Want to keep as little programs running as possible

Hi guys,

Like the heading says is my main point, but i have a few other little things im concerned about with my Desire.

Firstly, what type of app/task killer do all of you guys use? I am currently using Task manager..however i am having problems with this program..whenever i kill a task it pops up straight away...for example my music...i cant get my music app to turn off.

i honestly think i need to start from the beginning, because there are too many things going on and my battery lasts about 3 hours even when i dont use it much.

my home screens have the usual text/news/weather/friend stream/music...but everytime i go into task manager, ALL of them AND more apps are apparently running...so i kill them all..2 seconds later i go to task manager and they are all there again...

can someone help me to get rid of these apps automatically running? i thought i changed all my settings where they are all off unless i turn them on, but i guess im doing something wrong.

And a little off topic, but does anyone know what the little 'H' means at the top of the bar where the usual '3G' is...my phone constantly switches back and forth from '3G' to 'H'..was wondering if this was a reason my apps are taking over my phone and randomly playing

Hey XS i want to thank you man, this is the second question youve answered for me and your quick too, i just posted this thread an hour before you replied thanks.

Im not quite understanding what you mean by the operating system getting used to it...how can it do this? wouldnt it always be the same? how does it adjust? Im interested.

And also, I am seriously thinking about getting rid of my task manager/killer...it doesnt seem to do much anyway, as the tasks keep popping back up straught away.

so when it comes to preserving battery life, what are the tricks? I had been reading around on the net and noticed the task killer was a favourite with alot of people but XS you sound like oyu know your 'desire' stuff.

Android is an "intelligent" OS.  Don't think about Artificial intelligence and such here, it's nothing that complicated.  However it stores what kind of apps you use most, and keeps those running in the background longer.

Basically it's the loading of tasks into memory which requires CPU usage and consumes lots of energy.  Keeping the already loaded ones doesn't require much power really.

By default Android will try to keep everything running, but if it needs memory it will kill processes on it's own.  At first it will kill them at random, but as it logs which ones you use how often, it'll "learn" which ones to kill and which ones to keep.  That way it won't have to load processes/tasks as often, which greatly increases battery life.

When using a task killer, you basically kill tasks before Android can decide what to do with them.  As a result it will load them again at some point ... only to have them killed again by the taskkiller.  Needless to say, this way Android can't learn how to conserve power on it's own.  So while the taskkiller does kill processes, it usually kills the ones you need as well.  

Or to make a long story short : Android has a built-in taskkiller already, and one that adjusts itself to optimize it for how you use your phone.  
Unfortunately it needs a few days before it works properly, and most people don't waith that long while looking for a solution.  They find a quick fix in the form of ATK or similar taskkillers and never realize that the OS can take care of itself better than the taskkiller can.



Now ... there IS a time and reason to use a taskkiller.  If you have an app which is badly written and consumes a lot of resources while in the background, the OS won't know what to do with it.  For such things a taskkiller can be a temporary solution, but only if you set it up to kill that specific app.  Then again, for that you'd need to know which app is causing the problem in the first place.  If you know that, you might as well remove the app altogether and look for a replacement.

I too started out with a taskkiller, but after reading a comment on how it did more harm than good, I uninstalled it as a test and did some more research (or "googling") on the subject.  There were plenty of reports of people who noticed an improvement after a week or so, and my own Desire's performance was all the proof I needed that this theory is correct.

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As for the other comments, I've only been a Desire owner and Android user for about 7 weeks now, but when you start helping others you tend to look up lots of info.  It's a steep learning curve really.  That doesn't mean I don't make mistakes tho.  Sometimes I can't verify the info I read, but usually I'll have used my own Desire as a testing bed.

And yes, I often check the forums and read every topic that has received new posts since my last visit.  If you post shortly before I go through the topics, you'll get a quick reply.  Unless I don't know enough about the subject, of course.