, it is because you have a misbehaving app. Watchdog is the only task manager I would recommend, all it does is watch for apps that are using an abnormal amount of resources and alerts you. Part of the Android experience is the emulated multi-tasking, or having several apps saved to memory simultaneously to facilitate ease of switching between them. An app in the background will not affect the performance of your device, it is not using any resources. Aside from that, if you end a task, it will usually just start right up again, using more resources, because that is how Android is designed to work.
So, I would say finding the misbehaving app is a much better option than a task killer. They were important in eclair, maybe even FroYo. But anything above that they are unnecessary.
i dont really believe in android"s app managmentbut task killers make it only worst IMHO
I have to agree with member devator22.
Android is not Windows. Android is basically Linux and Linux is using a different memory management than Windows does. (Although Windows has got a lot of improvements during the last years)
RAM which isn't used, is wasted! That's a fact.
So, if you run a specific application, some of its data my be cached. Linux is reporting this as "buffered" (you can see the amount by running the 'top' command)
There might be a more or less big chance to hit this cache. If so, the data is loaded much faster ( definetly > 10 ) than if it had to be requested from the file system.
By killing your application by a task manger you are releasing this buffered resources (actually you are forcing the OS to release it). In the worst case you are wasting your advantage of loading already cached data from the RAM. In the best case you are gaining nothing because your device has to load it from the file system anyway.
(sorry for my english )
Get watchdog!
/end
*just because nobody understands you, doesn't make you an artist..
Thank you so much for these replies! I really appreciate it! I decided to keep my task killer but not use it aggressively. I probably will use it to end apps that i really find it pointless. And also to the people who said android dies it's own task managing, you're right but wrong at the same time. When i didn't use my task killer, android did killed some apps in in order to launch more apps, but it left only like 10mb of 300mb, which i found little odd and also it mainly killed launchers which was very annoying.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Task killer will speed up your phone if you know what you're doing. Only kill tasks that you are familiar with...e.g. apps that you know you have launched and won't be using anymore. Those apps running in the background can slow down your device.
If I'm on ICS, its better to use the bult-in task killer, or download one from the market?
Guys, he's not saying he does it for the memory. He says the phone's smoother. I don't know whether this is true, but if there are background tasks performing operations that he doesn't want them to do, it's *absolutely appropriate* to kill them.
The flip side of that is that the applications will eventually be automatically started again, and that startup takes extra CPU time. As long as the process startup and process killing happens when the screen is off, I would think this could improve the responsiveness.
But I think on most people's phones, the background processes really don't use a lot of CPU...
I know by default even Gbs memory management isn't the best. The app priorities are a bit weird aand the launcher gets killed to easily. Running the v6 supercharger scripts and making the launcher hard to kill and fixing the priorities and changing the oom settings makes any from wicked fast
Sent from my PG86100 using xda premium
I am not rooted, so I can't do anything that involves rooting.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Instead of killing an app over and over again install something like Gemini App Manager and disable the app's autostart permissions. For example, dropbox and dropbox sync are set to automatically start at boot or when there's a connectivity change. I understand why they're set to do that but for my purposes I only needed them to start when I actually used them.
Having said that, I no longer use Gemini and have never used an automatic task killer. I think android (ICS) does a good enough job managing it's memory that I don't need to be anal about micromanaging it myself. I think it also helps that I'm not an appaholic. I'm very picky about what I install and will only keep an app installed if I regularly use it.
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Jinx Lumos Joke said:
If I'm on ICS, its better to use the bult-in task killer, or download one from the market?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Built-In is much better
im on ics on my captivate and it runs beyond smooth
like stated before having free RAM with not do anything
android has a good way of muti tasking

Is it possible to change overly aggressive RAM management?

