Intermediate Lesson # 1:



Windows 7 Operating System Lesson # 6:

What’s Installed and Running?

As soon as you turn the computer on, until it turns itself off, some program code is being executed on the computer. Even when the Desktop is clear and you have not started any applications or programs, the computer is busy with self-checks, querying devices, drawing the screen and other tasks.

It is easy to recognize the programs installed on your computer from their shortcuts on the Desktop or on the Start Button Programs Menu. As you learned in Lesson 4, these shortcuts can be manipulated independently of the objects they refer to. Not all the installed software is shown there and the postings sometimes are wrong. You may need to activate objects other than those shown in these easily accessible locations. Unwanted programs may be installed on your computer. They may run and use computer resources without you knowing it. The computer may act strangely or slow down. It is useful to be able to identify and track what is installed and running.

(A) You can identify the major applications installed on your computer through the Programs and Features display.

• Turn Computer I on as instructed in Lesson 1.

• Click on Start, Control Panel (set to Small icons view).

• Click on Programs and Features.

A list of installed programs appears that gives the name of the program, publisher, date installed, program size and version.

• To uninstall a program DOUBLE click on the program name or click on the name once and click on Uninstall. Change or Repair sometimes also show there.

Do not uninstall any programs in this lesson. We dealt with installing and uninstalling programs in Lesson 3.

At the top LEFT of the window is a link to View installed updates. Clicking on it opens a separate window showing the updates. You can find there the name of the update program, the name of the program being updated, the publisher and the date of the update. You can change the order in which the items are listed on the Header bar by dragging them horizontally and you can change the order of each column by clicking on the column title. For example, to sequence the list by the date on installation click on Installed On.

(B) While the Programs and Features list shows the major installed applications, it is incomplete. Many services and processes have been loaded into memory and are running that do not appear on this list.

• Close all windows.

• Click on Start.

• Click in Search Programs and Files and type in msconfig.

• In the Search Results box click on msconfig.exe.

• The System Configuration Utility opens.

Note the tabs at the top.

The System Configuration Utility has many functions, some of which will not be useful to you and you should ignore. Be careful. Carless or uninformed actions in this Utility may damage your system. In this lesson we deal only with the Services and Startup.

• Click on the Services tab.

Scroll down the long list to get an impression of the number and note the size of the scroll bar button. There are many Microsoft services listed and you can hide them in the display be placing a check mark in the box in the lower part of the window.

• Click in Hide all Microsoft services now and review the remaining items. See how the size of the scroll bar button has changed.

Note that some of the services listed are stopped. Their program code is not executing at the moment, but they are loaded in memory and ready to execute when called on. Removing the check mark in front of the service’s name disables the service. Do not disable any of the services shown here, and only do so on you home computer if you suspect that a service is causing problems and you want to see if stopping it will resolve them.

• Click on the Startup tab.

Programs that load and start executing at start up are shown here. To prevent an item from loading remove the check mark in front it. Do not remove any check marks on Computer I. Only do so at home if you have reason to do so; for example, stopping programs which you do not use in order to save computer resources and reduce boot up time.

To find out what the different items listed do, you can carry out a Google search on the item name. We do so below for the entry on the Startup list, DbrmTrayicon.

• Click on the Startup tab and scroll and find DbrmTrayicon.

• Open the Internet Explorer.

• Type DbrmTrayicon in the search box of the Google Tool Bar.

• Click on the Search icon at right.

• Click on the link to .

• Read the description and scroll down to verify that the file is safe.

• When done, close the System Configuration Utility by clicking on Cancel.

• Close all windows.

IMPORTANT: When you disable a Service or a Startup Item, or make other changes in the operating system, keep a record of what you did, so that you can later undo it or modify it, if the change caused problems.

(C) The most detailed report on what is running is obtained from the Windows Task Manager.

• Open the Task Manager.

• Hold down the CTRL and ALT keys and tap the DEL key.

• Click on the Start Task Manager link.

