"Killer" apps - Droid Incredible Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have a question i was reading a post earlier on battery life and someone mentioned that having task killer was bad for batter life? Or something to that effect, I currently have task killer and Autokiller memory apps installed. Which one should I be using? Honestly I wish there was a better task manager or something that would allow me to pick and choose which apps stay running and which ones only run when I use them. Because I tend to see apps in my task manager list that I'm not even using like yahoo messenger, eBay, taskos, etc.
Any information/ assistance will be appreciated.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Uninstall both!
Only reason you should ever use a task killer is if the app stops responding, but the Android OS does a good job of taking care of those also.
If you need to freeze an app so that it never starts you can use Titanium Backup.

Ysosrslawl said:
I have a question i was reading a post earlier on battery life and someone mentioned that having task killer was bad for batter life? Or something to that effect, I currently have task killer and Autokiller memory apps installed. Which one should I be using? Honestly I wish there was a better task manager or something that would allow me to pick and choose which apps stay running and which ones only run when I use them. Because I tend to see apps in my task manager list that I'm not even using like yahoo messenger, eBay, taskos, etc.
Any information/ assistance will be appreciated.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, I do not recommend using a task killer. There are all types of pros/cons to task killers and a quick google search will result in a lot of articles about it. If you can, try removing the apps (when rooted obviously) you do not want or freeze them using Titanium Backup like the other commenter suggested.

Related

Close an Application?

Hi
This might be a stupid question, but anyways:
I bought me a HTC Desire yesterday and im very happy with it.
Now i installed the Advanced Task Killer as i heard its a good app.
Now, every time i open something, like the SNESoid Player, or even my SMS(Messages), and the close it by pressing the Home or back button, i see afterwards in the Task Killer that its still running!?
So, how do i "close" an application, or is this just normal? It's pretty weird to me.
Thanks
This is one of the most asked and answered questions. Search and you shall find.
You probably used a WM device before Android I can imagine. Android OS handles all that stuff automatically, you shouldn't worry about apps not closing because when an app isn't used it isn't using either memory or CPU. When a new application opens and needs memory, the one(s) still running will close and give space for the new one.
As "ArtieQ" said it's not recommended to use a task killer.
But if you really need to stop a program you can use your native task manager, from "settings">applications>manage applications - then when the list of applications loads, you can press menu button and choose "filter" and then "running". Now when you choose an application from the list, it will show you information for it and an option to "force stop" it, that is to close it.
Thanks alot!
Well, i used a crappy iPhone 3G before..no multitasking you know
I was looking for an answer to this question and find something here but I am still a little bit confused : many applications that I have tested dont close if I press the home or the back button and they don't have any "quit" or "exit" command or menu entry. I was facing some battery issues with all these apps in the background. It's true that uninstalling some of them and force closing others in the app manager solved the issue but it is really not confortable to go in the app manager every time after using the phone to close the apps and save battery. I am wondering if an auto-close application exist in the market...
Advanced task manager has an autokill function within It's settings. It also has a desktop widget that you can press to kill apps when you want. You will probably want to add some of your apps to the ignore list though so notifications etc still work ok
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
hans moleman said:
Advanced task manager has an autokill function within It's settings. It also has a desktop widget that you can press to kill apps when you want. You will probably want to add some of your apps to the ignore list though so notifications etc still work ok
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I remember that installed somthing like advanced task manager and it ended up by eating my battery charge cause it was running all the time. I'll test this and report back.
Thanks for the tip
Instead of using a task manager/killer consider using 'autostarts' which is an app (paid) which allows you to stop apps starting automatically.
For example, maps gets started when you do almost anything and once started really eats your battery.
I've been using autostarts for a while now and would definitely recommended it for battery saving.
thanks for this tip iain2510

