h a l f b a k e r yExpensive, difficult, slightly dangerous, not particularly effective... I'm on a roll.
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I am currently being forced to use the tangle of garbage which constitutes many people's software, namely Windows plus a whole load of other stuff which stops me from using this computer sensibly. As a result, i now have Task Manager running constantly for when i need to close stuff down. I am suffering.
My
suggestion is this. Instead of realising Task Manager in software, have an extra interrupt pin on the CPU which launches a very simple routine which fetches the names of all the processes, displays them on an LCD panel on the case next to a row of buttons which will nuke them immediately. Not sure what this would do if the PC is running a different O/S.
I'm sure this is fundamentally misconceived, but could someone tell me why?
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//I'm sure this is fundamentally misconceived// why would you say that ? Mainframes set aside an entire terminal for "task manager" et al. Mini's variously interrupt the windowing session completely and go into strict text mode for a "task manager". The keyboard you're typing on has a SysReq key that nobody in the PC world bothered to hook up to anything useful. |
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Having system realtime-operation functions as a subset of the GUI is pretty damn flawed in the first place. |
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You can do that pretty easily in Linux I imagine: run a CL on a little LCD screen, and fork X-Windows sessions and other CL's from it off to the regular monitor. If you can find a multiprocessing motherboard that wil allow you to run two CPU's at different speeds then you can set it such that one runs the LCD CL session and the other the rest of the stuff. (I think) |
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Isn't this already provided by ctrl-alt-delete functionality? That key combination already triggers a specific interrupt and the task manager is the default action on the home versions of Windows. It's available as a button on the dialog box that is brought up on the business versions. |
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No it isn't, not on this anyway. Pressing ctrl-alt-del on this eventually brings up a list of security options. Choosing "task manager" puts me back into whatever nightmare i was in before, then waits a minute or so, then brings up Task Manager. |
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The thing is, i'm now so out of touch with how PCs work that i'm bound to suggest absurdities because nowadays i'm not even wrong about computers. |
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//i'm not even wrong about computers// Wrong! |
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(Sorry, that was quite gratuitous). |
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Are you running, like, Windows 98 or something? |
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I'm running XP and it goes straight to Tas Manager... I assume it's either Vista or 7, or some "security suite" has gotten a bit too big for its britches. |
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This computer, which is borrowed, is running XP Professional. However, i know Vista does something similar. I really don't get, in general rather than in particular which i do get, why they don't do that kind of thing too fast for the user to notice a delay. I have a feeling it's to do with virtual memory. |
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A quicker way is Ctrl-Shift-Escape. |
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Marginally quicker, anyway (and works on all windows versions since NT4). |
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what you are describing is exactly what "task manager" is. A case based LCD readout would simply be a software implementation of the same interrupt request. Further the taskman takes up a lot of processor cycles while running. You wouldn't want it to run all the time. |
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That computer sounds like it has problems - maybe some kind of malware that is slowing everything down by hogging resources. My ~6 y.o. computer, running XP Professional, brings up Task Manager in less than 1/2 second when everything is fine, and just a few seconds when it is really thrashing. |
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You may need to reinstall the operating system, never use Internet explorer, turn off autorun, install new antivirus software (an open source one such as clamwin - I've always been uncomfortable buying antivirus software, as you are giving money to people who make a living from the existence of viruses), and be very careful about what you click on the internet. |
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To paraphrase a popular saying, operating systems shouldn't be this difficult; unfortunately, Windows often is. |
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I'm starting to like Macs better and better. They don't always "just work" but they work a helluva lot better than PCs. |
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Why should my modern, fast Windows computer that I keep updated and in good working order freeze almost every time I login for a good minute before I can do anything? [+] |
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//A quicker way is Ctrl-Shift-Escape.// TIL. Thank
you.
//Why should my modern, fast Windows
computer that I keep updated and in good working
order freeze almost every time I login for a good
minute before I can do anything?//It shouldn't. And
if your IT guy/department/significant other/troll is
doing their job it won't. |
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//t shouldn't. And if your IT guy/department/significant other/troll is doing their job it won't.// |
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Well unfortunately I am my own IT guy/department/significant other/troll and I can't keep the darn thing running smooth for more than a week at a time. |
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The issue is that this is a borrowed computer and the bloke who lent us it doesn't want me to fiddle with it. My hypothesis is that it's crippled by anti-virus software. |
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