Develop Bugs

Task manager or no task manager

When I got my desire it was stable and fast the more I put on it the slower it gets . I've tried numerous task killers and some of them screw the phone up . On one thread someone suggested leaving the phone to manage its own background programs . What does everyone thing is it better with no task manager ?
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My personal choice is to leave taskiller off the desire. I put a taskiller on and almost immedietly the phone started acting wierd eventually getting into some sort of loop rebooting itself. After many reboots it eventually gave me enough time to uninstall the taskiller. Obviously that was the problem as it has never repeated itself since. My phone runs fine without it.

I really cannot understand why people use task killers. As I have said before if you are a real expert and you have a badly behaved program that you have to use you might just have to use of a task killer.
If you are not a real expert or are even asking the question don't use one. You will almost certainly end up with worse performance and decreased battery life.
I have 60 plus applications on my Desire and don't suffer any slowdowns or other problems. There is just no need for task killers/managers. This is NOT windows!
Android has a built in task killer. It's pretty good and IMHO difficult to improve on.

Kill Task Killers!!
Agree with others, you only need it to kill a rogue app without reset.

I have around 100 apps and the only semi-slowdown I can feel is by putting complex widgets and live wallpapers together. Otherwise I've tried some of these task killers and even killing all the 20-30 processes 'frozen' or active in the background had no effect.
Still I keep it in order to kill those badly designed applications that have some glitches in going back to the main screen or rarely get stuck.
I would think that if you experience some problems they are not related to the quantity of applications open in background, but rather by a single one that has some design flaw.

andycted said:
I have around 100 apps and the only semi-slowdown I can feel is by putting complex widgets and live wallpapers together. Otherwise I've tried some of these task killers and even killing all the 20-30 processes 'frozen' or active in the background had no effect.
Still I keep it in order to kill those badly designed applications that have some glitches in going back to the main screen or rarely get stuck.
I would think that if you experience some problems they are not related to the quantity of applications open in background, but rather by a single one that has some design flaw.
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Well said.
The trouble is people use a task killer when they don't have a problem. They just kill apps. without a clue what they are doing.
I repeat don't use a task killer until you really have too.

and what about battery life?is too many running apps affecting battery?

polystirenman said:
and what about battery life?is too many running apps affecting battery?
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Doesn't affect battery at all. Almost all apps. are suspended in the background when you move away from them. Task killers are the major cause of poor battery performance as killed apps. then have to be reloaded instead of resumed. Try switching between say six applications, and using them, with and without task killing. I bet you will see a massive performance gain without the task killer.

polystirenman said:
and what about battery life?is too many running apps affecting battery?
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Click to collapse
If an application keeps going in the background in some way/service it's because it's meant to be, like an updating rss feed reader, a live wallpaper, an email client pulling mail from the server, widgets or music player streaming/playing music. If you don't want those to run in the background you obviously should set them not to update, remove them from the desktop, stop them manually, etc.
Otherwise every other application you open and then leave when you switch to another application, gets stopped and 'frozen' in the state it had so that when you switch back to it or reopen it, you find it in the same state, giving you the impression of having been running in the background (but it didn't).
It's a smart way to combine the speed of single-running applications in dumb iphones and the flexibility of more complex os like WinMo. It's also apparently the same way as WP7 will work.
Like mentioned above by killing processes you mostly cause disruption in the pre-ordered way they work and probably cause more battery usage since they have to restart from scratch for the most part. More importantly real-time monitoring of processes and auto-killing them is most likely eating battery a lot since every real time monitoring does that, like many real time battery widgets and such.

Ok.thx for answers guys.i am geting rid of task killer right now.

Same here .. I'm a techie on most things obviously not Android must try harder !
Must admit did complete hard reset yesterday got rid of task killer after first posts phone seems more stable
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I have a task killer, but only for killing appliactions which aren't written good and causes some lag or they don't want to close..