Task killer not killing apps

I have tried 3 different task killers but each one do not seem to be killing the task even though it says it is.
When i open the "killed" apps, they open to the last screen before they were killed.
I am using the froyo ROM. On 2.1, when the apps were killed and then re-opened them, it always went back to the main screen.
perhaps stop using them u only disturb androids internal memory managment.
I prefer using task killers, it made the phone quicker when i was on 2.1
U should search Google, for why android doesn't need task killers.
Cyanogen even mentioned it in his tweets.
Tadkillers are pointless on android
Sent from my Desire using XDA App
nope they are not.
but i agree they are useless on daily operation
i am using them to kill everything after boot, since android loads everything into memory.
which is not usefull either.
after that one kill, i am also not using any.
Thanks, I find the task killers are very convenient to use.
When I kill a app, I prefer to go to its main home page rather the last page I was on.
Can others confirm if there having any issues regarding this?
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
Right after experimenting a little, i have discovered the following.
The task killers are killing apps. I have done a test to confirm this.
I have opened many apps and then gone into the menu then RUNNING APPLICATIONS. There it shows me all the opens that i have opened. So i then kill nthem using a task killer and i go back to RUNNING APPLICATIONS. Now these apps are not there so they have been killed.
This "issue" that im having may be standard feature of froyo.
So can anyone open a few apps, use them for a few seconds and then kill them. When you re-open them, do they go to the last page you were on or do they go to app main page.
thanks
Can anyone just do a quick test for me on there desire?
It will be much appreciated.

Should You Use a Task Killer?

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android Guide: Should I Use a Task Killer - Droid Den
You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
themikeyboosh said:
You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe you should read it again more carefully the paragrah your on about was simply laying out some reasons why you may need a task killer
themikeyboosh said:
You start off by saying you don't need one and then you say you do and even recommend one!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
system panel is not a task killer mate, its a tool to help you identify bad apples. That is the reason for that apps existence, just ask its dev.
I read yr thread. I'm not so experienced in the systems. But i think this thread is following a good logic, and the systems at the end are all about logic.....
So, first thing i do after finish reading was killing the task killers.
Thanks again for the post.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Excellent article mate keep up your good work.
Many many people are brainwashed by many misleading reviews on Google in to thinking they need a task manager but this article explains nicely why they dont.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
System panel is a good solution. Try also power tutor, if it works with your phone
AndroHero said:
maybe you should read it again more carefully the paragrah your on about was simply laying out some reasons why you may need a task killer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No no, I've read it, it's plain as day. You've just said it again.
le3ky said:
system panel is not a task killer mate, its a tool to help you identify bad apples. That is the reason for that apps existence, just ask its dev.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it kill tasks? Need I go on.....It doesn't matter how you jazz it up "pal" there's no denying it can be used to kill tasks.
removed
themikeyboosh said:
Does it kill tasks? Need I go on.....It doesn't matter how you jazz it up "pal" there's no denying it can be used to kill tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol? Do you honestly not understand?
There are apps out there that are coded badly.
In order to remove those apps you first need to id them.
SystemPanel helps you find out which app is causing a problem.
Then you may uninstall that app.
Nothing about using it as a task killer in there.
Does that help? I could try to put it in simpler terms if not.
I only use a task killer when I want to run some benchmarks shortly after having played around with resource-intensive apps like games.Other than that only as mentioned in the article,to trace and kill bad or frozen apps.Any other use is only harmful.
Very good article. It should be sticked.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I don't use a task killer with my HTC Desire. But back in the day with 1.5 and 1.6 I needed a task killer. Now 2.1 or higher doesn't need one.
for sure, higher memory and more efficient android definitely does not need one.
"Android is smart enough to recognise when it is running low on available memory, and will start to close those apps that it deems are low priority."
Then pls tell me why after opening more and more apps my desire gets slower as it is running out of memory, and after killing them with task killer except for the one im using its running smoothly again. I would love to stick with the android solution, but its just not working out...
Rooted Desire S-Off running latest Redux Rom (Gingerbread)
At first I thought a task killer was making my battery life longer - but I tried it again a couple of months after using Android - just to see if it impact battery life and found no difference - or not noticable anyway on day-to-day use.
Thanks for this, very informative. Defo should be a sticky

[Q] should I use task killers?

