to task kill or not to task kill

[corance]

Should I use atk or not. I have it running now but I'm not sure if it makes a difference out not. I also have super box to clear memory and install stuff etc. sometimes when I kill something in atk it will still be running in super box and vice versa. Any tips or suggestions? I just want apps like Bible and Pandora and stuff to stop running all the time so memory will stop getting below 100. Thanks for all help and tips.

 

[aysiu]

If you mean the task manager built into Android--use it only if an app is misbehaving and needs to be killed.

If you mean a third-party auto-task killer like Advanced Task Killer, definitely no. More details here:
http://androidforums.com/android-applications/335110-why-you-dont-need-task-killer.html#post2681361

 

[chanchan05]

Unused memory on Android is wasted memory. Android is designed to eat as much memory as it needs at the time. Memory falling below 100 is not an issue and should just be ignored.

 

[Crashdamage]

DO NOT use task killers. Also uninstall Superbox. Let Android handle processes and memory - it does a very good job with no help. Relax and enjoy your phone.

 

[jefboyardee]

I do a lot of things I shouldn’t and one of them is use task killers. I’m not disagreeing with the advice I can find here ad nauseum. I just like to kill apps and keep things the way they started, whether or not that it’s the right thing to do. It certainly doesn’t cause any harm on my droid...

 

[350X]

Yep I find ATK 100% useful, any time things start to act goofy I find apps that Ive haven't used in days have started up, I kill them and suddenly all is well.

android does not manage memory right at all.

If it did, I would not find ATK useful and junk it like many apps.

It works PEROID

 

[chanchan05]

Sure it works in killing apps, that restart like 10min after you kill them and lead to battery drain. Plus it keeps making the CPU working harder than it should because every kill is registered as another use, making the CPU try to load up the apps you kill frequently.

Never used a task killer and the phone still works as fast as new bought a year ago, and I have several apps running autosync and autoupload in the background.

The problem with people is that you think you need more free RAM on Android, when its designed to work by eating up all the RAM it can. Basically, using a task killer on Android goes against its design.

 

[damewolf13]

I have seen many people who say task killers work well for them, and while most Android users are adamant that they are not needed, I say to each his own.
If you are using a task killer that isn't draining your battery, and you are not having issues with your Android, such as lag, freezes, or restarts, than keep doing what you are doing. If you ever find an issue starting up, try uninstalling your task killer, and see if it helps. If that isn't the issue, you can always re-install it.

 

[350X]

Sure it works in killing apps, that restart like 10min after you kill them and lead to battery drain.

so if you just let a program run all it wants in the background, it won't drain your batery, but if you kill it and it restarts later, it will kill your battery???

in what universe is that logical

 

[aysiu]

so if you just let a program run all it wants in the background, it won't drain your batery, but if you kill it and it restarts later, it will kill your battery???

in what universe is that logical

It actually is extremely logical. Just as switching your light switch on and off and on off again constantly for one hour uses more electricity than just leaving the light bulb on for an hour. Apps that aren't in use get cached in memory. They aren't using any more CPU than "free" (i.e., unused) RAM. Unused RAM is wasted RAM.

Read this link for more details:
http://androidforums.com/android-applications/335110-why-you-dont-need-task-killer.html#post2681361

 

[El Presidente]

so if you just let a program run all it wants in the background, it won't drain your batery, but if you kill it and it restarts later, it will kill your battery???

in what universe is that logical

The Android Universe

The post aysiu links to explains how Android handles tasks/memory and why Task Killers go against the way Android works.

damewolf13 is entirely correct though. If using a task killer works for you, it's your phone, use one if you want. There's no harm in not using one for a bit though, just as a test.

 

[HIMitsu]

I`ve had a smart phone only for a few months, but I`ve been using its task killer quite a lot. Didn`t know it`s better not to.
But when using apps like the google play store or the internet browser, there`s no way to close them when done (which I don`t understand why), there`s no little x mark in the corner to close the programs (only if you have more than one page open, yet only for the extra ones, not for the first one).
Is it normal that you leave the google market and internet browser running non-stop??

 

[Hadron]

Short answer: yes, it is.

If the app is inactive it is just left in memory doing nothing. Then if you return to it it is ready to restart. If the memory is needed for something else the app will be closed, so this isn't a problem.

However, if you kill the app and return to it it has to be reloaded, which is why it's more efficient to leave inactive apps in memory.

 

[chanchan05]

so if you just let a program run all it wants in the background, it won't drain your batery, but if you kill it and it restarts later, it will kill your battery???

in what universe is that logical

This universe. Android programs/processes that sit in the background doing nothing would be using zero CPU cycles and would just be sitting on RAM (using very low power). Killing it causes it to restart, which makes the app run from scratch, so it rechecks everything about itself to see if its in order, using CPU cycles and thus more battery than just letting it sit.

