Task List
Name

PROGRAM &
MANUFACTURER

WHAT IT IS
AND WHAT YOU CAN DO
Packethsvc PacketHSvc.exe

(CompuServe / AOL)		 We have not come across this one ourselves yet.  However, a reliable AnswersThatWork user informs us this is the Virtual Adapter Service installed with CompuServe 2000.

Recommendation :
As we have little knowledge of this task we cannot make a recommendation about it, except that if you do not use either CompuServe 2000 or AOL, then this task may be running purely because CompuServe 2000 came pre-installed with a new PC/Laptop you bought, in which case go to "Control Panel \ Services" (WinNT4) or "Control Panel \ Administrative Tools \ Services" (Win2000/XP), and set Virtual NIC Service to Manual (Thank You to the same AnswersThatWork user).
Pcamgt PCAMgt.exe

(Symantec)		 PC Anywhere Agent for CMS.  This background task is installed when you install PC Anywhere 9.0 or later, and is set up to start when Windows starts.  In Win9x/ME this task does not show when you bring up the Task List using Ctrl+Alt+Del, but you can see it running if you use Starter to view your Task List.  We are not sure what CMS stands for, but we do know that this task listens for incoming PC Anywhere connections if your PC is configured as a PC Anywhere host.

Recommendation :
If you only ever use PC Anywhere to connect out to a remote host, then this task is not needed and you can disable it with Starter.  If, however, your PC is a PC Anywhere host which other PCs connect to, then you must leave this task running for PC Anywhere to run properly in host mode.  (Note that if you connect out to a remote host but that host is configured to dial back to you, then you should not disable this task).
Pcciomon PCCIOMon.exe

(Trend Micro)		 Real-time background antivirus scanning task from the PC-cillin antivirus software (from version 2000 onwards) – Windows 9x/ME only.  This task scans files for viruses as you access them. It also automatically updates your PC-cillin antivirus software from the Internet if you have turned on that facility.

Recommendation :
Essential task of your PC-cillin antivirus software – leave alone. Users of PC-cillin 2000/2001/2002 may experience extremely slow boot-up times caused directly by PCCIOMON – upgrading to the 2003 version should solve these problems.
Pcfmgr PcfMgr.exe

(Phoenix Technologies)		 For laptops : Power Schemes Manager System Tray icon (also called PowerPannel).  This icon enables you to create various Power Schemes (e.g. "Running off the battery", "Connected to Mains", etc.), switch power schemes, view the Battery charge level, and set Low/Full Battery alarms.  Seen on laptops which have a Phoenix BIOS (e.g. Sony Vaio laptops).

Recommendation :
Essential as it gives you access to power saving features that are specific to your laptop and which you cannot access through the standard Windows Power Saving panel.
Pchschd

PCHealth		 PCHSchd.exe

(Microsoft)		 Microsoft’s PC Health Client Scheduling Application.  Windows Millennium Edition only.  PCHSCHD collects data hardware and software configuration data through WINMGMT.  This information is used by the Windows ME Help & Support system accessible via "Start \ Help".  The information collected by PCHealth is stored in the C:\Windows\PCHealth\HELPCTR\DataColl folder.  PCHSCHD runs at startup on most WinME PCs, and subsequently every 10 minutes through Scheduled Tasks.

Recommendation :
The first thing you should do is lengthen the scheduling interval for PCHSCHD – such an application whose results are used so rarely in the life of a PC, if ever, should not be running every 10 minutes.  In-house we typically set the interval to 3 hours or more.  To do that open "Scheduled Tasks" in the Control Panel, double-click "PCHealth Scheduler for Data Collection", click on the SETTINGS tab and set the task to stop if it runs for more than 5 or 10 minutes (your choice), next click the SCHEDULE tab, click the ADVANCED button, change the "Repeat Task Schedule" from "Every 10 minutes" to "Every 3, 4, 5, or 6 hours" (your choice). OK your way out.
Pctptt Pctptt.exe

(PCTEL)		 Country Selection task for PCTEL Modems.  This background program is installed with PCTEL modem drivers.  It enables you to set the country in which you are using your PCTEL modem.  As such, therefore, it is only needed once, when you first install your modem.

