Win2000 processes and EPC vs firewall

[sixto]

I can't get the EPC to fire up when the firewall is active. The firewall is a product of Freedom and came with SBC DSL. It's not a big deal to quit the firewall before I access the EPC but why the conflict?

Also, I notice that there are ~30 processes listed in tast manager. That's ~30 that I can't end. Is this a typicall number of processes for Win2000? Seems like a lot. Do any of the entries in the screen shot look suspicious?

Thanks,
Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD
pretty old Kayak XAs

[MikeTangas]

Sixto,

I'm running WIN 2000 Pro, just looked at my task manager and have 25 processes running compared to your 27. I was able to compare side by side and noticed thaT one program, svchost.exe, was listed twice for what ever reason. You have a few different programs loaded so it isn't an exact mirror image, but one program stood out. Probably just my suspicious nature, but the program defwatch.exe made me wonder.

[sixto]

I should have mentioned that this machine saw duty as a workstation in a large office so maybe there's stuff from the network. There's non Windows stuff that takes a turn when I turn it on and again when I shut down. At the moment there are 36 processes running. I'm able to end 9 to to get to 27. I guess if someone else has the same order of magnitude of processes going then it's not a problem.

I run Lavasoft's Ad-aware 6 once a week to get rid of sneaky processes. I hope that's enough.

Thanks,
Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

[Ashman]

Windows 2000, has many services which run at startup. some of these are not needed in a normal environment, but are needed when attached to a network with a domain. If your computer is not on a network with a domain, there are service syou can shut off, to free up resources.

If you check this link, it may help you cut down on the services you use to free up memory and resources....Just use caution with turning off services, you can make the system not work right if you turn off ones you do need.

http://www.systemsbysteve.com/winguides/w2kservices.htm

It may be useful in finding out what services you have, what they do, and if they are needed.

Alon