Note however, that you seem to have been using task killers for quite some time, so uninstalling it would be detrimental for your usage. As previously mentioned, Android sort of polls your most frequent used apps too, so it pre-loads them in cache. Each task kill you did counts as a use, so your phone now has a ton of things it thinks are "frequently used" that you really don't use. This will cause a slowdown when you actually do try to open apps you do use since it will keep unloading the apps you previously tried to kill, while these apps repeatedly try to run again. Only a factory reset will fix it for you, so you'd have to stick to using one.

 

[fightingirish]

I guess we're all just products of a Windows society, where we try to shut down as many running processes as possible (as we've learned to do with Microsoft operating systems). Weird that Android works the opposite way.

I'm currently running Advanced Task Killer, but I may uninstall it and see how battery life is without it.

Here's a related question: I use an Android Assistant widget to occasionally free RAM (seems to be useful when I'm using streaming audio apps). Is this a good thing to do or bad?

 

[Crashdamage]

I use an Android Assistant widget to occasionally free RAM (seems to be useful when I'm using streaming audio apps). Is this a good thing to do or bad?

VERY bad. Uninstall. Android needs no help to handle RAM very efficiently.

 

[Deepfried]

VERY bad. Uninstall. Android needs no help to handle RAM very efficiently.

Can u explain WHY its so bad?

 

[Crashdamage]

Can u explain WHY its so bad?

Put very simply...Android (based on Linux) handles RAM very differently from Windows. Windows tries to keep RAM empty and load apps from scratch when opened. Android - correctly - sees that as slow, inefficient and a waste of useful RAM memory. It uses RAM to keep inactive apps cached in memory ready for instant use, increasing speed and efficiency.

Android will automatically free RAM as needed. It's very good at it and needs NO help. Using a widget or RAM manager to free RAM is counter-productive since it only causes Android to reload empty RAM, wasting CPU cycles and battery.

 

[jefboyardee]

It uses RAM to keep unused apps cached in memory ready for instant use, increasing speed and efficiency.

Then why does it have apps I haven

 

[Crashdamage]

Then why does it have apps I haven

 

[lunatic59]

Then why does it have apps I haven’t used in months loaded and ready for instant use?

Because you kill them. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but Android prioritizes apps to load based on several factors including frequency of use and last use. If you use an app and then kill it, it is a recently used app so Android will relaunch it into cache. Then you see it there after you've killed it and you kill it again. Soon it not only is a recently used app, but a frequently used one as well so it's given higher priority when Android is predicting apps to load into free memory. If you do nothing ans in don't kill it and don't use it, it eventually will drop off the list, never to be heard from again.

If, however, you see it reappear, that means that it provides services to an app or a widget that you do use. If you kill it, anytime the app or widget that you are using needs the service, it will relaunch anyway.

 

[350X]

It actually is extremely logical. Just as switching your light switch on and off and on off again constantly for one hour uses more electricity than just leaving the light bulb on for an hour. Apps that aren't in use get cached in memory. They aren't using any more CPU than "free" (i.e., unused) RAM. Unused RAM is wasted RAM.

Read this link for more details:
http://androidforums.com/android-applications/335110-why-you-dont-need-task-killer.html#post2681361

then your using it wrong, it should be set to never auto kill or only kill when you screen off. There is no need to kill task every 10 mins, you only kill them when the phone or tablet acts funny and killing said task makes it all better.


and mythbusters busted the myth about leaving lights on.

 

[Metroid Prime]

Task killers are nothing but trouble. The only thing they are good at is messing your device up and draaning your battery quicker than if you never had one. Android is smart and deals with apps naturally and a task killer disrupts that nature.

 

[chanchan05]

then your using it wrong, it should be set to never auto kill or only kill when you screen off. There is no need to kill task every 10 mins, you only kill them when the phone or tablet acts funny and killing said task makes it all better.


and mythbusters busted the myth about leaving lights on.

Then you are one of the very few people who actually know how to use a Task Killer. LOL. Vast majority are still too much weaned on Windows that they set to auto-kill every cycle or so. And those people at the stores aren't helping either.

 

[aysiu]

then your using it wrong, it should be set to never auto kill or only kill when you screen off. There is no need to kill task every 10 mins, you only kill them when the phone or tablet acts funny and killing said task makes it all better.

If you're killing only misbehaving apps, then you don't need to install a "task killer." You can use the built-in Android task manager just fine.

and mythbusters busted the myth about leaving lights on.

That's for every time you leave the room. I was equating it to constantly flipping the lights on and off, like you're just standing there going off-on-off-on-off-on... not like you leave the room for twenty minutes and then come back. According to Mythbusters, the energy to turn the light on is about 23 seconds of leaving it on.

In any case, whether you like the analogy or not, the principle definitely applies to Android and task management. Cached apps use no extra CPU. Restarting a killed app does.