Best Buy installed Advanced Task Killer before letting me leave

[myersn024]

The title of the post pretty much says it all. The Best Buy Mobile guys wouldn't let me and my wife leave without installing Advanced Task Killer on both of our Evos. I didn't feel like arguing, so I just let them do it. However, as soon as I got out the door I uninstalled it from my phone. I left it installed on my wife's Evo just to do a comparison, and without it installed I got WAY better battery life than she did (of course, I've uninstalled it from her phone now, as well). Furthermore, they didn't even know how to use ATK properly and had you check the apps you wanted to leave running when the directions for ATK clearly state the opposite.

Anyone else run into the BB Mobile people forcing ATK on you before you could leave?

 

[marctronixx]

one or two on here have stated that happened to them at RS.

bb has no right to install anything without your permission. you purchased the device so its yours. i would had adamantly told them no thank you. ATK is a 30+MB process.... its super easy to use but eats up a lot or real estate....

 

[RoboMonkey]

Bah, Task Killers are way over rated. I'll never use one on my Android. This isn't a MSFT OS, so multi tasking is fine.

 

[Biggest Fro]

Crazy Reps.

I would have told them I payed for it, now give it to me. I don't want your filthy paws all over my screen.

 

[AHWagner]

At RadioShack, they have like a 30 page book about what to do for the customer's (explain features, how to activate, etc etc) and in the book it tells the RS guy to tell you that Sprint recommends the user install Advance Task Killer. I thought that was interesting...

 

[rockman1117]

I straight out told the guy I wasn't going to have that on mine. He acted like I didn't know and he was looking out for me.

 

[Dutch54]

Would ATK be listed in the All Apps list or somewhere else? New to Android...not sure what BB did, didnt know what to look for when they were setting up my phone.

 

[keatre]

Anyone else run into the BB Mobile people forcing ATK on you before you could leave?

I had a BB mobile guy tell me, "We strongly recommend you install a task killer," of which I explained I'm a dev and he left me alone. I think BB is pushing task killers for battery purposes. I know they had a little "bundle for batteries" that included a car charger, extra micro cable, and a zagg shield for like $25.

Anyways, went to the Sprint store later that day (with the data issues, when I updated my profile it had switched the phone number, so phone went dead), the guy (who knew his stuff, surprisingly) was going through my phone and said, "wow, no task killer - good job. I'm telling everyone to stay away." Somewhat interesting. Needless to say we started bullshitting and found out he had made a little 'noob sheet' for purchasing customers and had taken all his info from this forum.

He even knew my name. Was kinda funny.

 

[dylan88]

sprint did that to me. i went home, deleted it, and installed auto task killer. much better

 

[leastbay]

BB was so busy when I was there that they never took the phone out of the box. Really didnt work well because I ended up having to call sprint twice to get it activated properly.

 

[ashykat]

I'm still torn on task killers. I don't believe in using them a lot, but sometimes if my phone feels like it's starting the drag a little bit I'll turn on ATK and kill some of my installed apps (I don't think the Old Man Herbert Soundboard needs to always be running). I don't kill gmail, messages, etc. Seems to help out. Once I've done that I kill ATK as well. Doesn't appear to have any adverse affect but I'd love to see an actual study using different situations.

 

[TheBlackPrince]

The guy told me that they were going to install a task killer on mine but I ended up getting out of the store without it being installed.

 

[zamardii12]

I don't understand two things here...

1. Isn't a task killer supposed to increase battery time?

2. At times when I use the ATK widget, it'll kill over 10 apps... Running 10 apps should be draining the battery faster. Granted, I know this isn't a Windows phone and the EVO is my first Android deviceand perhaps I just don't understand how this works. I remember on my Windows Mobile phones, whenever I had a bunch of running apps it would slow the OS down/. I hit the task killer widget all the time to cancel apps all the time.

Maybe someone can explain to me why a task killer app would decrease your bat

 

[tracerit]

how come so many people are letting themselves get punked by these stores? seems like you were bullied into letting them do whatever they wanted...

