Task Manager/Killer Discussion

[Cory Streater]

Without a doubt, this is one of the most discussed topics in the Android Central forums. Understandably, having come from various other Smartphone platforms (Blackberry, Windows Mobile, etc.), where task management is crucial for optimal performance and battery life, most new Android Smartphone owners have 2 basic questions:

1.) Should I use a task manager?
2.) Which application does the best job at task management?

After digging and digging for answers to these questions, users sometimes end up frustrated and confused by conflicting information from a wide variety of sources. This usually results in a new thread on task management.

To help answer these questions (and avoid all those duplicate threads), Android Central's contributing writer and technical guru, Jerry Hildenbrand, has written this article. Please take a few minutes to read and educate yourself.

If you do choose to use a task manager, and your Galaxy S starts acting wonky, please uninstall the task manager to see if the problem goes away.

If you still have questions, or if you'd like to chime in with your own opinion and/or experiences with task managers, please post in this thread.

Cory

 

[geocomp]

I have a question about the programs running in the background. I read the article you referenced in the above post. I understand killing off some apps can screw things up.

I am using Advanced Task Killer. I have not set it up to kill apps at a predefined times. I am simply going into it periodically to see what is running in the background. Several items continue to show up even though I killed them.

The programs I am refering to are VZ navigator, Skype mobile, MobileIM and City ID. I have no plans on using these programs and would like to keep them from automatically starting. Is there an easy way to do this?

I assume once rooted and I can delete them completely but for now I just want them to stop starting on there own.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Lupismaximus]

I use the internal Task Manager, which seems to work fine. I heard with Froyo, most of these programs don't work well, but this comes from other bloggers.

 

[curney]

I use the internal Task Manager, which seems to work fine. I heard with Froyo, most of these programs don't work well, but this comes from other bloggers.

I love the internal task manager....hold home button. It will only let you kill apps that will not mess up the phone.

 

[ReverendOD]

IIRC the internal Task Manager also has a widget that will allow you to at a glance see is apps are running in the background.

 

[emptycube]

I'm a little confused. Since joining here I've read 'don't use task killers' more than once but the article linked in the OP is an article on 'how to use a task killer'. Two completely different things.

If one were to follow the 'don't use task killers' advice, what do you do?

 

[Sabban]

Yea, I like the widget, I use it alot

 

[Kevin Gossett]

I'm a little confused. Since joining here I've read 'don't use task killers' more than once but the article linked in the OP is an article on 'how to use a task killer'. Two completely different things.

If one were to follow the 'don't use task killers' advice, what do you do?

When exiting an app, use the "back" soft key instead of the "home" key and that should exit out of the app without it continuing to run in the background

 

[downbeat4]

When exiting an app, use the "back" soft key instead of the "home" key and that should exit out of the app without it continuing to run in the background

That works only for certain apps(Astro File Manager) The back key doesn't have the same function on Android as it does on Blackberry.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

So far every app i have has closed using the back button. What apps don't work with it?

 

[emptycube]

When exiting an app, use the "back" soft key instead of the "home" key and that should exit out of the app without it continuing to run in the background

That's the way I've always been closing apps and when I do that and then open the task killer it shows all kinds of stuff running.

 

[Syntaxx]

I have a question about the programs running in the background. I read the article you referenced in the above post. I understand killing off some apps can screw things up.

I am using Advanced Task Killer. I have not set it up to kill apps at a predefined times. I am simply going into it periodically to see what is running in the background. Several items continue to show up even though I killed them.

The programs I am refering to are VZ navigator, Skype mobile, MobileIM and City ID. I have no plans on using these programs and would like to keep them from automatically starting. Is there an easy way to do this?

I assume once rooted and I can delete them completely but for now I just want them to stop starting on there own.

Thanks for any advice!

The bolded part of this post was never answered. I'm curious about it myself. I've gone into ATK a bunch of times after killing, only to see VZ nav, Skype, etc all running again. What do these programs have to do with my phone if I'm not actively using them?

 

[emptycube]

Thought this was relevant here so I'm cross-posting from another thread:

What about the Start-up Cleaner from this review thread? Are those OK? At start-up my phone always auto-launches all sorts of crap I have no intention of ever using (VZNavigator, CityID, etc).

 

[Froflix]

The bolded part of this post was never answered. I'm curious about it myself. I've gone into ATK a bunch of times after killing, only to see VZ nav, Skype, etc all running again. What do these programs have to do with my phone if I'm not actively using them?

I haven't seen an answer to this either. Certain programs seem to run automatically in the background. If it's no big deal and doesn't suck battery life, I'm happy to just let them run. Should I care that Amazon MP3, Sprint Football, FM Radio, etc. just run automatically sometimes or should I be killing those?

 

[zombie1991]

The bolded part of this post was never answered. I'm curious about it myself. I've gone into ATK a bunch of times after killing, only to see VZ nav, Skype, etc all running again. What do these programs have to do with my phone if I'm not actively using them?

These programs for SURE and a few others are the reason I bought Titanium Backup. PAID version allows you to "Freeze" programs. They don't run or show up when you hit the applicaton button. When another OTA update hits all you have to do is "Unfreeze" the frozen stuff and poof. You're ready.

Until we get custom mods WITHOUT this stuff I'm glad that Titanium backup is there.

 

[KB3MMX]

The bolded part of this post was never answered. I'm curious about it myself. I've gone into ATK a bunch of times after killing, only to see VZ nav, Skype, etc all running again. What do these programs have to do with my phone if I'm not actively using them?

You're completely wasting your time, they harm nothing.

ATK is utterly pointless and screws up the OS more than anything.

 

[KB3MMX]

I'm a little confused. Since joining here I've read 'don't use task killers' more than once but the article linked in the OP is an article on 'how to use a task killer'. Two completely different things.

If one were to follow the 'don't use task killers' advice, what do you do?

There is ZERO need for any task killer apps.
If you want your phone's OS to Chase its tail endlessly, never learning how to manage its own memory usage , then by all means download
ATK ASAP !!(sarcasm intended)

 

[Fyrmedic654]

You're completely wasting your time, they harm nothing.

ATK is utterly pointless and screws up the OS more than anything.

I will second this, Verizon put ATK on my phone before I left the store with it. I thought it was a g ood idea, but then my phone started acting up. I would lock up, start randomly opening things up like music player and Angry Birds to name a few. No matter how many times I killed these, they just zombied their way open again. When I installed ATK, phone got worse, re-downloaded and even worse. Finally, I just wiped my phone and started from scratch. So far so good. The idea was great, the app is good (not malicious by any means) it just doesn't seem to play well with android.

 

[Fatasaurus]

I think that all task managers are bad except the one that comes stock on the Fascinate (may be on the other Galaxy S phones as well). It only shows the programs that are actively using rom and shows you the actual percentage that is being used. Its not like the ones from the market that show you everything that may or may not actually be running. It works the way a real task manager is supposed to work.

 

[Fappy Jones]

Advanced Task Manager on the market for a dollar is the best one I've used.

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