Running Processes/ Other computer help--Make $25 on stars

[doug funnie]

My computer runs 50-52 processes most of the time. They are:

aim.exe
alg.exe
AluSchedulerSvc.exe
ApntEx.exe
Apoint.exe
ati2evxx.exe (twice)
atiptaxx.exe
CCAPP.EXE
CCEVTMGR.EXE
CCPROXY.EXY
CCSETMGR>EXE
csrss.ese
explorer.exe
hpcmpmgr.exe
hpqtra08.exe
hpwuSchd.exe
iPodService.exe
ISBMgr.exe
issch.exe
ISSVC.exe
iTunesHelper.exe
jusched.exe
lsass.exe
NAVAPSVC.EXE
rundll32.exe
services.exe
SMAgent.exe
smss.exe
SNDSrvc.exe
SPBBCSvc.exe
SPMgr.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe (8 times)
symlcsvc.exe
System
System Idle Process
VAIOUpdt.exe
wdfmgr.exe
winlogon.exe
WkUFind.exe
wuauclt.exe

I was wondering which of these needs attention. I have norton, spybot-sd, adaware and I update these and run them both regularly and in safe mode. Surprisingly my computer doesn't run slowly and I only have a half gig of RAM.

Also at some webpages when I type in the address is instantly links to the "page not found" screen, both in mozilla and internet explorer. I was wondering what causes this because now my school email is one of those pages that won't load. I know reformatting will fix everything but thats not an option until school ends.

If I see a significant change in the performance of my comp I'll send you $25 on PS, just PM me the info.

Thanks for any help, I know I'm asking a lot.

[sopoRific]

If you Google the file names in question, you'll get about a dozen sites giving you a description of the program in question. You can use those descriptions to decide whether the program is worth running anymore.

Judging from the few entries I've Googled, none of them look like spyware. A lot of them look like unnecessary stuff that gets installed with other hardware or software, like the hp*.exe programs, VAIOUpdt.exe, or iPodService.exe. You can use the msconfig program (Start -> Run..., and type "msconfig" in the text box) to selectively enable and disable which programs are started when Windows starts.

[bort411]

A few tips:

Go into task manager, and sort all running tasks by username. What you're interested in are running processes under your account, not SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, or NETWORK SERVICE. Leave those alone for now.

After isolating what processes you are running, google them and see what is non-essential. Following that, disable the nonessential programs on startup (google MSCONFIG). It looks like your system is pretty tidy, so there may only be one or two items that fall into this category. Just glancing over this list I'd guess that you can disable the ATI stuff unless you fequently use advanced graphic options, and possibly anything Sony uses to phone home. Removing these nonessential and background tasks will free up some memory.

With regard to pages not loading: do you have a firewall running? Have you tried connecting to these pages through a proxy?

Lastly, if you have active virus scanning enabled (continuos), I would turn it off and instead schedule daily or weekly scans. This is a matter of preference, but I notice a performance hit during active scanning.

Out of curiousity, how much RAM do you have free?