• If it is not already selected, click on the Applications tab.

• Note what programs are running.

• Then click on each of the other tabs, in succession.

(C.1) Applications Tab:

We will open a document so that you will be able to see how the Task Manager displays it.

If you need to, move the Task Manager window so you can access the Resource icon on the Desktop.

• DOUBLE click on Resource on the Desktop and then DOUBLE click on Pill.BMP.

• On the Task Bar click on the Task Manager icon.

The window shows open applications and objects.

The Resource folder and Pill.BMP file are listed.

You can close the open objects shown here by selecting the object listed and clicking on the End Task button at the bottom of the window.

• Close Pill.BMP and Resource now.

(C.2) Processes Tab:

Recall that a process is a program that had been loaded into memory and started execution.

• Click on the Processes tab (see screenshot on next page).

A long list of processes running on the system appears. Resize the window, if needed. The entry in the User Name column indicates which user initiated the Process.

At lower left, click on the button Show processes from all users (see screenshot below).

• Click on the header of the CPU column twice to sort the entries in descending order by the amount of CPU usage.

System Idle Process is consistently above 95 percent. The other top entries will occasionally and briefly change from 00 to 15 percent.

Unless you started some other applications on the computer, you will see in the CPU column that most of the processes do not use appreciable amounts of CPU time.

You may end a specific process here if you suspect it of causing trouble, but be careful. When you do this you may disable important functions of the computer. You can get a useful description of most processes on , , or what-is-. Be careful in accessing sites that offer to scan and repair your computer. Not all of them are legitimate. Unless you are sure of what you are doing, do not let them search your computer or install any software. If you are not sure, you can generally get useful information by searching for the site name on Google.

• Click on the Image Name button at the top of the leftmost column to arrange the processes in alphabetic order.

• Make sure that Show processes from all users is displayed at bottom left.

• Look for the entry beginning with BBsvc.exe.

(If you do not find BBsvc.exe, select another entry and follow the directions below for that entry.)

• Right click on it and click on Properties.

• You will get some information about the location and nature of the file.

• Open I/E click in the Google search box and type BBsvc.exe.

• Click on the Search symbol at right or press Enter.

• In the listing, find the link.

• Read the description and scroll down to find if the service is safe. There may be several versions of the file, and some may be classified as unsafe. Problem files might be identified this way.

What would you loose if you disabled BBsvc.exe?

(C.3) Performance Tab: This tab displays a graphic representation of CPU and memory usage.

• Close all open windows.

• Open the Task Manager window again as instructed above and maximize the window.

• Click on the Performance tab.

• The bottom edge shows the number of active processes, percent of CPU usage and percent of physical memory used.

• Make a note of these values.

• Click on the - at upper right to minimize the window.

• Open the Internet Explorer, log onto and start a video.

• Click on the Task Manager button on the Task Bar to see how the usage data have changed.

• Click on the Resource Monitor button below.

• Displayed are CPU, Disk and Network usage and Hard Faults.

• Note that the usage values have increased.

"Hard Faults are not always errors and are common and necessary to increase the amount of memory available to programs in any operating system that utilizes virtual memory" - Wikipedia

(C.4) Networking Tab: Ignore this tab.

(C.5) Users Tab:

Ignore this. When the system is set up for multiple users, you are able to log off or activate their accounts here. This is more easily accomplished through the Start Menu. Click the down arrow next to Shut Down and then on Log off on the drop down menu.

• Close all open windows.

• Shut the computer down as previously instructed.

What you learned:

Major applications and user installed programs appear on the Programs and Features list of the Control Panel.

At all times that the computer is on, many programs are loaded into the computer’s memory and are either executing or ready for execution. The Systems Configuration Utility can control what is activated at start up.

Services are listed in the Task Manger which shows all current tasks originated by the user and all loaded processes. You can find out what each process does by logging onto , what-is- or . The Task Manager has a graphic display of CPU, memory and disk usage.

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