What is your favorite Task Killer/Manager?

[crabman]

I have read of someone complaining about wackiness with every task manager except systempanel. Now that one gets a ding also by at least one user. I like systempanel better than atm but had no problems with either.

 

[Roze]

I use Quick System Info, it's a TK and an App manager all in one. It gives you the 'Basic Info' of your phone (memory/battery usages/CPU logs), Applications (backup/uninstall) Processes (has autokill option, shows the memory, and CPU%).

Quick System Info v1.4.2 Application for Android | Tools

 

[ddschmidt]

I personally use the Process Manager built into Astro File Manager. You can use it as a task killer as well as look at CPU usage and running processes. It also can be placed on the home screen and it doesn't take up any extra space that Astro itself does.

 

[asp2010]

advanced task killer does the job for me. it's simple, fast, has an ignore list and autokill feature.

 

[bknewtype]

no task killers seem to be able to kill the internet browser and market place on froyo 2.2

 

[JonnyFrond]

I have Astro file manager, but I can't find this processes manager, where is it?

 

[Rudreax]

System Panel does more or less everything, and with the paid version I can monitor battery drain and uninstall apps. I don't use it to kill anything (except the occasional bad app/process) but it's perfect if you just want to watch over everything on your phone.

 

[joemonkey]

I like Auto Process Killer the best. The free version even includes Auto Killing but the paid version auto starts on reboot and has a great kill now widget with status information!

i try to install auto process for my SE xperia x10 running 1.6 and it fails. i try finding in on the market, but nothing returns for 'auto process'

 

[cobirch2]

task killers cause way more harm than good. the android OS isnt like your windows based computer you have at home. it will manage its own memory and when memory starts getting low it will kill low priority apps. all the "running" apps that show up under advanced task killer arent really running. android suspends background tasks. they do not use battery, but simply continue to be stored in memory.

so i find it hard to believe that this actually increases your battery life. considering all those apps your killing arent actually using battery, in fact killing them takes more energy because you have to clear part of the RAM, as opposed to just letting it be which requires no energy. not to mention android is just going to restart half of them right away anyways.

so all your doing is preventing android from running correctly by constantly ending all its processes. android is meant to suspend processes, shut them down if necessary, and restart them in the state the user left them. ATK and other task killers will make your phone run worse, it will drain battery, it will mess with the cache, and any glitches you experience while using is most likely do to the fact that android isnt able to cleanly and smoothly kill apps and retain their data, ATK just brutally force closes them.

 

[Onemoa]

I use, Advanced Task Killer Pro (by ReChild) I know the free version (Advanced Task Killer) is the same thing but the reason I got the Pro version is, it is ad free and since it I am always using it I would rather not see adds all the time. its also nice to support the dev.

Ok moving on...

This is one of the most used Task Killer apps out there and I really just started using it a few days ago, it is very simple and easy to set up. There are 3 different levels of Task Killing with this app Low, Medium and High. I use Low but I just put all the apps I dont know to much about on the ignore list so I dont mess anything up once you do that and have it on Low there are a lot more apps you can kill. It also has auto start up and a nice Widget to auto kill everything once you get it set up and have what you need on the ignore list you can use that and it can make killing apps a lot faster. I however do not use that since I tend to like to know what I am killing. I find it works best when you are multi tasking or using a few high end apps like google earth or games that use a lot RAM. It also has a auto kill feature (kills apps every hour or what ever time you set it to) I am not using that at the time. I am sure a lot of you know about this app and are using it but I am just explaining more about it for people that are new to this app (like myself). I will say imo, it is worth the $4.99 since it is a app I use 24/7 and If I can have something ad free, I would rather take that and on top of it all you are supporting the dev as I said before.

Ok.. as far as I have seen I really have noticed it saves some battery more so when you are playing a game right befor bed you hit kill apps and the next morning you get up and rather then half your battery being gone only a few % is. I just think it is a must have app if you want to add more battery life to your phone, know how much ram is being used then how much is not being used after you kill just a few apps and I know some carriers are installing the free version of this right when you go to buy your phone. this app was also recommended by a sales rep I talked to at T Mobile when buying my Samsung Vibrant, at the time I really didnt think much of it since I just wanted to play with my new phone, but the girl was right (its a very good app and is on my must have app list).

Hope you like it as I do

 

[WitchMX]

task killers cause way more harm than good. the android OS isnt like your windows based computer you have at home. it will manage its own memory and when memory starts getting low it will kill low priority apps. all the "running" apps that show up under advanced task killer arent really running. android suspends background tasks. they do not use battery, but simply continue to be stored in memory.

so i find it hard to believe that this actually increases your battery life. considering all those apps your killing arent actually using battery, in fact killing them takes more energy because you have to clear part of the RAM, as opposed to just letting it be which requires no energy. not to mention android is just going to restart half of them right away anyways.

so all your doing is preventing android from running correctly by constantly ending all its processes. android is meant to suspend processes, shut them down if necessary, and restart them in the state the user left them. ATK and other task killers will make your phone run worse, it will drain battery, it will mess with the cache, and any glitches you experience while using is most likely do to the fact that android isnt able to cleanly and smoothly kill apps and retain their data, ATK just brutally force closes them.

