How do I tell which processes I need running? [SOLVED]

[converted tux]

Ok so I have been playing around trying out one thing after another and not really keeping track of what I was doing. When I realized my pc was no longer running as fast as it had been.
I hit ctrl - esc and came up with a list so long that it took 4 screenshots to cover it.

I have been looking for how to post the screenshots but haven't figured that out yet.

Anyways what should I look for as a sign I don't need a process. then maybe some suggestions on what to do besides just kill them. Yes I realize I did this to myself ... but tweeking is soooo fun!

I really do appreciate any help on this and as always I will keep searching the other threads for anything useful.

[Snowhog]

Re: How do I tell which processes I need running?

Don't worry over what you see in the System Activity display (Ctrl+Esc). Open a console and type top and you'll see the same information. Watch it for a few seconds and you'll see what processes are actually running, and how much CPU they are using. You likely won't see a lot of running processes, and those that are, aren't taking up much of the CPU. If you do see something that is taking a lot of CPU, let us know what it is.

[converted tux]

Re: How do I tell which processes I need running?

Ok so I ran top and at the most I saw 2 processes running at 4% of my cpu each for a total of 8%. mostly there were 1 to 4 processes running at 1 or 2% each none of this seems like a problem to me so then I am back to my original problem of slow response. And to clarify slow response I mean that even when not connected to the internet my machine is slow when I switch between desktops or open another window move to another picture ... these things that used to pop up right away have suddenly slowed down considerably. I will pay closer attention to which things seem to be slower so as to have a more concise question than I currently do.

[Snowhog]

Re: How do I tell which processes I need running?

Did you recently activate additional Desktop Effects?

[converted tux]

Re: How do I tell which processes I need running?

why yes I did... will look into deactivating and get back to you.

Actually the effects I was trying to get to work and I finally did was the cube. pretty fancy but somehow I had it in my head that you would actually be able to work directly on the cube instead of having to select that desktop and have it move forward to be worked with. But I digress. I remembered what the lasst thing was that I added before things slowed down. "Kpowersave" The power options and profiles were not working for me and so I started a thread on that "Kpowersave" had seemed to be the solution I will remove it and see what happens as far as the speed picking back up.

That seems to do it... I removed "Kpowersave" and everything is back up to speed. guess I will set this thread to solved and re-open the other one? or should I open a new one?