I just looked at the comments on the Advanced Task Killer (free, high in the list in the Market).
I wanted to believe you guys here at XDA. But I went trough the comments on that ATK and 95% was 4 to 5 stars. All with reply's like:
"must have app"
"should be included in Android"
"doubled my battery life"
Now if SO many people say that, I can't imagine that they are all wrong. Why would they all lie?
I myself have been using that ATK for a while, killing only some things that don't close (like games,Facebook or Twitter, etc...)... battery life is still not as good as I would like it to be, but I only have had my Desire for a week.
Are you guys REALLY sure that stopping to use ATK will improve battery life?

XDA mark said:
I just looked at the comments on the Advanced Task Killer (free, high in the list in the Market).
I wanted to believe you guys here at XDA. But I went trough the comments on that ATK and 95% was 4 to 5 stars. All with reply's like:
"must have app"
"should be included in Android"
"doubled my battery life"
Now if SO many people say that, I can't imagine that they are all wrong. Why would they all lie?
I myself have been using that ATK for a while, killing only some things that don't close (like games,Facebook or Twitter, etc...)... battery life is still not as good as I would like it to be, but I only have had my Desire for a week.
Are you guys REALLY sure that stopping to use ATK will improve battery life?
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Click to collapse
Read this article:
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/

it's the placebo effect. A While ago there was a thread on a winmo forum for a new overclocking application. It had tons of "amazing", "must have", "goes way faster", comments, it became incredibly popular. then the developer made public the fact that it was a social experiment and the application did absolutely nothing other than having a nice interface for reporting fake cpu .
As said if you have a single bad-behaving application (which is very rate) only kill or rather uninstall it. Games don't run in the background, battery becomes great after one-two weeks, but still you can't expect it to run for 10 hours of continuous heavy usage. Buy a second battery if you need that

XDA mark said:
Now if SO many people say that, I can't imagine that they are all wrong. Why would they all lie?
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No one is saying they are lying - personally I see it more as a placebo effect, but I do understand there are certain situations where task killers come into there own. Having owned 3 Android phones though, I can say that in my case leaving Android to do its own thing works very well for me - I don't believe that it actually increases battery life significantly, but I do firmly believe it improves the overall stability of the platform.
One thing that probably should be added, is that using swap on an Android device will cause problems with Androids own internal resource management because it cannot distinguish between real memory and the virtual memory made available using swap. See here for more details. I wouldn't be at all surprised if those people who get the most "benefit" from task killers are also using swap.
Regards,
Dave

Task Killer Apps, good or not???

I am a noob when it comes to android phones so anything will help! I have been told and pretty sure I read something about task killers being bad for your android phone??? Is this true? I currently use Advanced Task Manager free. Is this a good task manager? If not does anyone know of one thats better. I tried to search the forumn but was unable to find anything on this subject...I'm probably just searching wrong. Any knowledge will help!

Try searching the Q&A forum
Don't use task killers is the bottom line.
Use Google search to find out about google and task killers.

avoid them like the plague

Not. It's stepping on Androids toes. If you really need a kill an app (froze or its just using a lot of battery), you can do it in Android itself in Applications.

i noticed i acctually get more battery life with out a task killer, android will close out programs as it needs the memory any way so have had better performance with out it. the Sprint rep actually installed mine on my phone when i bought it so was suprised to learn all this at first but has long sense proven true

Been using Advanced Task Manager since I had my G1 and have not noticed any negative effects. The browser alone takes up a considerable amount of interal memory and does not close on exit. Task managers are good as long as you know how to use them and exclude system applications or user apps that you want to stay running like widgets and such. They may not improve battery life that much, but they help free up internal memory. However, if you're running a Froyo rom, they're pretty much useless until the app devs update the way they work. Froyo doesnt allow them to kill the app, just background data.

Here's some pretty clear literature on why you absolutely do not need them.

While I agree that a task killer is not needed it is not bad. I mean using one wont cause damage to your phone or anything. Some people get better battery with one and some get better battery without. I just avoid task killers because I had a bad experience. I use my phone as an alarm and one day it did not go off because I had killed the clock app. Ofcourse you can use a task killer and not have this problem by setting apps to ignore but after several weeks of not using it I noticed my battery is not better or worse so to each his own.
BTW I also used advanced task manager and thats a perfectly good task manager if you do decide to keep using it.

