Help Best/Easiest Way to Kill ONE App??

[scudder]

Hi...

I'm NOT a fan of using a task killer for reasons well-documented on these forums, however, I was looking for the best/easiest way to set kill ONE SINGLE task rather than a whole slew of tasks like most of these auto-killers do?? I have an app or two that I use fairly often that you CANNOT exit and will not quit.

For example: Android System Info. I use the app to measure CPU processes to see if I have a runaway app sucking up my resources. IRONICALLY, if I remember correctly, the developer might have even mentioned that the fact that the app itself is a BIG CPU HOG when looking at the CPU info and, although it has a kill/force stop option, it will NOT kill itself!!

So, I was looking for the best/easiest way to kill just one or two SPECIFIC apps. Is there a widget I can create associated with "Android System Info" that I can hit to kill JUST that app?? Do you suggest I download a task killer with a whitelist option set up so that NOTHING is auto-killed except JUST the app I want to knock off??

What is the best way to accomplish what I'm looking to do??

THANKS!!

 

[akazabam]

The cleanest way to stop an app is by actually going to manage applications, finding the app, and force stopping it. That being said, you can at least get to manage applications fairly quickly. Long press on one of your homescreens, then select shortcut. Scroll down until you get to settings. Select that, then select Manage applications. That will create a shortcut on your homescreen that takes you directly to manage applications. You'll still have to find the app in the list, but it's at least a little faster.

You also might be able to automate it somewhat with something like tasker, but ever since froyo, it's a little more difficult to just kill apps.

 

[scudder]

The cleanest way to stop an app is by actually going to manage applications, finding the app, and force stopping it. That being said, you can at least get to manage applications fairly quickly. Long press on one of your homescreens, then select shortcut. Scroll down until you get to settings. Select that, then select Manage applications. That will create a shortcut on your homescreen that takes you directly to manage applications. You'll still have to find the app in the list, but it's at least a little faster.

You also might be able to automate it somewhat with something like tasker, but ever since froyo, it's a little more difficult to just kill apps.

That is actually the PRECISE method I use! But for me, the process is a bit slower that I was looking for and multi-step. Even WITH my recent clean out (as you are familiar with) when I hit the Manage Applcations shortcut I created, it sometimes takes a while for the list of apps to come up. Usually I won't even see the name "Android System Info" but instead have the search the list for the com.whatever.iforgotatthemoment.name name and Force Stop from there.

Honestly, the "slow" process of the above method is probably around 30 seconds to force stop the app...however, if I had a ONE TOUCH widget or whatever to automate this, that would be great. I'll have to experiment with some task killer apps to see what I find.

 

[rkittle47]

I use "Qiuck Exit". I use it on things like Meriidian music player, etc. Just swipe down the screen, hit close, and it will take you to the force close screen. Seems to work fine. I wish I could find a single widget or something that would kill an app, but works for now.

Hope it helps

 

[akazabam]

I don't have time at the very moment, but remind me to try this out this tasker. I might be able to make it do something like what you want (kill or at least take you to the manage applications page for a specific app). As for manage application taking a long time to load, how many apps do you have installed now? Might takes only a few seconds to load.

 

[scudder]

I don't have time at the very moment, but remind me to try this out this tasker. I might be able to make it do something like what you want (kill or at least take you to the manage applications page for a specific app). As for manage application taking a long time to load, how many apps do you have installed now? Might takes only a few seconds to load.

Well you KNOW I culled my down significantly....I "only" have about 198 right now on internal and SD

I'm gonna try the white-listing method I was thinking about with a few task killers. I'll let everyone know what I find...

 

[akazabam]

Hehe, yeah, I know what you've been doing recently. I'm still thinking it would be a good idea to just wipe everything, and clear up any remaining issues like this. That being said, how's it going with apps on the sdcard? Are they all still available now that you wiped out .android_secure?

 

[scudder]

I use "Qiuck Exit". I use it on things like Meriidian music player, etc. Just swipe down the screen, hit close, and it will take you to the force close screen. Seems to work fine. I wish I could find a single widget or something that would kill an app, but works for now.

Hope it helps

I'll look into that Quick Exit...thanks. Also gonna try to see if I can create a "kill all" scenario with a task killer where the ONLY thing that is "killed all" is ONE app...

 

[scudder]

I'll look into that Quick Exit...thanks. Also gonna try to see if I can create a "kill all" scenario with a task killer where the ONLY thing that is "killed all" is ONE app...

I love quoting myself!

Anyway, haven't tried the task killer white list kill all=one thought that I had but I DID try Quick Exit and it works GREAT. Does not just "close" the window of the app but EXITS like a Force Stop (I confirmed to see if the app I Quick Exited was running after using Quick Exit and it was NOT).