 

[RhinoDoc]

The RS salesman asked if I had time to learn some tricks about the phone. I told him no and he said his one piece of advice was to use ATK. I told him it was certainly controversial and I felt Android handled memory fine without it, IMHO. He surprised I had an opinion and said all the guys in thw store use it. Kinda weird, I thought, that he was pushing it like that.

 

[keatre]

I don't understand two things here...

1. Isn't a task killer supposed to increase battery time?

2. At times when I use the ATK widget, it'll kill over 10 apps... Running 10 apps should be draining the battery faster. Granted, I know this isn't a Windows phone and the EVO is my first Android deviceand perhaps I just don't understand how this works. I remember on my Windows Mobile phones, whenever I had a bunch of running apps it would slow the OS down/. I hit the task killer widget all the time to cancel apps all the time.

Maybe someone can explain to me why a task killer app would decrease your bat

http://androidforums.com/tips-tricks-evo-4g/85554-task-killers-must-read-new-android-users.html

Please use search.

 

[IOWA]

I generally lead out with the line

"Don't lecture me on what to install on my phone unless you want to be embarrassed in front of your co-workers and customers."

 

[phantomevo77]

So really, Android kills the App thats running when you press the home screen?

I have been using ATK and my battery life has improved a whole bunch.

Yes I've read that post on task killers, but I get better battery life with it... I don't get it..

(new to Android)

Especially since I don't need the Sprint apps, I hardly use them, but will keep them on there just in case I want to.

Seems to me, task killers just improve battery life, even considering what posts and other threads say... I simply don't get it.

 

[keatre]

So really, Android kills the App thats running when you press the home screen?

I have been using ATK and my battery life has improved a whole bunch.

Yes I've read that post on task killers, but I get better battery life with it... I don't get it..

(new to Android)

Use it based off your own experience. The problem is that the task killer can cause problems with the OS. Personally, I prefer OS speed and non-lag over battery life. I can charge it at work if need be, but if it starts laggy (as happens commonly with ATK) I become pretty irritated.

My 2

 

[phearx]

I don't understand two things here...

1. Isn't a task killer supposed to increase battery time?

2. At times when I use the ATK widget, it'll kill over 10 apps... Running 10 apps should be draining the battery faster. Granted, I know this isn't a Windows phone and the EVO is my first Android deviceand perhaps I just don't understand how this works. I remember on my Windows Mobile phones, whenever I had a bunch of running apps it would slow the OS down/. I hit the task killer widget all the time to cancel apps all the time.

Maybe someone can explain to me why a task killer app would decrease your bat

While task killers may kill apps which aren't running they also use up memory when killing other apps before shutting down themselves. Some believe the android OS allocates memory fine with out a task killer. I myself believe task killers are useless, due to my own testing on the HTC hero. It's up to you to decide whether you feel task killers are ultimately a benefit or hinder your device's potential. There are numerous articles out on the internet which show the pros and cons to task killers, and explain it better than myself.

 

[sikclown]

Task Killers are almost as pointless as Best Buy Employees (except for cashiers) Just saying if I went to an Android Store and they tried to install a Best Buy Employee I would blow the place up... literally

 

[Ashenor]

Radio Shack was trying to install it and some other crap on mine. I was like just leave it alone i can handle what i need on there. The manager was like well this employee has not seen one yet and i wanted her to play with it some ... I was like not to be rude but play with someone else's after she was proding her fingers on it and sliding it along the counter about 3x's already.

 

[SirSlayer]

Danm straight no one was putting that crap on my phone. I remember when my wife got a moment, the sprint guy gave us a list of recommended apps and I about died. ATK was top of the list. I told him how wrong that was and that this phone is not made by Microsoft. That list of apps made it to the trash bin by the front door of sprint.

 

[mas90guru]

Interesting. I had Verizon install ATK on my Droid when I was doing a warranty swap.

 

[dgeezer]

The Radio Shack where I got my evo actually did a good job considering the circumstances. However there was a woman in the srore who was also getting the evo. She had also preordered the phone. The manager said "I need to install AntiVirus on your phone. Yes, smartphones can get viruses and this will take care of that and stop programs from running needlessly. It's called ATK." Luckily I knew I didn't want them installing anything for me.