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In today's computer world, it is not unusual for programs, when they are installed, to write to the computer in such a way they or bundled software starts automatically when the computer boots up. This may not be noticeable until the computer slows down over time, but don't you want to know what is going on in your own system?

In many, if not most situations, the applications that are running do not need to be running all the time in order to benefit from them. It doesn't take appreciably longer to launch the needed program when it is needed, rather than to have it running in the background all the time, chewing up system resources.

Programs that are running, even if they are not being used, will use up resources, of course. This is what causes the slowdown. Especially on systems that are limited in RAM and hard drive space, this can mean the difference between a system that is running smoothly and one that is periodically freezing or that seems reluctant to launch applications when you want it to.

In addition to this, there are both spyware and adware applications that may be running, collecting data, causing unwanted advertising, and in general, taking away from the best computer experience. Nobody wants more frustration when it comes to the computer. Being able to control the frustration and the function of the computer is to the advantage of every computer user.

To find out which applications and programs are running on the system, though, has a lot to do with the operating system that is being used. A large number of people are still using older systems that aren't NT based, such as Windows 98, Windows ME, and even Windows 95.

For these, pressing ctrl+alt+del will bring up a close program dialog box that shows what is running. (The dialog actually has the purpose of letting you stop programs you don't want to have running.) You might note that this gives a list of most, but not all applications that are running, because of the way the operating system is designed.

NT based systems, including Windows XP (NT 5.1) and Windows Vista (NT 6.0) are both more exact, and at the same time, there are more steps involved to find out what is running.

Pressing ctrl+alt+del and selecting Task Manager will still show the active programs, but not the active processes. The processes are more than simple programs. To view these, you must have administrator rights, which is an NT security setting. In this case and if you have administrative rights, go to the control panel, double click on Administrative tools, and then click Services.

You have the choice here of Automatic, Started, or Disabled for every service. For this discussion, those listed as Started are the ones that are running on the system. Many of these processes need to be running for the proper functioning of the system. However, this will let you know which processes are running at any given time.

Knowing what is running on your PC is always desirable, and can give you the knowledge to prevent programs from running that you don't want to have running. If you don't know what is running, on the other hand, someone else could be using your computer and you'd never know it. Is it not worth taking the time to know for sure?

Learn more about this author, Rex Trulove.
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