background processes & battery life question

[dehrlich01]

Hey!

Let me start by saying that this is my first Android phone (Evo) and I've fallen in love. This website has been an incredible source of information - a HUGE 'thank you' to the purveyors of the site as well as to EVERYONE who contributes!

Now, on to my dilemma...

I have the advanced task killer application and use it occasionally. Moreover, I have added several apps to it's ignore list, like my GMail, regular mail, messages, browser, clock, weather, etc.

Everything works great but my free memory is always hovering around 65-70 mb.

My question is - If i kill off my g-mail, regular mail, messages, clock, etc., will all of my messages, weather updates, alarms, etc., still come through in 'push' style or will they have to be invoked by opening up the application.

Also, one more question. While browsing the internet on the device my notification bar disappears and I'm unable to pull it down to view any messages which forces me to close the browser and re-launch it.

Thanks for your help! This is an incredible source of information!!!

Edit: Ignore the battery life in the subject line, I meant to write free memory!