Best thing you can do is install and use it for a couple days to see if you like it. I have used one since my Droid and would not consider uninstalling. I notice an immediate improvement in the smoothness of my phone while using, and a noticeable choppiness when not using. Your mileage may vary, but I would give it a shot for yourself vs. just listening to others opinions.

87Octane said:
While I agree that a task killer is not needed it is not bad. I mean using one wont cause damage to your phone or anything.
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+1
If you kill a task and free up memory, Android just fills up that memory again with a program of its own choosing. If it needs the memory, it intelligently pulls programs out of memory on its own.

Task Killers and 2.2

So I upgraded to 2.2 with the downloadable rom yesterday and was wondering what is going on with the Task killers. I read on some of the comments for the app that on 2.2 task killers are not needed for some reason or another, can anyone confirm??

zackhow said:
So I upgraded to 2.2 with the downloadable rom yesterday and was wondering what is going on with the Task killers. I read on some of the comments for the app that on 2.2 task killers are not needed for some reason or another, can anyone confirm??
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Click to collapse
Task killers were never needed and can actually do more harm than good. Plenty of information on that floating all over the net and here on the forums. With Froyo, they are definitely not needed, as it has improved memory management, which means it is better at figuring out what tasks to leave running and which ones to kill. Just let Android take care of tasks for you. If you do a factory reset and don't install a task killer, reboot every so often instead, you will see a great performance boost on any version of Android and better battery life. Task killers generally do nothing for battery life, as most tasks aren't using battery, only memory. The only time that tasks use battery most times is when they are actively accessing your location or using data. So just limit what apps can do those things in the background through their settings and you'll get great battery life without screwing up your system.

I guess I never really tested how my battery did without the task killer seeing how that was one of the first apps I got. I will agree that if i restarted my phone I saw a little performance/battery boost. Thanks for the tips, gonna remove the app.

Now I agree with superlinkx but DAMN if Sprint bloatware apps aren't up constantly on their own and running. Now i'm not talking about the basic stuff but Sprint Navigation (big one...try leaving Google Maps open and see what it does to your battery) plus a few of the others. I know it's cute to say Task Killers are irrelevant in Android...but I think that applies to Stock Android more so than a HTC Sense Android. I have a task killer setup to auto-kill safe all the sprint stuff when the screen is turned. I noticed a big jump in battery performance. Just my .02 though, every phone seems to be a bit different.

Too many programs running ? Fix?

I just installes arhd 2.1 rom and evrrything works fine.
I got most things installed.i need like twitter, fb, adv. task killer,
even auto startup killer, titanium, juice, setcpu and some more.
I disabled all notifications.
I prevent all startup apps i didnt want (all but 2,or 3)
I set sync to off. I checked all app settings twice.
Still there.are mostly like all apps running after i start my phone
And if i kill them it takes a while but they come back...
How to fix that ? Beside all my programms things like internet, mail, messages are also on.
My ram is down to like 210mb, when i kill its back to 480.
Thanks guys!

Android is nothing like windows.
Killing apps & processes to save memory is bad for your phone. Android handles its memory very well, and you killing apps interferes with that.
Apps are loaded into the RAM, for your convenience, if Android runs low on memory, it will decide what apps to kill.
I'm sure there is a guide that explains this.

andyharney said:
Android is nothing like windows.
Killing apps & processes to save memory is bad for your phone. Android handles its memory very well, and you killing apps interferes with that.
Apps are loaded into the RAM, for your convenience, if Android runs low on memory, it will decide what apps to kill.
I'm sure there is a guide that explains this.
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Click to collapse
So (Auto)-Taskkillers are Bull**** ?
Also Startup Prevention ? Everything like that ?
Or anything "good" ? I guess SetCpu is something useful which comes
into that area.
If someone has a guide, give me a "call"

Task killers should only be used to kill rogue apps, apps that are poorly coded. They shouldn't be used to manage your memory.
SetCPU is kinda different, all it does is allow you to alter the speed of your CPU.

