|
Task
List |
PROGRAM
& |
WHAT
IT IS |
|---|---|---|
| Realevent |
RealEvent.exe (Real Networks) |
Another RealOne Player
background task. See RNDAL and EVNTSVC elsewhere
in these pages for more details about RealOne Player. Although
we are not certain about it, REALEVENT seems to be involved in
pulling from Real Networks servers something Real Networks want
you to see (whether it is Real Networks product information,
advertising, etc..., we are not sure). Recommendation : If you decide not to uninstall RealOne Player, rename REALEVENT.EXE to REALEVENT.OLD – RealOne Player works fine without it, and you will have one less Real Networks background task accessing the Internet without you knowing what it does exactly. |
|
RealPlay |
Real
Player |
This is the System Tray icon for Real Player. A majority of users find this icon extremely frustrating as it slows down the boot-up time of your PC, and Real Player can be accessed through Start \ Programs anyway – in fact, in most cases Real Player comes up on its own when you click on a web link. Recommendation
: |
| Realsched |
RealSched.exe (Real Networks) |
See EVNTSVC elsewhere in these pages for full details. |
| Recsche |
RecSche.exe (???) |
Recording Scheduler.
System Tray icon which enables the end-user to open the
Recording Scheduler that gets installed with the drivers for
some TV Capture cards, such as Hauppauge TV capture cards. The
Recording Scheduler enables you to "video record" a TV programme
directly to you hard disk. Recommendation : This task is essential if you have set up recording schedules, as it wakes up at the specified time to start recording. Otherwise you can disable it with Starter. |
|
Registerdrop handler REGIST~1 |
RegisterDropHandler. exe REGIST~1.EXE (Xerox / ScanSoft) |
Drop Handler task for
Xerox’s Textbridge OCR software (now ScanSoft Textbridge) which
comes bundled with many scanners. REGISTERDROPHANDLER handles
the "Send To" command in those applications that have such a
menu option and where you can use it to send a document to
Textbridge (Note : Textbridge Pro Millennium and later versions
no longer install this task). Recommendation : For those users who convert scanned pages to text (OCR) by first starting Textbridge and then scanning from within Textbridge (the majority of users), this task is absolutely not needed and we recommend you disable it with Starter (where it will show up twice in most cases). If, however, you use OCR by using some sort of Control Center software which enables you to scan any type of document and then transfer the scanned image to either Image Editing, Image Cataloguing, or some sort of Convert-to-Text option which effectively uses Textbridge, then you should leave this task alone. |
| Regshave |
Regshave.exe (Fuji Photo Film Co.) |
Registry Shaver task
installed when you install the software for Fuji Finepix digital
cameras. At the time of writing we have no idea as to what
REGSHAVE actually does. Recommendation : We always disable REGSHAVE and we have never experienced adverse effects from doing so. Thus our recommendation is that you disable this task with Starter. |
|
Regsvc |
REGSVC.exe |
Microsoft’s
Remote Registry Service. This service runs on
Windows 2000 Server and Advance Server. Whenever you
install Microsoft software such as SQL on Windows 2000 Server,
and your setup program needs to write keys to the Registry, it
interacts with the Remote Registry Service (REGSVC.EXE) and
the Remote Registry Service does the actual writing of the
registry keys. This background service is also required
if you intend to edit the registry from a remote computer
using Windows 2000’s Remote Administration facilities. |
| Remind32 |
Remind32.exe (Xerox / ScanSoft) |
Registration reminder app
for Xerox’s Textbridge OCR software (now ScanSoft Textbridge).