Recommendation :
A harmless background task which you can disable with Startup Manager once you have successfully configured your PCTEL modem.  If, on the other hand, you used to have a PCTEL modem, but have since replaced it, use Startup Manager to delete the Pctptt.exe entry.
Pctspk PCTSpk.exe

(PCTEL)		 See PCTVOICE below.
Pctvoice PCTVoice.exe

(PCTEL)		 Background task installed with the drivers for the PCTEL 2304WT V.92 MDC Modems. Seen mainly in laptops.

Recommendation :
We do not yet know what this task really does, but we do know that PCTVOICE.EXE and the related PCTSPK.EXE occasionally run away with CPU consumption, up to 95%-100%, causing the inevitable extreme PC slow-down or freeze.  In all cases that we have seen, disabling this process with Startup Manager has not given the user any problem in his use of the modem.
Pdesk PDesk.exe

(Matrox)		 System Tray icon for the Matrox PowerDesk software which comes with their graphics cards (VGA cards).

Recommendation :
If you play games a lot then you will probably want to keep this icon in the System Tray in order to be able to access quickly some of the many advanced graphics features of the PowerDesk software.  If you experience problems with PDESK, ensure you have the latest versions of the PowerDesk software.  If you are not a gamer, then disable PDESK with Startup Manager.
Pe2ckfnt Se PE2CKFNT SE See CHKFNT.
 
Pelmiced Pelmiced.exe

(IBM)		 Part of IBM’s Mouse Suite 98 mouse software.

Recommendation :
We have no idea as to what this task does – we can therefore only recommend to leave it alone.
Pgmonitr PGMonitr.exe

(Delfin Project Inc)		 Background task for the PromulGate line of advertising products from The Delfin Project.  This is what we call adware.  Worse, this is some of the worst type of adware there is – it is directly responsible for incredibly slow PCs, "unhandled exception" errors on boot-up on Windows 2000/XP PCs, illegal operations on boot-up on Windows 9x/ME PCs, interference with your Internet connection, and more.  This is TerribleWare !  PGMONITR is, in most cases that we have seen, installed by Kazaa.

Recommendation :
Get rid of it straight away.  De-install any Delfin or PromulGate product listed in "Add/Remove Programs" in the Control Panel (e.g. Delfin Media Viewer), or, alternatively, download and install "Spybot Search & Destroy" from our Downloads section, click on "Online" to update it, and then run it to rid your PC of spyware and adware such as PGMONITR.
Plauto PLAuto.exe

(Casio)		 Casio’s Photo Loader Supervisory task which sits in the System Tray and which watches for the presence of your Casio digital camera.  As soon as it detects the digital camera having been docked, it brings up Photo Loader to enable the end-user to download his photos from the camera to the PC.  At all times you can also right-click on the icon ion the System Tray to start Photo Loader or Photohands (image retouching and printing).

Recommendation :
No known problems with this task – down to end-user preference as to whether you keep it or whether you disable it with Starter. Note that at all times you can start Photo Loader and Photohands from "Start \ Programs \ Casio".
Plguni PlgUni.exe

(McAfee)		 Background task installed by McAfee’s QuickClean 3.  This task runs in the background and tracks changes made to the Windows Registry so that they can be undone whenever you use some of the facilities of QuickClean 3, such as software de-installation or program removal.

