Help Task Killers! Must read for new Android Users

[richsilv]

Good day to you all...

I'm a newbie Droid user (Moto Droid3). I come from a long computer-centric history... Although I have in the past decades been assimilated into the Microsoft Windows world (so I'll be using that terminology until I learn the Droid one!)

So far so good... But I'm in that "download all those fun apps" period where I think of something I'd like to have, go search up and install something. Oh that's fun...

Now I'm also getting into that "Where is the Exit option?" period...
And "How can I keep this useful-every-once-in-awhile app from starting until I want it to start".

I found this thread while searching up "autostart" and maybe I'm searching for the wrong thing... BUT...

Isn't the key issue really "How do I stop this (still installed) App from starting until I start it myself (without uninstalling it)?" (If this is discussed elsewhere, please re-direct me...) My thought is that if it isnt running you dont have to worry about killing it? (And I think this is a different question than has been addressed by "these apps have useful class/methods that other apps call..." thread.

Where is the "msconfig" app on a Droid? I'm looking into things like "Adroid Tweak", "Android Assistant"... I've suggested to friend that he port his product to Android OS...

My example; I searched up a couple of weather programs. The Weather Channel (nice and so far well behaved) and WeatherBug. I have had decent experience with the PC version of WeatherBug so I tried it first... Nice, extra locations, easy to use... But there is no "Exit" option... Worst, when I eventually rebooted the Droid, it started running WeatherBug again without my knowingly touching anything having to do with weather (until I noticed a little notification icon with the current temp in it)!

I'm looking for an app that allows me to 1) (Do the equivalent of) Setting certain Services to "Manual Start" and 2) Removing certain apps/processes from the "All Users Run" (init.rc?) list.

With the demise of many "Unlimited Data" plans we are going to have to be concerned with "trickling data access" as well as "battery life".

 

[mjtaryan]

Do you have a Windows computer? Have you ever had to use Task Manager to "End Task?" Windows Task Manager is a Task Killer (or at least that's one of its primary functions). That's what an Android task killer is -- has a similar function as Windows Task Manager.

Now my question: Somewhere earlier in the thread someone mentioned that Froyo has a native task killer. I have Evo with Froyo. Is that native task killer hidden or can it be user configurable?

Another question. I have a puchased app that keeps losing some of its data pointers with respect to settings whenever the phone is restarted or reconnected to USB (even in Charge only mode). For example, in the app's settings it allows the user to specify where data is to be saved. I set this setting to the folder I wanted on the SDCard. When I had to restart my phone, the app "saved" the data I wanted to "Null," which actually means it didn't get saved at all. Yet, the setting still showed the folder I had set as the place to save data. I contacted the developer and he responded by asking me if I had a task killer or antivirus software. I said no, but that was before I read the earlier post about Froyo's "native task killer." Could the Froyo task killer be causing these problems? And, if so, what can be done? Will upgrading to Gingerbread help? (Thanks. Sorry for the lengthy explanation.)

 

[LittleRedDot]

You guys have me SO confused. Now I don't know if I should get ATK or not. I'm coming over from WinMO and every app I no longer needed open, I would close using X-button (well, came stock with Touch Pro).

So, is it not like that stock on Android? In essence, once I open a program, it'll stay running, period? Is there any way to make sure the program stops running once you have it open?

So confused.

Being new to Android, I would go with ATK and start with the most conservative settings. If you feel like your device is running fine but you could get better battery life, change the settings. If you get to a point where your device is starting to act funky, uninstall the atk. I would definitely try it out for yourself.

When I got my EVO the first app I dl'd was ATK and it's never given me any problems. I never had a FC or any funkiness until I rooted and started monkey'ng round in my own system.

 

[EarlyMon]

Stay away from ATK.

Android will automatically hibernate (and swap out from memory) tasks not being used, and then kill the process as memory is needed.

Android = Linux (with services) + Dalvik Virtual Machine + Apps (running in Dalvik using Linux services)

When you kill an app rather than letting Android do it, you leave services running that may not need to, it confuses the whole app management system, and then the app starts getting relaunched by Android mechanisms trying to regain control of things. In the end, you use more memory and use more battery than if you'd not used a task killer.

The exception to this some of the Sprint bloatware that has been known buggy - some of that will every so often not play nice and start consuming resources even if you've never run it.

Rooting and conservatively removing apps - like bloatware - solves that problem.

I've run the stock rooted Evo since rooting it in June 2010 and have had no issues.