If you elect not to register your copy of Textbridge when
you install it on a PC, this background process is created and
will remind you, every two weeks at boot-up, that you have not
registered Textbridge. Recommendation : Totally annoying ! Delete with Starter. |
| Retrorun |
RetroRun.exe (Dantz Development) |
This is the scheduler
task/service for the Dantz’s Retrospect Backup or
Retrospect Express. It will automatically start Retrospect
in the background at specific times or when specific events
occur. Retrospect Lite/Express also comes bundled with some
CD-Writers (e.g. Sony). Recommendation : If you find this task and you were not aware of its function, immediately check your Retrospect software to see what schedules or actions have been defined to occur automatically – the reason for this advice is that many users install the software by default when they install their CD-Writer, or have the software installed by default as a result of buying a PC that comes with a CD-Writer bundled with Retrospect, and find that at odd times they are prompted for a floppy disk or CD-R when performing seemingly unrelated functions such as opening their email ! |
| Rmctrl |
RmCtrl.exe (Cyberlink Software) |
Remote Control background
application for PowerDVD version 4 and above. This background
task enables you to use a remote control with your DVD drive if
your drive came with one. Recommendation : |
| Rnaapp |
Rnaapp.exe (Microsoft) |
Windows Dial-Up Networking
application. RNAAPP only appears in your Task List if your PC
tries or tried to dial out at some stage, or if it is waiting
for an inbound connection using Dial-Up Networking. Recommendation : Essential. Leave untouched. That said, if you are in the middle of troubleshooting Dial-Up networking problems, then do an "End Task" on it if you are not connected via Dial-Up Networking, and you may find that some of your problems disappear. |
| Rnathchk |
RNAthChk.exe (Real Networks) |
Part of Real Networks’
RealOne Player. Look up RNDAL below for our views on
RealOne Player. Recommendation : If you decide to keep RealOne Player, and are only interested in playing streaming video and music, and little else, then configure your firewall to also block RNATHCHK from being able to access the Internet, as its sole and only purpose seems to be to pick up Real Networks "update" notifications. An alternative that also works is to rename RNATHCHK.EXE to, say, RNATHCHK.EXE.OLD and that will ensure that it does not load (disabling it with Startup Manager does not work, it still loads unless you rename the program file). |
| Rndal |
RNDAL.exe (Real Networks) |
Real Networks Dynamic
Application Launcher (RNDAL). Background task which is part of
the Real Networks’ RealOne Player, their newest player
and probably the intended replacement for Real Player. We are
not quite sure of the role of this background task as, on PCs
with a permanent connection to the Internet, it does not always
appear in the Task List, sometimes it comes up, at other times
it does not. What we are sure of is that we unambiguously
object to the following paragraph from the RealOne Player
License Agreement at the time of writing, 15-Jun-2002 :
"However, as we describe above, certain updates to RealOne
Player functionality will happen automatically and without
advance notification". This is unbelievable – with
this single paragraph Real Networks effectively state that,
regardless of how you configure RealOne Player, there will be
times when RealOne Player will update itself and you will have
no control over that nor will you be informed that software
on your PC is being updated. We call this software
vandalism : Real Networks effectively show no respect for your
rights to be in control of software on your own PC. Recommendation : On the above basis alone we recommend categorically against the use of RealOne Player. De-install it immediately and use the "old" Real Player instead, or use WinAmp, Windows Media Player, or other software. Alternatively, if you absolutely want or have to use RealOne Player, then install an Internet firewall such as Norton Personal Firewall or Zone Alarm, and specifically configure your firewall to prevent RNDAL from communicating. Note that we have also seen RNDAL interfering with the use of CD-Writers, resulting in utterly unusable CDs – in such cases doing an "End Task" on RNDAL and then re-creating the CD almost always solves the problem. One other solution, which also works, is to rename RNDAL.EXE to RNDAL.OLD – this way it can never get started. |
| Robot |
Remind.exe (Storm Technology ?? and others ?) |
We have never come across
this background task ourselves. All the research on it was done
by AnswersThatWork users. This is a Registration Reminder
task. It is present with the same display-name/program-file
combination in a number of products; examples : Storm EasyPhoto
software that comes with the Storm Technology scanners,
Sidekick 95, and probably others. Recommendation : As with all registration reminders that needlessly clutter the Task List, our recommendation is that you delete it with Starter. |
| Rpcss |
Rpcss.exe (Microsoft) |
Remote Procedure Call
Services. Remote Procedure Call is the feature which enables
programs to call each other’s publicly declared procedures
(programming code) over a network. From initially being little
used under Windows 95/98/ME, RPCSS has now become essential to
the proper running of most of the recent versions of network
related Microsoft software (Winsocks, Internet Explorer, ICS),
thus disabling it or deleting it will result in problems at some
point. Under any Windows 95/98/ME environment with reasonably
recent Microsoft software installed, RPCSS runs at all times as
a transparent task visible only through Starter, while under
Windows NT4/2000/XP RPCSS is a crucial part of the design of the
operating system and deleting/disabling this program disables
the operating system ! Recommendation : Leave well alone ! |
| Rscmpt |
Rscmpt.exe (NVidia???) |
Well, well, well. What
have NVidia either done, or allowed to happen ?! There is
absolutely nothing positive we can say about this task. It goes
like this : you purchase an NVidia chipset card and install the
drivers – you have Windows 2000. Let’s say the card is a 64Mb
graphics card. If you install the NVidia drivers from the
NVidia site, you find that your card gets recognised as only a
32Mb card. If you then decide to install the drivers from the
CD that came with the card, you find that your card gets
recognised successfully but there is a new task running, RSCMPT,
which gobbles up CPU resources, up to 99% sometimes. So, to
summarise : without RSCMPT your card gets recognised at boot-up
as the card you bought, a 64Mb card, but when you are in Windows
it gets recognised as only half that, 32Mb. On the other hand,
with RSCMPT Windows recognises your card properly but your PC
slows down to a crawl. Recommendation : Something is not right, whether with Windows 2000, or the NVidia chipset under Windows 2000, or the implementation of the NVidia chipset by 3rd party graphics cards manufacturers. One thing for sure, something is definitely not right with RSCMPT. At the time of writing, 29-Dec-2002, a search for RSCMPT on the NVidia site yields nothing, and that is not right as, with so many users experiencing difficulties, they must know about the problem (even if it has nothing to do with them, ie. it is the fault of 3rd party manufacturers, they should be issuing a statement about it). In our view, if you have just bought the card and you experience this problem, return it and get a different one – be practical, effectively. Note that this problem has also been observed on Windows 98 PCs. |
| Rsrcmtr |
RsrcMtr.exe (Microsoft) |
Windows Resource Meter.