It is interesting what you say, but user experience seems to be saying the opposite.

Check these two articles, against and pro task killers:

AndroidSPIN Why you don’t need a task killer app with Android.

geek.stephnet.us Why the Android task killer is needed

Cheers

BTW, check out the comments too.

 

[Jayziac]

It is interesting what you say, but user experience seems to be saying the opposite.

Check these two articles, against and pro task killers:

AndroidSPIN Why you don

 

[CarsnGadgets]

What is your favorite Task Killer/Manager?

ANDROID...!
dont use a task killer... how many times...

 

[xevious]

What is your favorite Task Killer/Manager?

ANDROID...!
dont use a task killer... how many times...

Agreed. Also in line with what Corbirch said above, why should you need a task killer unless you've got crappy software that won't exit properly?

I tried two of them and uninstalled not long after. One of them stayed resident to keep showing me how much memory was being used. I couldn't change the configuration to stop it from doing that--which consumes resources! The other was just not endowed with enough to make it worthwhile over the default Android tools.

 

[hrbib21]

Has nothing to do with the thread. The OP was simply asking WHICH taskiller you use, not whether you use one or not. We have enough "should I use a taskiller or not" threads, don't you think?

I prefer SystemPanel.

 

[McCleod]

task killers cause way more harm than good. the android OS isnt like your windows based computer you have at home. it

Lots of apps are unwanted on my phone. Like RoadSync or Google Talk. But I have no option to disable them or uninstall them so they just have to die. I uses a task killer to do so.

I am using Quock Task Killer at the moment. It has an ignore list. I am looking for a task killer with a kill list instead since I know wich apps should die.

 

[McCleod]

Agreed. Also in line with what Corbirch said above, why should you need a task killer unless you've got crappy software that won't exit properly?

Exactly. Like everything that say Google or preinstalled software that will never be used and cannot be uninstalled.

 

[Wtower]

Unless someone presents me a device with amazing processing power, unlimited memory, truck-sized battery and zero-cost data plan, then I am sorry but the android design saying that no task killer is needed is flawed. All the rest is google vanity.

Back to the subject, after evaluating several task killers, my favorite one is taskpanel. About advanced task killer, I find it over-simplistic and poor in performance and therefore not that advanced in the end.

 

[lekky]

Unless someone presents me a device with amazing processing power, unlimited memory, truck-sized battery and zero-cost data plan, then I am sorry but the android design saying that no task killer is needed is flawed. All the rest is google vanity.

Back to the subject, after evaluating several task killers, my favorite one is taskpanel. About advanced task killer, I find it over-simplistic and poor in performance and therefore not that advanced in the end.

psh, so you know android better than google? And you call google vain!

read: Droid Den - Android Guide: Should I Use a Task Killer - Droid Den

 

[Wtower]

psh, so you know android better than google? And you call google vain!

read: Droid Den - Android Guide: Should I Use a Task Killer - Droid Den

Please Mr lekky allow me to have a different opinion than yourself and to speak it free. You may not possibly speak of my knowledge on IT since you don't know me.

 

[Crashdamage]

The Droid Den link lekky gave is correct. Task killing is not only almost never needed, it's usually a bad idea. The Android programmers knew what they were doing.

 

[Barry Cheok]

The Droid Den link lekky gave is correct. Task killing is not only almost never needed, it's usually a bad idea. The Android programmers knew what they were doing.

I agreed, i tried Advanced Task Killer before, does more harm than helping you to kill apps, apps come back within seconds after you kill it. if you want, use "Process Manager" in "Astro", go to "menu", select "tool", select "Proces Manager" ...

 

[petulda]

Nice thread, very inspiring.

 

[vosg]

The Droid Den link lekky gave is correct. Task killing is not only almost never needed, it's usually a bad idea. The Android programmers knew what they were doing.

Correct. Apps that are "loaded" don't use CPU. Unless they're actually doing something of course. Like background music playback for example. Task killers are nonsense.

 

[sh4dow]

man, i find it frustrating it how regarding task handling, everything is lumped together in the android community. people equating shortcut lists with lists of running tasks, people mixing apps mainly for killing tasks with apps more designed for switching tasks, etc. - very annoying.

of course the way android is designed, it might not make sense to use a task KILLER. but unless i am missing something, it seems stupid to me to say that because of that, EVERYTHING that handles tasks is nonsense.

because if you have three apps running that are currently in memory and you want to switch between them, how is it comfortable to go back to the home screen to switch? sure, you have that recent apps feature when you hold the home button. but what if...
-) you don't remember which apps you currently have running and you maybe don't want to let a certain app load right now but instead use one that's already in memory for the same purpose
-) you maybe don't like the layout/number of those recent apps
-) you want to have visual feedback of what the phone is currently running (like with e.g. visual task switcher)
-) you want to simply use another button on your phone to launch that

the recommendation in the second posting was already very helpful to me, as i was looking for a decent app to switch between running tasks. although i might go with visual task switcher instead, still have to try them out.
the point is: why debate over how stupid killing tasks is instead of talking about apps that speed up management of tasks in other respects?