A lot of junk processes in memory

Anixx · Oct 21, 2021

Under W11 there are a lot of unneeded processes in memory, how can I get rid of them?

* smartscreen.exe (smartscreen is disabled)

* SearchHost.exe (indexing is disabled)

* GameBarPresenceWriter.exe

* StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

* ShellExperienceHost.exe

* SystemSettings.exe

* SystemSettingsBroker.exe

* fontdrvhost.exe (font indexing is disabled)

* TextInputHost.exe

* Several instances of RuntimeBroker.exe

* Several instances of taskhostw.exe

How can I get rid of them?

Quandary · Oct 21, 2021

Get used to it. Expect to see this trend as OS's develop and morph. Don't like it, well drop back to an earlier version of Windows or some other OS.

I am not a MAC user but I doubt they show you all this information. Their view is the user should not be concerned about what is happening in the background.

TigerTom · Oct 21, 2021

Use Process Explorer as admin, try to kill or suspend any of these processes and see if your Win still runs fine.

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

TigerTom said:
Use Process Explorer as admin, try to kill or suspend any of these processes and see if your Win still runs fine.

This tutorial TextInputHost.exe — что это за процесс? (Windows 10, Text Input Host) says the process is responsible for touchscreen keyboard. But I have no touchscreen! Why does Microsoft think that everybody is using phones for computers? Cannot is access the Device Manager to verify what devices are installed?!

The tutorial says that on Win10 the process can be disabled by disabling the touchscreen keyboard service. But I have this service already disabled! The process takes 32 MB of memory, 4 times greater than the whole Windows 2000.

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

TigerTom said:
Use Process Explorer as admin, try to kill or suspend any of these processes and see if your Win still runs fine.

Of course, all runs fine! But how to disable them? Once I kill it, it restarts.

aelaan12 · Oct 22, 2021

Every process is started from the services page - Windows key + X -> Computer Management -> Services and Applications ->Services.

There are two stages under Status - Running or empty (not running)
There are four stages under startup type - Automatic (Delayed Start), Automatic, Manual, Disabled.

Find the service you want to stop indicated by Process Explorer for instance.

Stop the service and set the startup type to Disabled - This will prevent the service from starting. Test your system thoroughly and please keep a list of the destruction. If your system starts misbehaving reset the last service you disabled.

Another place to Look at is the startup - Windows key - type in "startup" - and pick startup apps.

On YouTube look for Christ Titus Tech - he went over this in detail. Of course, everything depends on the computer you have and the functions you will be using, and also what version of the OS you are running (Home/Pro/Enterprise).

Remember to keep notes and create restore points. Good luck, you got this.

aelaan12 · Oct 22, 2021

Quandary said:
Get used to it. Expect to see this trend as OS's develop and morph. Don't like it, well drop back to an earlier version of Windows or some other OS.

I am not a MAC user but I doubt they show you all this information. Their view is the user should not be concerned about what is happening in the background.

Sorry to say, it is obvious that you are not a Mac User but we still love you - lol
The MacBook / Unix processes can be easily identified by such applications as "top" and or the activity monitor. There are also still startup apps and this can be manipulated by the end user. The only thing is that one needs to be a little more careful as these services are nested.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 22, 2021

If the services or programs are not being used and there is memory pressure, their memory pages will get freed for active processes, so in reality, they will have litttle to no impact.

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

geneo said:
If the services or programs are not being used and there is memory pressure, their memory pages will get freed for active processes, so in reality, they will have litttle to no impact.

Since Windows 8.1 I noticed that disabling pagefile increases performance A LOT, but also may lead to "out of memory" when playing games and having a browser opened. So, my aim is to reduce the number of any processes that take memory, even if they get normally suspended to the pagefile for inactivity.

Also, I simply do not understand, why do I need those touchscreen processes running if I simply have no touchscreen. They cannot be useful under any, even hypothetical circumstances.
I understand that this version of Windows developed from the one which was intended for touchpads, where the touch keyboard should be available as a necessity under all circumstances, so disabling this service is not allowed (and that is right), but my computer is not a touchpad!

And for the same reason I do not use the dock but use the taskbar with Explorer Patcher.

PerpetualCycle · Oct 22, 2021

Anixx said:
Since Windows 8.1 I noticed that disabling pagefile increases performance A LOT, but also may lead to "out of memory" when playing games and having a browser opened. So, my aim is to reduce the number of any processes that take memory, even if they get normally suspended to the pagefile for inactivity.

Also, I simply do not understand, why do I need those touchscreen processes running if I simply have no touchscreen. They cannot be useful under any, even hypothetical circumstances.
I understand that this version of Windows developed from the one which was intended for touchpads, where the touch keyboard should be available as a necessity under all circumstances, so disabling this service is not allowed (and that is right), but my computer is not a touchpad!

And for the same reason I do not use the dock but use the taskbar with Explorer Patcher.

Only "dirty" memory pages should get written to a pagefile. If a disabled process gets started, none of the pages will be modified. Then no dirty pages - if memory is needed, these pages can simply be freed for other use. At least that is the way I beleive it should behave,

I agree with you; why should these programs and processes even be there if you disabled them or are using a desktop? For one thing it is more clutter you have to sort through if you need to look at processes, etc.