mydanny said:
So (Auto)-Taskkillers are Bull**** ?
Also Startup Prevention ? Everything like that ?
Or anything "good" ? I guess SetCpu is something useful which comes
into that area.
If someone has a guide, give me a "call"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find it very difficult to understand people who are using taskillers in their phone. The whole point, i guess, is to save some battery? But do you know that taskillers run constantly and consume even more battery? And you might end up messing up with your system and experiencing lags/problems.
The memory management of android system is different than what we are used to. You should let android manage the memory. If you still want to quit some of the apps which you think are using up your memory, you can do it manually via "manage applications" in applications.
I m also using ARHD. And i don't use any taskillers/ startup managers. I never experienced lags when playing gameloft games (i tell you they require lots of memory) or angry birds. I have my wifi-on, sync on all the time.
SetCpu is used to manage the cpu speed of your DHD. This can be used to create profiles (or comes already with some profiles like ondemand etc.) and the program itself understands the need for memory and adjusts your cpu speed according to that. It might give you some more bat. life.
Of course what kind of programs we want to use in our DHD is upto us. And people will have a divided opinion on whether to use taskillers or not. But if you ask me (and my almost 3 years of android experience), you are better off without any taskillers.

sphuyal said:
I find it very difficult to understand people who are using taskillers in their phone. The whole point, i guess, is to save some battery? But do you know that taskillers run constantly and consume even more battery? And you might end up messing up with your system and experiencing lags/problems.
The memory management of android system is different than what we are used to. You should let android manage the memory. If you still want to quit some of the apps which you think are using up your memory, you can do it manually via "manage applications" in applications.
I m also using ARHD. And i don't use any taskillers/ startup managers. I never experienced lags when playing gameloft games (i tell you they require lots of memory) or angry birds. I have my wifi-on, sync on all the time.
SetCpu is used to manage the cpu speed of your DHD. This can be used to create profiles (or comes already with some profiles like ondemand etc.) and the program itself understands the need for memory and adjusts your cpu speed according to that. It might give you some more bat. life.
Of course what kind of programs we want to use in our DHD is upto us. And people will have a divided opinion on whether to use taskillers or not. But if you ask me (and my almost 3 years of android experience), you are better off without any taskillers.
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Word. Sounds convincing.
I will remove the **** from my phone - Task Killer and Startup Manager.
You also dislike Juice Defender ? I heard only positive things about battery.
Or is this 100% crap, too ?

mydanny said:
Word. Sounds convincing.
I will remove the **** from my phone - Task Killer and Startup Manager.
You also dislike Juice Defender ? I heard only positive things about battery.
Or is this 100% crap, too ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never used Juice Defender but it is a OK app (it uses some bat. though). All i use i "currentwidget" to monitor what causes battery drain (if any). If i were you, i would see how the DHD goes along with/without juice defender for 48 hours. And then evaluate if i really need juice defender.

Killing apps is liking turning your car engine off on every street you go down. It's better to keep the engine running, it uses less petrol.
Same with memory management on Android, if you keep killing, it has to startup the app again each time you use it which actually uses more battery.
The only thing I use is setCPU on a smartass governor with a profile for when the screen goes off to reduce CPU usage to 450mhz. Mine idle's at 1-3ma.

What a bunch of rubbish. Task killers are an excellent easy to keep your phone running fast and smooth. They also save your battery by not letting tasks run in the background and eat battery unnecessarily.
I hope that wasn't too obvious a troll ...
Task killers suck. They are the Android equivalent of Windows registry cleaners. Sold to you to speed up your system but really they break it.
Sent from my super slick Android device.

dr.m0x said:
What a bunch of rubbish. Task killers are an excellent easy to keep your phone running fast and smooth. They also save your battery by not letting tasks run in the background and eat battery unnecessarily.
I hope that wasn't too obvious a troll ...
Task killers suck. They are the Android equivalent of Windows registry cleaners. Sold to you to speed up your system but really they break it.
Sent from my super slick Android device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You had me for a minute there

[Q] task killer....yea, or nah???