Recommendation :
This task is essential to the proper functioning of QuickClean 3 – so if you do use QuickClean 3, then leave PLGUNI alone.  Note, however, that it is not uncommon to get "Page Fault" or "Illegal Operations" caused by PLGUNI, so make sure you regularly update your version of QuickClean 3.
Pnpchk PnPChk.exe

(Aztech Systems)		 16-bit PnP Resource Check background task for some Aztech modems and soundcards.  First, in our experience this task seems to be present only on Aztech devices when used in Packard Bell PCs.  Secondly, again from our own experience, it would seem that this task is needed only when you need your PCI soundcard or modem to be able to work with DOS programs.  Thirdly, we have never seen this task on Windows 2000/XP Packard Bell PCs.

Recommendation :
From our experiments you can disable this task with Starter if you only ever use Windows programs with your soundcard or modem.
Pntiomon PNTIOMon.exe

(Trend Micro)		 Real-time background antivirus scanning task from the PC-cillin antivirus software (from version 2000 onwards) – Windows NT4/2000/XP/2003 only.  This task scans files for viruses as you access them.  It also automatically updates your PC-cillin antivirus software from the Internet if you have turned on that facility.

Recommendation :
Essential task of your PC-cillin antivirus software – leave alone. Users of PC-cillin 2000/2001/2002 may experience PNTIOMON running away with CPU resources, up to 99% – this is sometimes actually nothing to do with PNTIOMON but with the indexing service CIDAEMON;  in other cases PNTIOMON is actually the culprit, in which case we recommend upgrading to version 2003 which seems to fix the problem.

Point32

Point32.dll

(Microsoft)

Microsoft Intellipoint software for their Intellimouse series of mice.

Recommendation : 
If you are using Win98/ME/XP/2000,  then unless you are using specific advanced features,  we recommend fully de-installing the Intellipoint software via the "Add/Remove Programs" icon in the Control Panel,  as most of the standard Intellipoint features have been integrated into the above operating systems,  and the Intellipoint software does create [sometimes significant] problems under specific conditions.
Poproxy POProxy.exe

(Symantec’s Norton Anti-Virus)		 This program runs in the background if you have enabled "Email protection" in Norton Anti-Virus 2000 or 2001 – it scans your incoming e-mails before they hit your Inbox.

Recommendation :
Essential.  Leave untouched.

Poptrap

POPTrap.exe

(Trend Micro)

Background task from Trend Micro's PC-Cillin antivirus software which scans e-mails for viruses as they are being downloaded and before they hit your mailbox.

Recommendation : 
In principle antivirus scanning of e-mails is essential, so you should leave this task untouched.  However, we have had reports from Outlook Express users, and from AOL Tech Support Engineers, indicating problems linked directly to POPTRAP where Outlook Express, or the AOL software, freeze while downloading messages.  Temporarily disabling either PC-Cillin's e-mail scanning, or PC-Cillin completely, usually immediately solves the problem, so there is a PC-Cillin bug to be aware of here.
Powerkey PowerKey.exe

(Acer)		 Background task found only on Acer TravelMate laptops – we currently have no idea as to what it does.

Recommendation :
We can only recommend to leave it alone since we do not know what it does.
Ppwebcap PPWebCap.exe

(Visioneer Inc.)		 System Tray icon which brings up the Visioneer ScanSoft software that gets installed with some of the Visioneer PaperPort scanners.

Recommendation :
Down to end-user preference.  For instance, if you use third-party software (MS Photo Editor, Publisher, Adobe Photoshop, etc…)  rather than the Visioneer ScanSoft program to scan with your PaperPort scanner, then disable this icon with Startup Manager.
Precisiontime PrecisionTime.exe

(The Gator Corporation)		 See Date Manager for details.

Recommendation :
Remove as specified under "Date Manager".
Printer-link

Usfor Printer-Link		 Printer-Link.exe

(Usfor Ltd)		 We have no idea as to what this task does.

Recommendation :
We have come across this task only once. We disabled it and noticed no adverse effect. Disable it, we say !!!
Printray PrinTray.exe

(Lexmark)		 System Tray icon installed by the drivers of Lexmark inkjet printers (mostly the Lexmark Z11).  This life-like icon brings up the Lexmark Control Program which enables you to configure your printer.  It also shows you the status of print jobs, enables you to clean the nozzles, to align the cartridges, to configure the default printing mode (letter quality, draft,...), etc...