If you have this running in your Task List, then you should find
the Windows Resource Meter icon in your System Tray. The
Resource Meter enables you to track how your prime resources,
System, User, GDI, are used and whether you are running low on
these resources. Recommendation : The Resource Meter uses Windows resources itself, so only ever use it if you are troubleshooting resources problems, or if you know that a specific type of usage of your PC always results in resources running dangerously low and you want to have an early warning mechanism so you are not caught out by a frozen PC due to exhausted resources. |
| Rstate |
RState.exe (Sybase) |
Program which is part of
Sybase’s Manage Anywhere Studio suite. Manage
Anywhere Studio is a package for distributing, installing
and managing software, data, and files, on remote systems.
RSTATE resides on the client PCs – we do not at this stage know
what its exact purpose is. Recommendation : We can only recommend to leave it alone as we do not yet know what this task does. |
| Rtfixm32 |
RtFixM32.exe (Cybermedia Inc, now McAfee) |
Part of First Aid 98. Read
FA_GD32 for more details. Recommendation : RTFIXM32 is often the cause of shutdown problems and freezes. If after reading FA_GD32 you decide to keep First Aid 98, you should at least disable RTFIXM32 with Startup Manager. |
| Rtvscan |
RTVScan.exe (Symantec) |
Real Time Virus Scan
service installed by Norton Anti-Virus 7.x for Windows NT/2000.
This service keeps in touch with the Symantec System Center via
"keepalive packets" so that updates can be delivered to you
quickly. RTVSCAN’s main purpose, however, is, as the name
implies, to scan accessed files in real time, in the background. Recommendation : As it is the main component of "real-time virus scanning" for Norton Anti-Virus 7.x and above, you should leave this process alone. That said, there are some known compatibility issues with WordPerfect, so make sure to check the Symantec site for product updates (as opposed to virus updates). Also, if you have the Corporate Edition, and you have a permanent connection to the Internet, make sure you change the frequency of keepalive packages from its 3-minute default to something more stretched out (e.g. 1 to 4 hours for standard installations) as you will otherwise get significantly irritated by temporary freezes of your PC much in the same way as with Microsoft’s infamous "FastFind". |
|
Rulaunch |
RuLaunch.exe |
Background
task installed by McAfee VirusScan 6.x and which automatically
downloads antivirus updates whenever you connect to the
Internet. |
|
Rundll Rundll32 |
Runndll.exe Rundll32.exe (Microsoft) |
Microsoft’s "Run a DLL as
an App". A DLL is a Dynamic Link Library. In layman and [very]
simplistic terms a DLL is a portion of a software program which
is only used by the main program as and when specific features
of the software are used by the end user (for instance the PRINT
function in your wordprocessor). The main advantage is that,
using this technique, programmers can develop software which
does not end up gobbling up memory through the whole
program loading in one go, but which instead only uses enough
memory for the core functions of the program, with specific
features, implemented in separate DLL files, only loaded as and
when the end-user decides to use them (ie. The Print DLL will
only be loaded into memory when the end-user clicks on PRINT).
Another advantage is that the software developers can also have
common features which they have implemented across a range of
their programs, implemented just the one time as a shared DLL
which is used by all that developer’s programs. RUNDLL and
RUNDLL32 are the Microsoft Windows programs that need to be used
to load DLLs into memory so that they can be used by specific
programs or by Windows. Recommendation : RUNDLL and RUNDLL32 do not normally appear in the Task List in Windows. In our experience they tend to appear only when you are already having problems of some sort with your PC, or a particular DLL is either misbehaving, is buggy, or is having problems, such as a Control Panel applet hanging for example. This is not to say, however, that if you see RUNDLL or RUNDLL32 in your Task List, you should be worried. If you see either in your Task List, simply leave it alone. We are not sure as to the other times when RUNDLL or RUNDLL32 can sometimes suddenly appear in the Task List, but you should leave them alone in most cases. |
| Rxmon9x |
RxMon9x.exe (Dell) |
Part of Dell’s Resolution
Assistant. Read MOTMON for more details. Recommendation : Not necessary for the proper working of your PC. As with MOTMON our advice is to disable it with Startup Manager till the day you need it. |