Another option, though multi-step and NOT a one-touch app kill widget type setup was the use of System Info https://market.android.com/details?id=nextapp.systempanel.r1 Launch and the processes load VERY fast then you can long-press the process you want to kill and it is DONE!!

The ONLY caveat is that when you "back" out of the System Info window, the app is still RUNNING, however, I confirmed that when you do that it is using ZERO CPU whereas the app that lead me to writing this post originally (Android System Info) if "backed" out in the same way and NOT "exited" full/force closed will CONTINUE TO RUN as it polls the CPU usage and, itself, uses sometimes up to 20-40% of the CPU!!

I'm leaning toward the Quick Exit right now. Just resides in the notification bar and activated with a quick pull-down for whatever app is currently running. Good stuff!!

 

[ovrrdrive]

Supposedly if you use the back arrow to exit apps it kills them. I find it works for most but not all of the apps I use. I'm not against task killers but I haven't found a reason to install ATK on my phone. It is so rare that I need to kill something I just use the force stop method detailed above. If I had an app I used on a regular basis that I needed to kill regularly I wouldn't hesitate to install ATK. I don't buy into the hype surrounding it and 2.2...

 

[scudder]

Supposedly if you use the back arrow to exit apps it kills them. I find it works for most but not all of the apps I use. I'm not against task killers but I haven't found a reason to install ATK on my phone. It is so rare that I need to kill something I just use the force stop method detailed above. If I had an app I used on a regular basis that I needed to kill regularly I wouldn't hesitate to install ATK. I don't buy into the hype surrounding it and 2.2...

Yeah, that back arrow is SUPPOSED to kill it. But with this Android System Info it doesn't. There are a couple other apps I heard of too.

I've done enough research and understand enough of the way the phone launches and sorta "keeps apps in reserve" to realize the futility of using a "kill all" type option to free up RAM especially when one is not low on RAM and especially when the kill all scenario kills either necessary/core processes or something that will simply pop back up and reboot itself!!

But this Android System Info isn't something that, if you look at your processes running in the background, just sits and has ZERO drain on battery or CPU. This thing CONSTANTLY draws on the CPU because of the purpose of the app (monitoring use of the CPU by a defined interval, sometimes every few seconds). Under the circumstances it HAS TO be killed/force stopped.

And once again, if anyone is interested, I'm LIKING that Quick Exit app!

 

[scudder]

Hehe, yeah, I know what you've been doing recently. I'm still thinking it would be a good idea to just wipe everything, and clear up any remaining issues like this. That being said, how's it going with apps on the sdcard? Are they all still available now that you wiped out .android_secure?

Honestly, I'm in GOOD shape!! The wipe of the .android_secure worked well!! I have a new card in the phone (even though it appears THAT wasn't necessary) and it is a bit faster than my original card (plus 16GB vs. the 8GB). I also stumbled upon your old "speed up the SD card transfer rates" post that I mentioned to you and upped my write/read from 2mb/5mb to 3mb/8mb. So, I'm just gonna chill for now...on the FULL wipe...

I do not think there is an issue with my Manage Applications process to force-stop the app I need. It is literally a function of alllll the crap I have on my phone Like I said, I'm in GOOD shape now but if for some reason I run into problems in the future, it served as a good tutorial should I need to REALLY wipe everything.

 

[akazabam]

Honestly, I'm in GOOD shape!! The wipe of the .android_secure worked well!! I have a new card in the phone (even though it appears THAT wasn't necessary) and it is a bit faster than my original card (plus 16GB vs. the 8GB). I also stumbled upon your old "speed up the SD card transfer rates" post that I mentioned to you and upped my write/read from 2mb/5mb to 3mb/8mb. So, I'm just gonna chill for now...on the FULL wipe...

I do not think there is an issue with my Manage Applications process to force-stop the app I need. It is literally a function of alllll the crap I have on my phone Like I said, I'm in GOOD shape now but if for some reason I run into problems in the future, it served as a good tutorial should I need to REALLY wipe everything.

That's good to hear . Likely the jump in write speed is due to either fluctuations in the test app or some other factor. The sd readahead fix will affect read speeds only. You did get a nice jump in read speed, though, so that's nice . If you noticed any lag with apps on the sdcard, that should certainly help some.

 

[scudder]

That's good to hear . Likely the jump in write speed is due to either fluctuations in the test app or some other factor. The sd readahead fix will affect read speeds only. You did get a nice jump in read speed, though, so that's nice . If you noticed any lag with apps on the sdcard, that should certainly help some.

I was thinking along those lines because the "increase" in write speed was negligible, if really anything. Also, shoulda clicked in my head if I actually processed the fact that it was a "readahead" fix...read....REEEEEADahead But like you said, I DO notice less lag from the read perspective.

 

[akazabam]

Haha, yeah, there's a few good explanations you can find in that thread or the one link to xda for how it works. It basically affects read speed only. But it really does a good job. My sdcard read speed nearly doubled.