I have a lot of double-up background processes on my Toshiba Satellite

[Sheridan K]

I'm trying to speed up my Toshiba. I've disabled all the extra programs (eco, service station, etc.) but I've gone into Processes in the Task Manager and there's sooo many! I can "exit" uTorrent and Skype but I go into Processes and Skype is still running?

As for the double ups.. Some are a different size and also use a different % of CPU. Here are some of the double up programs:

ETD Control Centre
ETD Control Centre Helper
Host Process Setting for Synchronization
Host Process for Windows Tasks
igfxsrvc Module
Intel Services Manager (32 bit)
Microsoft WWA Host
Microsoft WWA Host (32 bit) (this has one with the Skype symbol and one normal)
OneDrive Sync Engine (also two dif symbols)
persistence Module
Runtime Broker
WMI Provider Host
Client Server Runtime Process (3 of these)
Desktop Window Manager
Windows Explorer
Windows Logon Application


Any help would be appreciated! I have had this laptop for about 6 months maybe but it's only really starting to slow down. I play Sims 3 (don't judge me- I like building) and the game frequently freezes every 3 minutes (avg.) for about 17 seconds. I am hoping to speed that up for sure. My boyfriend recently made a new "user" in order to use Skype because we couldn't figure out how to log him into my Skype app on Windows 8. Such a pain in the arse.

Please and thank you to the power of Windows 8 new user frustration.

 

[OriginalCadaver]

What Toshiba do you have? I'm not sure ending the processes is going to solve your problem. Also are you running it on the laptop while it's plugged in or on the battery?

 

[Sheridan K]

What Toshiba do you have? I'm not sure ending the processes is going to solve your problem. Also are you running it on the laptop while it's plugged in or on the battery?

Toshiba Satellite L70-A.

Well there's the "Apps" that are the programs I'm running.. then there's the stuff running in the background. Skype also happens to be one that runs in the background. I run Sims on Steam. I almost always leave my laptop plugged in. I have it on high performance when plugged in and battery saver when it's not.

 

[OriginalCadaver]

So...this is a nice, full-sized entertainment laptop, but still not really a gaming machine. Most laptops aren't really designed for gaming, they don't dissapate the heat and don't really have the beafy specs that you want for gaming. It's possible that your laptop is heating up too much and you're getting some throttling issues. Is it in your budget to get another laptop more geared towards gaming, or even better, build a gaming pc? You can try killing those services and see what resources they free up. You can go in to the preferences in Skype and tell it to not load on startup isntead of killing it every time.

 

[Sheridan K]

Yeah I was opting for cost vs value without properly investing in a gaming laptop. If I was, I'd probably build my own or just choose something from Alienware. Skype doesn't load on startup anymore but after I exit the program, it still runs in the background. I think I can change that anyway.

ALSO. I accidentally stopped something from running that I think should probably stay running... and whatever program or update it is, it's the feature Microsoft added to Windows 8 that allows you to move your cursor to the top left of whatever App you're running and an exit function will drop down. So I don't have that anymore haha I have to Alt+F4 to exit. Kind of a pain when I'm watching movies in bed and I have the mouse near me but not the actual laptop.. Any idea which thing I killed off? Thanks for your help!

 

[OriginalCadaver]

You can always close skype, then go to the skype icon on your status bar in the lower right corner, right click and tell it to exit. That will kill skype from running in the background.

As far as your other problem, I'm not on my windows 8 machine right now, but I can check when I get home. I'm sure it's something simple to re-enable.