Recommendation :
Down to user preference – most occasional/beginner-level users will probably want to keep it visible.  If you want to disable it, however, simply right-click on the icon in the System Tray and choose "Disable Printer Icon".  Note :  PRINTRAY does sometimes interfere with parallel port devices, such as parallel port tape or CD-ROM drives, and some scanners.  When that is the case, simply disable PRINTRAY as explained above.
Prodsl ProDSL.exe

(Intel)		 Intel’s System Tray icon which gets installed with the drivers for the Intel ADSL modems, such as the ProDSL 3200.  It enables you to monitor a variety of parameters about your DSL connection and modem.

Recommendation :
Harmless.  You can keep it or disable it with Startup Manager.
Promon PROMon.exe

(Intel)		 Intel PRO Monitor program which sits in the System Tray.  This icon gets installed by the drivers for the Intel Pro network cards.  By default it simply sits in the tray and displays LEDs which give you information on the network traffic going through your Intel Pro network card.  You can also double-click on it to access diagnostic features, configuration data, and setup screens.

Recommendation :
This task and its associated icon are not needed for the proper operation of your Intel Pro network card, so you may disable PROMON with Startup Manager if you want to free up space in your System Tray.

PRPCMonitor

PRPCUI.exe

(Intel)

Intel background program found exclusively on laptops which use Intel CPUs.  This Intel Speedstep program monitors whether the laptop is getting its power from the battery or the mains adaptor.  If it is using the battery, this background program scales down the frequency and voltage of the CPU to reduce its power consumption so as not to run the battery down too quickly.

Recommendation : 
Leave untouched.
Psconsv PSConSv.exe

(Symbian Ltd.)

(PSion Software)		 PSiWin 2.3 Connection Server.  System Tray icon which enables you to synchronize your Psion Palmtop with the Psion Windows software sitting on your PC (PSiWin).

Recommendation :
As with many background or System Tray palmtop synchronization applications, we have experienced problems with PSCONSV of the PSiWin Psion software.  From interference with modem connections, to preventing Norton AntiVirus 2001 from performing a LiveUpdate over a LAN connection to the Internet, we have a catalogue of interference and incompatibilities with PSiWin.  For these reasons we recommend moving PSCONSV from the Startup program group to either your Start Menu, or the "PSiWin" program group, so that it no longer starts automatically. All you need do, whenever you want to synchronize your PSion, is simply start PSCONSV from wherever you "parked" it.  PSCONSV is normally installed by default in the Startup program group as either "Connection Manager Application" or "PSiWin 2.3x Connection Server".
Psfree PSFree.exe

(Panicware)		 Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition from Panicware.  Pop-Up Stopper enables you to block advertising pop-ups while you browse the Internet.

Recommendation :
Leave alone – if you stop it, you stop Pop-Up Stopper Free Edition.
Pspccard PsPCCard.exe

(Toshiba)		 Background Power Saving task found on Toshiba laptops and which handles turning Power Saving ON and OFF on any inserted PC Card (PCMCIA card).

Recommendation :
Only ever disable if you do not use any power saving or hibernation settings (ie: they are all OFF).
Pssvc Pssvc.exe

(Microsoft)		 Microsoft patch for an Outlook 2000 problem where the user is unable to export or forward as a vCard.  This task needs to run in the background for the fix to work.

Recommendation :
Down to end-user preference – if you do not use vCards then you can disable this task with Starter.
Pstores PStoreS.exe

(Microsoft)		 Protected Storage Server (under Win9x/ME) or Protected Storage Service (under WinNT/2000/XP). Protected Storage, in the shape of PSTORES, was introduced with Internet Explorer 4.  It is invoked by Microsoft Internet programs such as Outlook Express and Internet Explorer, to securely store a variety of secure and confidential data into the registry, such as Outlook Express passwords, SSL certificates, auto-complete fields (usernames and passwords to enter websites, etc...) and web forms data.

