Should You Use a Task Killer?

[lekky]

Decided to write an article about task killer use, mainly because of so many people being surprised that i do not recommend it, after their so called techy friends told them they need one, I'll post the opening paragraph with a link to the rest of it.

Task killer, one of the most prominent words within the android world. One that causes many arguments and confusion, well today lets see if we can put it all to rest.

I am constantly surprised when talking to new android owners that come to me with questions about their "faulty" phone and "poor-performing" battery, to discover that one of the first apps they installed was a task killer. Even more surprised when I dig deeper and ask why, with one of the top responses being because their "techy" friend said its a vital app. First things first, anything vital will be a core part of the the operating system. If google required that a task killer be a core part of their os, they would have included an easy way to kill apps, end of. Also, if your "techy" friend told you to download an task killer, please, ignore any advice from them in the future, you will regret it if you don't.

Android Guide: Should I Use a Task Killer - Droid Den

 

[anon(21022)]

If google required that a task killer be a core part of their os, they would have included an easy way to kill apps,

They have

(well relatively easy anyway, it's in Settings->Applications)

Just read the whole article now, very well explained!

Patrix.

 

[lekky]

thanks

 

[ardoreal]

I agree, a task killer can actually decrease responsiveness in some cases. With the hardware we have now, a task killer is useless. Android is FANTASTIC at managing memory for you.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

I use a task killer for one purpose, and one only. When I reboot, Android starts a bunch of apps that I almost never use. I use ATK to go in and manually kill those apps immediately after reboot. That's it.

I agree that using a task killer on an aggressive setting, and/or letting it automatically kill apps on some timed basis, is a bad idea.

 

[know1]

I uninstalled my task killer on the advice of this thread and am going to try going without for a few days and see what happens. It's not conclusive yet, but I've noticed more lag already without it. We'll see what it does to battery life.

 

[jshaffer75]

I uninstalled my task killer on the advice of this thread and am going to try going without for a few days and see what happens. It's not conclusive yet, but I've noticed more lag already without it. We'll see what it does to battery life.

That's funny. I just uninstalled atk and I notice less lag

 

[brandonx1000]

i've never used one

heard nothing but bad things about them

 

[prubin]

I use Froyo Task Killer to kill particular apps, such as clearing the browser.

 

[Saiyaman156]

I use a task killer for one purpose, and one only. When I reboot, Android starts a bunch of apps that I almost never use. I use ATK to go in and manually kill those apps immediately after reboot. That's it.

I agree that using a task killer on an aggressive setting, and/or letting it automatically kill apps on some timed basis, is a bad idea.

A lot of those apps open again. For exampe, CityID will open again every time the actual phone is used.

 

[Kalifornia]

Newbie here but I'm giving this a shot as well. The writer was right, the first advice I got from a "techie" was to install a task killer.

While I understand the concept of why to not use a task killer, this seems more relevant for well-coded apps. I could see this point for Google Apps but with so many 3rd party options out there, isn't there still a lot of potential for memory and battery draining apps that don't standby or shut down properly without a task killer?

 

[Saiyaman156]

Newbie here but I'm giving this a shot as well. The writer was right, the first advice I got from a "techie" was to install a task killer.

While I understand the concept of why to not use a task killer, this seems more relevant for well-coded apps. I could see this point for Google Apps but with so many 3rd party options out there, isn't there still a lot of potential for memory and battery draining apps that don't standby or shut down properly without a task killer?

It is not the apps job to close or be removed from memory in all cases. Sure, they can do that, but I believe the OS handles all of that kind of stuff.

 

[MacGuyInNC]

I used to use a task killer multiple times per day. Then I switched to IcedHoneyBun 4.20 for my Hero, and I've never used one since. It was sluggish for a short time, but it got MUCH faster as time went on.

Seems paradoxical, but it's true.

 

[anon(40787)]

That's funny. I just uninstalled atk and I notice less lag

Yes, my cliq, scrolling thru app list has less skips with my free task killer uninstalled. I have Alarm Clock Plus (free) and it would FC a lot, when uninstalling the task killer, however, has caused no more FC's! I'm thinking of buying ad-free!

I had pandahome as well with 8 screens taken, acp still FC'd, uninstalled ph, no more FC's! Although I miss the 8 home screens, less lag and less FC's is better! (5 on cliq by default)

-----
Sent From My Motorola Cliq - Via Tapatalk

 

[Jerzyiroc]

There is absolutely NO need for an ATK. Not even during start up. I used to be a big supporter of ATK until I did some research and educated myself in the subject. It's completely unnecessary. If you feel like you need it your phone is having an issue and ATK is only masking it. If you have a poorly coded app or a rogue app ATK is not the answer. Either uninstall the app until the developer codes it better or make sure there is a way to properly exit the app. Before I went the root and custom ROM route, I got better battery life, less lag, less force closes and less crashes by NOT using ANY task killer. Just because something shows in the ATK that it's "open" doesn't mean it's actually being used or using any resources.

 

[bloodoak]

the only reason I use a task killer at all is because I've found on my droid x that any time it gets below 40 MB free it starts getting extremely sluggish. then after clearing out apps that I hadn't used in 2 days that were still sitting idle, the sluggishness goes away. I've heard the same thing happens with Sense UI on HTC's.

Other than that I never touch it.

 

[wmtoandroid]

I use a task killer ONLY because certain games/apps stay open and ACTIVELY running (Confirmed using the cpu monitor feature on SystemPanel). I never use it to save memory or speed up my device because I find that never works.

So... if app/game developers were able to properly support all phones, then perhaps a task killer wouldn't be needed. For the apps that cause trouble, I "end task" them promptly!

Also, certain task killers allow you to see CPU usage and I've been able to find some runaway processes that were eating my batteries up. One was a problem that HTC needed to get involved with. Without the task killer, I would have eventually "killed" my phone! LOL

 

[allsighs]

After Froyo I did a hard reboot and decided not to reinstall ATK. I did find that battery life was fine without it...that was until i went to my most often attended website. I check my fantasy baseball stuff pretty often in the day and the site (Sportsline) runs on flash and updates constantly. I found with that being one of my last 6 programs, unless i force close, my battery was dead mighty quick.

My choices were force closing every time or ATK. Because of this i use ATK still...for 6 months out of the year