I have about 68mb free on ram and I noticed that useless apps are still running (e. g. Facebook, office suit, and other useless apps). I try to force stop them via settings but they still turn on by them selfs. Also, I think this is the reason why my battery does run out quick since theres apps runnimg in the background. Should I get a task killer e
No.
Using a task killer is like playing god, let the phone kill the app.
And anyway, apps usually start again and consume more ram after you have killed them.
Sent from my Xperia Play using Tapatalk 2
TwilightLoz said:
I have about 68mb free on ram and I noticed that useless apps are still running (e. g. Facebook, office suit, and other useless apps). I try to force stop them via settings but they still turn on by them selfs. Also, I think this is the reason why my battery does run out quick since theres apps runnimg in the background. Should I get a task killer e
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keiran is spot on. Try un-installing apps you don't use (be careful with system apps) and you can also stop apps from running at boot with something like Autorun Manager
Remember to make a nandroid backup before you do anything, just in case it goes wrong
TwilightLoz said:
I have about 68mb free on ram and I noticed that useless apps are still running (e. g. Facebook, office suit, and other useless apps). I try to force stop them via settings but they still turn on by them selfs. Also, I think this is the reason why my battery does run out quick since theres apps runnimg in the background. Should I get a task killer e
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No! Free RAM is wasted RAM.
Sent from my HTC Desire S using xda premium
Task killers do more harm than good
Facebook and other apps will start anyway after "killing" them, maybe itz time for root and delete those apps from autorun?
Wybazgrane za pomocą Neo V w tapatalk 2.
I feel that the reason you use the task manager is only to fully quit programs/games which you KNOW will just eat up memory for no good reason, and won't reload and take up more memory. I've done this when using apps such as OnLive, where I want to kill the program compeletely so it doesn't freeze my game when I exit out. Yah, I could have ust quit the program completely, but sometimes things come up and..... I also use it to kill processes which OBVIOUSLY are causing the phone to hang. In short, I use it as a KILL command and I make sure to use it sparingly. I think of it as a super force quit option. If you think of a task manager as that, then you should be fine with one. I understand that people think that having almost no RAM free is the right way to go, and I somewhat agree, but I feel that there are times when you should free up the ram so you can replace a bad thing with a good one. I don't want my browser, whcih is lagging all over the place for some reason to take away ram from my game, my keyboard, or my voice recognition (I use it a lot). Nope, I could be better served killing the browser completely and instead loading up some programs I use more freqently, or perhaps just reloading the browser in general.
Beez thats what I meant. I just want to use it to only disable the autorun. Is there app that does that? My phone is rooted.
There's an app called Android Assistant that has an option to disable apps from starting up on boot, and so does Rom Toolbox. Rom Toolbox has a lot more options, but Android Assistant is easier to use.
I like using the Autostarts app. It costs a buck but it works wonderfully at removing programs/processes from boot

Killing apps..