Recommendation :
Under Windows 9x/ME, PSTORES will only run as and when required – leave it alone.  Under Windows NT4/2000/XP, however, it is a service that is started automatically as Windows starts.  As far as we have been able to verify, PSTORES is required to be able to run Outlook Express.  Therefore, under Windows NT4/2000/XP, if you do not use Outlook Express and do not use Internet Explorer, or do not use the auto-complete features of Internet Explorer, nor make us of SSL Certificates, then you can go into Services and set this service to a Manual start.
Ptsnoop PtSnoop.exe

(PCTEL)		 This background program is used by PCTEL modems.  It is essential to the good functioning of those modems.

Recommendation :
If you used to have a PCTEL modem, but have since replaced it, use Startup Manager to delete the Ptsnoop.exe entry.
Ptssvc PTSSvc.exe

(Kodak)		 Kodak’s Picture Transfer Service. Background task or service (Windows 2000/XP) which is associated with DCFSSVC.  Read the description of DCFSSVC for background details.  This task is involved in the transfer of pictures from the camera to the PC.

Recommendation :
Essential to the proper functioning of your Kodak digital camera when connected to your PC through the USB port.
Ptudfapp PtUDFapp.exe

(Prassi Software USA Inc)		 abCD Interface Application. abCD is CD packet writing software.  Packet writing software enables you to put files on a rewritable CDs directly from within applications or Windows Explorer as opposed to having to use CD-Writing software to create your CDs.  DirectCD from Adaptec is another packet writing package.  The ability to put files directly onto rewritable CDs is fraught with incompatibilities, with CDs created in this manner often not readable in other PCs.  Prassi Software, however, claim to have cracked the compatibility problems and claim that, unlike with competing products, CDs created with abCD can be read in any other CD-ROM drive or CD-Writer.  abCD comes bundled with other software;  however, at this stage we are not sure what exactly it comes bundled with.

Recommendation :
Going by their website Prassi Software USA do not seem to be still operating, nor does abCD seem to be supported any more.  On a different front, like all packet writing software, PTUDFAPP interferes with other packet writing software such as DirectCD or InCD. Lastly, in our experience PTUDFAPP is responsible for many illegal operations on boot-up, KERNEL32 errors, as well as other application crashes.  For all these reasons, therefore, unless you know you are definitely using abCD, we recommend getting rid of PTUDFAPP.  To do that you will need to boot your PC into DOS and rename PTUDFAPP.EXE to PDUDFAPP.OLD in order for it not to come up with Windows (you will find PTUDFAPP in "C:\Windows\System"). If you do not know how to do that, contact us for details.
Pwrtray PwrTray.exe

(Toshiba)		 System Tray icon found on some Toshiba laptops and which brings up a Toshiba-specific Power Management Panel (as opposed to the Microsoft version available through the Control Panel).

Recommendation :
Essential whether you use or do not use Power Saving features, as it enables you to set Toshiba specific BIOS-level power saving settings as well as Windows-level power saving settings.
Pwstray PWSTray.exe

(Microsoft)		 The Microsoft’s Personal Web Server which, when it runs, sits in the System Tray.  The Microsoft Personal Web Server is used primarily by the Microsoft web publishing programs, FrontPage and FrontPage Express, to enable you to view locally on your PC, the web pages that you have designed.  You can right-click on the icon in the System Tray to stop the Personal Web Server (PWS), to pause it, restart it, or to modify some of the options.  Also, hovering the mouse pointer over the icon tells you whether PWS is stopped, running, or paused.

Recommendation :
If you have PWS running, the likelihood is that you have either FrontPage or FrontPage Express on your PC.  If you use either of those, you will need the Microsoft Personal Web Server running so you can view your web page designs before uploading them to your LIVE website.