TairikuOkami · Oct 22, 2021

Anixx said:
How can I get rid of them?

You can use brute force and remove them, it will break some functionality and they might return after an update.

Code:

takeown /s %computername% /u %username% /f "%WinDir%\System32\smartscreen.exe"
icacls "%WinDir%\System32\smartscreen.exe" /grant:r %username%:F
taskkill /im smartscreen.exe /f
del "%WinDir%\System32\smartscreen.exe" /s /f /q

takeown /s %computername% /u %username% /f "%WINDIR%\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchHost.exe"
icacls "%WINDIR%\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchHost.exe" /inheritance:r /grant:r %username%:F
taskkill /im SearchHost.exe /f
del "%WINDIR%\SystemApps\MicrosoftWindows.Client.CBS_cw5n1h2txyewy\SearchHost.exe" /s /f /q

Anixx said:
* GameBarPresenceWriter.exe

If you uninstall game bar, it might disappear.

Code:

winget uninstall "xbox game bar"
winget uninstall "xbox game bar plugin"
winget uninstall "xbox game speech window"

Anixx said:
StartMenuExperienceHost.exe

That is Start, if you remove it, it might break taskbar as well.

Anixx said:
* SystemSettings.exe
* SystemSettingsBroker.exe

That is Settings, the new Control Panel, it should close, once you close Settings.

Anixx said:
ShellExperienceHost.exe

It handles all UWP apps, Start, Settings and apps like that included. Fairly needed.

Anixx said:
* fontdrvhost.exe

Windows Font Cache Service

Anixx said:
* TextInputHost.exe

TabletInputService and related settings in Typing

Anixx said:
* Several instances of RuntimeBroker.exe

Each process is responsible for a single UWP app, like Start, Settings, etc.

Anixx said:
* Several instances of taskhostw.exe

TaskScheduler and display running tasks. Disable at will. Usually there are 3 running nonstop.
Note that CtfMonitor task is required to be able to search/type within UWP apps like Settings.

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

TairikuOkami said:
If you uninstall game bar, it might disappear.

My system does not know, what is "winget" (neither cmd, nor powershell).

TairikuOkami said:
That is Start, if you remove it, it might break taskbar as well.

I use OpenShell and Explorer Patcher.

TairikuOkami said:
That is Settings, the new Control Panel, it should close, once you close Settings.

It does not.

TairikuOkami said:
Windows Font Cache Service

I have disabled font cache service, why does it run then?
It was slowing down my computer A LOT on Win8.1, but there if I disabled it, it did not load.

TairikuOkami said:
TabletInputService and related settings in Typing

My computer is not a tablet!

Singleton · Oct 22, 2021

Anixx said:
Also, I simply do not understand, why do I need those touchscreen processes running if I simply have no touchscreen. They cannot be useful under any, even hypothetical circumstances.

I'm baffled why you are seeing this as well. I've checked several of my computers, two running Windows 11. None of them show the touchscreen or pen processes running on any machine. Where are you looking for this information? Are you looking at Services and misunderstanding processes that are listed vs the ones that are actually running?

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

TairikuOkami said:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/app-installer/9nblggh4nns1#activetab=pivot:eek:verviewtab

I have a local account. Installing that app requires a Microsoft account.

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

Singleton said:
I'm baffled why you are seeing this as well. I've checked several of my computers, two running Windows 11. None of them show the touchscreen or pen processes running on any machine. Where are you looking for this information? Are you looking at Services and misunderstanding processes that are listed vs the ones that are actually running?

I am looking in Task Manager.

TairikuOkami · Oct 22, 2021

As for TabletInputService, maybe those policies stop it?

Code:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Input" /v "IsInputAppPreloadEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Input\TIPC" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f
sc config TabletInputService start= disabled

Singleton · Oct 22, 2021

Anixx said:
My system does not know, what is "winget" (neither cmd, nor powershell).

When you open PowerShell and type winget you get nothing found? I thought it was installed on any Windows 11 machine. How did you install Windows 11?

Code:

❯ winget
Windows Package Manager v1.1.12663
Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The winget command line utility enables installing applications and other packages from the command line.

usage: winget [<command>] [<options>]

The following commands are available:
  install    Installs the given package
  show       Shows information about a package
  source     Manage sources of packages
  search     Find and show basic info of packages
  list       Display installed packages
  upgrade    Upgrades the given package
  uninstall  Uninstalls the given package
  hash       Helper to hash installer files
  validate   Validates a manifest file
  settings   Open settings or set administrator settings
  features   Shows the status of experimental features
  export     Exports a list of the installed packages
  import     Installs all the packages in a file

For more details on a specific command, pass it the help argument. [-?]

The following options are available:
  -v,--version  Display the version of the tool
  --info        Display general info of the tool

More help can be found at: https://aka.ms/winget-command-help

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

Singleton said:
When you open PowerShell and type winget you get nothing found?

Yes.

Anixx · Oct 22, 2021

TairikuOkami said:
As for TabletInputService, maybe those policies stop it?

Code:

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Input" /v "IsInputAppPreloadEnabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Input\TIPC" /v "Enabled" /t REG_DWORD /d "0" /f sc config TabletInputService start= disabled

I did, it reported success...