I found some articles on net talking about harmful influences when using task killers apps.
I'm using SlimICS at the moment and I want to know if when I use the killing button that I've added on my navigation buttons harms my phone as the task killers do..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus while relaxing..
Don't kill apps unless you have a misbehaving one that's adversely affecting your phone.
The OS can manage apps and memory so much better than you ever could.
martonikaj said:
Don't kill apps unless you have a misbehaving one that's adversely affecting your phone.
The OS can manage apps and memory so much better than you ever could.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to add: If you have a misbehaving app, don't bother killing it. Just uninstall it. It's not worth the trouble.
These task killers and memory optimizers are really good for lower end devices that have little memory. I used them on a phone that only had 356MB of RAM and only run at about 30-40MB free. A better way to address these issues is to run the V6 Supercharger script on a rooted device.
As for the GNex, why do you need to run task killers? You're not having memory performance issues, are you?
netbuzz said:
These task killers and memory optimizers are really good for lower end devices that have little memory. I used them on a phone that only had 356MB of RAM and only run at about 30-40MB free. A better way to address these issues is to run the V6 Supercharger script on a rooted device.
As for the GNex, why do you need to run task killers? You're not having memory performance issues, are you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. On my old ZTE Blade I really did feel a significant difference in smoothness after killing off some apps, so I don't entirely agree with the notion that you should never ever even consider doing it (which seems to be what some people advocate), but on the GNex there doesn't seem to be a need for it unless a specific app is misbehaving. I don't know if that's just because of the more powerful hardware or if it's also because of the much improved OS (I imagine it's both), but there you go.
JaiaV said:
Just to add: If you have a misbehaving app, don't bother killing it. Just uninstall it. It's not worth the trouble.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. I use watchdog to monitor rogue apps. Engadget was s repeat offender so it had to go.
As mentioned the OS does a great job on its own.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
You need nothing more than to swipe apps away when you're done with them in the multitasking window, which doubles as a task manager of sorts.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
MikeyMike01 said:
You need nothing more than to swipe apps away when you're done with them in the multitasking window, which doubles as a task manager of sorts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, why even bother? The OS handles this just fine.
Although, that doesn't necessarily "kill" background apps. There is a box in "developer settings" that, if you check it, will kill any application after using it. I haven't tried it out but it may just work.
Sent from my GummyNex!
LocoTSX said:
Although, that doesn't necessarily "kill" background apps. There is a box in "developer settings" that, if you check it, will kill any application after using it. I haven't tried it out but it may just work.
Sent from my GummyNex!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure that's as bad as using a task killer.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Ntavelis said:
I found some articles on net talking about harmful influences when using task killers apps.
I'm using SlimICS at the moment and I want to know if when I use the killing button that I've added on my navigation buttons harms my phone as the task killers do..
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus while relaxing..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even cyanogenmod has a kill app button, i dont think it does anything to your phone.
IMO the only useful reasons to kill a background app are if it's wasting your battery, bandwidth, or it's some kind of logger. In those cases you're better off just uninstalling it. Android is designed to keep things in memory to save start-up time and related battery drain, and so you have the benefit of the task-selector button. It knows when to clear enough memory to keep your foreground app and you happy. Task killers are holdovers from the days when they were useful.
galaxy nexus (gsm) / cm9 / trinity @ 1.4GHz
I learned a long time ago that in Android/Linux free RAM is wasted RAM.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Ics/jb does not need app killers if you press the recent app key and swype it left or right the app gets killed
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
martonikaj said:
Again, why even bother? The OS handles this just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, not really. And if it were "bad" they wouldn't put it into Android. You should swipe them away when you're done with them.
I Am Marino said:
I'm pretty sure that's as bad as using a task killer.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's nothing bad about closing apps you're done with.
What's bad is the auto task killers.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
MikeyMike01 said:
No, not really. And if it were "bad" they wouldn't put it into Android. You should swipe them away when you're done with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it really does nothing positive to swipe apps away when you're done with them. As the poster a couple above me said, free RAM is wasted RAM. The OS will keep everything in order. You're unnecessarily micromanaging your apps when you swipe them away. Your phone just works harder and for longer re-opening apps over and over again when you kill them manually.
Your RAM is powered and draining battery whether its full of apps or not. It's in your best interest to let the OS fill up your RAM (all the way up to about 90% full) and let it kill things as necessary when you load an app that needs more than is available. The OS will handle it. I know everyone has it engrained in their minds from using Windows for so long to keep as much RAM free as possible, but its just not the case in Android anymore.
martonikaj said:
No it really does nothing positive to swipe apps away when you're done with them. As the poster a couple above me said, free RAM is wasted RAM. The OS will keep everything in order. You're unnecessarily micromanaging your apps when you swipe them away. Your phone just works harder and for longer re-opening apps over and over again when you kill them manually.
Your RAM is powered and draining battery whether its full of apps or not. It's in your best interest to let the OS fill up your RAM (all the way up to about 90% full) and let it kill things as necessary when you load an app that needs more than is available. The OS will handle it. I know everyone has it engrained in their minds from using Windows for so long to keep as much RAM free as possible, but its just not the case in Android anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whatever you want to believe. I'm not going to waste my time on convincing you.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
MikeyMike01 said:
Whatever you want to believe. I'm not going to waste my time on convincing you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hah alright.

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