My background apps are killed way too often. Is it possible to change that behaviour? Even music apps are killed while I'm playing music.
I have tried several custom roms and kernels but nothing seems to change the settings. Is either able to change RAM management settings?
I have also tried several apps that claim to be able to change RAM management settings without success.
Disabling battery optimisation doesn't help.
I have uninstalled unused apps and disabled autostart (boot completed receiver) for non-essential apps to reduce RAM usage.
When I use a RAM monitor it will show RAM usage at ~75% when apps are killed.
My old phone (Note 4) only had 3 GB ram but could still keep more apps in memory.
I don't have that problem.
Have you tried Greenify or similar app to hibernate unwanted apps running in the background? They will only open then when being used and will automatically hibernate again when closed.
ChazzMatt said:
I don't have that problem.
Have you tried Greenify or similar app to hibernate unwanted apps running in the background? They will only open then when being used and will automatically hibernate again when closed.
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That's the reverse of what I'm looking for. I want the apps in the background to keep running.
Telorast said:
That's the reverse of what I'm looking for. I want the apps in the background to keep running.
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Click to collapse
Then you misunderstood what I wrote. Read it again.
It's exactly what you want, because then apps you don't want running won't take up your RAM and kick off the apps that you do want running. Like your flashlight app should NOT be running the background all the time. One example. Lots of devs think their apps are most important and should always run in the background, so when you "launch" them they are there instantly.
Like I said, I don't have your issue. My apps I WANT running stay running.
If you hibernate the UN-wanted apps, that will give more freedom to apps you DO want running in the background.
There are other apps besides Greenify which may do that task even better, it's just the most well known. It shows you complete list if apps running in the background and you can choose which you WANT to run and which you want to stay killed until you choose to activate them. Those apps will be forced hibernated from then on -- until you manually activate them. When you close them, they will STAY closed and not run in the background sucking up your RAM. It also allows you to go through your entire inventory and decide yes/no. For instance, weather widget, email, yes. Benchmarking app, NO.
Worth a try. Installed Greenify and added most apps with ignore background-free.
Telorast said:
Worth a try. Installed Greenify and added most apps with ignore background-free.
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I even hibernate alleged background free apps, just in case.
ChazzMatt said:
Lots of devs think their apps are most important and should always run in the background, so when you "launch" them they are there instantly.
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Click to collapse
VERY TRUE!
This always infuriated me, not just on phones, PCs too, all the way back to the DOS days. An obsession with running in the background, as if it's particularly clever. :cyclops:
I've also found that turning off battery optimization for apps I don't want killed helps. I've had the same experience with music and podcast apps getting killed in the background and turning off their battery optimization usually fixes it.
There are some simple things to try that do not require any special apk's. One is to look in the apps section of the "Developer options" sub-menu. The default settings work well in most instances. Perhaps you accidently enabled closing of apps when a background limit has been reached or have ticked force closure of apps on exit.
Another place to look is in the "Power saving exclusions" sub-menu in the Battery settings. Music makes some boring forms of exercise less tiresome and provides additional motivation for activities that are challenging but fun (mountain biking). The music should not stop, but it might for default settings. Enabling a power saving exclusion for your music app will keep it running.
ChazzMatt said:
Then you misunderstood what I wrote. Read it again.
It's exactly what you want, because then apps you don't want running won't take up your RAM and kick off the apps that you do want running. Like your flashlight app should NOT be running the background all the time. One example. Lots of devs think their apps are most important and should always run in the background, so when you "launch" them they are there instantly.
Like I said, I don't have your issue. My apps I WANT running stay running.
If you hibernate the UN-wanted apps, that will give more freedom to apps you DO want running in the background.
There are other apps besides Greenify which may do that task even better, it's just the most well known. It shows you complete list if apps running in the background and you can choose which you WANT to run and which you want to stay killed until you choose to activate them. Those apps will be forced hibernated from then on -- until you manually activate them. When you close them, they will STAY closed and not run in the background sucking up your RAM. It also allows you to go through your entire inventory and decide yes/no. For instance, weather widget, email, yes. Benchmarking app, NO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been using Greenify for a bit now and doesn't seem to help much. It shows a bunch of hibernated apps but multitasking is still nearly impossible.
I had assumed the problem was related to the Mem Free settings rather than actual free memory but no one here has mentioned it. Is that because no one else thinks it's the problem or maybe I have misunderstood what those settings do?
I thought apps were free to use as much memory as they want until certain thresholds on total memory usage were met, then the system would ask or force apps to release memory.
Apps that let you edit those settings usually shows several thresholds where the system gets progressively more aggressive at freeing memory as memory is running out. But they all look hopelessly out of date so maybe it works completely differently today?

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