I had it on my first epic and liked it but some say to stay away from it, if i dont use it is there a better safer app or not to use 1 at all and manually stop programs. i c there is a paid and free 1. i guess the free 1 has adds but i didnt on mine??

Nabisco_12 said:
I had it on my first epic and liked it but some say to stay away from it, if i dont use it is there a better safer app or not to use 1 at all and manually stop programs. i c there is a paid and free 1. i guess the free 1 has adds but i didnt on mine??
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Leave it alone. Android 2.2 + manages tasks for you. Task killers cause instability. Just use the built in task killer on our phones.. (hold the home button and press task manager)

Yeah really shouldn't have to be killing things that often and if you do ever need to that's why there's a built in task manager.
qbking77 said:
Leave it alone. Android 2.2 + manages tasks for you. Task killers cause instability. Just use the built in task killer on our phones.. (hold the home button and press task manager)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

No matter what people say, there are programs that are not handled properly by Froyo's built in memory handler. If you use a task killer to kill autoreloading tasks (like MAPS for google navigation) then you are causing battery drain by you killing them and then them reloading. If you know what tasks are reloaders, then you can select them to be ignored by the task killer. Some programs hog phone RAM and do not release it like the stock internet browser. Knowing this, I use the Advanced Task Killer for Froyo to kill the browser and make more RAM available for other things.
So yes, use it BUT with proper knowledge of when and how.

Watchdog FTMFW (look it up on the market). Had their widget on my homescreen pretty much from the day I started using Android. Old-style task killers are BS.

If you use the back key or pre-designed exit key, you will close apps properly and they will only rarely reappear. It's part of the Andriod design.

kennyglass123 said:
So yes, use it BUT with proper knowledge of when and how.
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Click to collapse
Yes, this is important. In general, don't use them, but some people don't code their apps right.
Typed by a man standing on a toilet, eating a bacon sammich.

Nay, but as stated some apps just suck, I always take the time to test the app...
Sent from my MyFrankenstein EC05OCE using XDAPA...

I will throw my 2 cents in here for good measure. As far as I can tell, my setup appears to get me generally better battery life than the rest of users, so I believe that qualifies me to comment .
I have used and tested Task Killers since I got my Epic, my first android phone, this passed November. Yes, I still use one. It's called Advanced Task Killer. It's free, and it's simple. As mentioned in a previous post, and by myself many times before, certain tasks will reload with impunity no matter what you do. Aside from freezing these services, which may result in instability in certain instances, you can't stop this. And continually causing them to restart will drain more battery rather than saving any. Which brings me to my main point:
NEVER USE AUTO-KILL! Simply use a task killer widget to "clean up" before you lock your phone, nothing more. If you use it in this way, like me, you'll see battery improvement. Just also ensure to set certain system services to the ignore list to avoid issues.

Cool thanks guys ur input helps alot!

If anything, best bet is a memory tweaker. like "autokiller memory optimizer." I'm sure thats what your looking for =) it's not a task killer.

i used a task manager/killer back in the G1 1.5 days but nowadays android does a much better job of managing memory so a task killer is really not needed anymore in my opinion.

I've used for months without any problems.. I don't kill the essential processes.. just the apps.

Web browsing is MUCH faster if I kill apps before going to the web. It gives more free RAM to cache pages.

Has anyone had any luck with Startup Auditor since Froyo? It doesn't seem to actually do anything when comparing the disabled programs in its list with what is "running" according to the phone Manage Apps setting.

rando991 said:
Has anyone had any luck with Startup Auditor since Froyo? It doesn't seem to actually do anything when comparing the disabled programs in its list with what is "running" according to the phone Manage Apps setting.
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I'll almost guarantee you that they are just restarting. Thats why taskkillers dont work in 2.2.x, because it just "restarts" them.
[sig]Typed by restless thumbs, that are too tired to help hold my bacon sammiches[sig]

Thanks, that's what I thought.

rando991 said:
Thanks, that's what I thought.
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Yeah, google removed the code for taskkillers in froyo.