how do i remove uncessary startup programs/proccesses for mdk10? upon bootup, i'm using around 300 MB of ram on vavrious programs. i'd like to free it if possible. i'm new so please let me know step by step.

To see what services are started at boot try:
chkconfig --list | grep "3n"

This assumes you are booting to runlevel 3. You can then use chkconfig to stop services from starting:
chkconfig SERVICE off

so is 300 mb on bootup too much or sounds right? what programs can i remove? thanks

also, how do i enter that command?

what disro are u using?

alexr186: His distro is Mandrake 10.

Anyhoo, you might not be familiar with the way Linux handles memory. It does it differently then Windows does. Put simply: To Linux, free memory is wasted memory, and that's a pretty smart design IMO . Anyway, assuming that the memory is being used by programs which are currently running, you might consider going into the control center and removing some startup services that you don't need, i.e., CUPS if you don't have a printer. Also, if you use a heavyweight desktop environment like KDE or Gnome (they're heavy on the RAM and a bit sluggish), you might want to try Fluxbox:
http://fluxbox.sf.net
Fluxbox is a desktop designed to look good while using little of your system resources.

That is way to much. None of my machines use more than 64 MB on boot.

hmmm...on startup....it's now bout 200mb.

i just opened firefox and it's now 230mb.

so compared to xp, it's probably around the same speed or slower (i have 384mb ram).

It is difficult to know what you should disable. If you want more help then permals you could post the output from:
chkconfig --list
top -bn1

Try with drakxconf . Ncurses interface 4 console... Or MCC (in X). Anywayz... you have a module caled services... enter it, and you'll get a list of start-up processes and some that aer disabled. Read their info and choose to disable the ones appropiate for your computer's role. I have 768MB of RAM . I'm using 745MB. At boot up, I get no more than 170-160 (almost same as eXPii). Run top to see exactly how your memory is being used ... Here's my status as I write this reply:

top - 22:20:52 up 4:17, 1 user, load average: 0.89, 0.90, 1.29
Tasks: 84 total, 3 running, 80 sleeping, 0 stopped, 1 zombie
Cpu(s): 27.5% us, 6.9% sy, 0.0% ni, 65.7% id, 0.0% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 776612k total, 762180k used, 14432k free, 24396k buffers
Swap: 1052216k total, 0k used, 1052216k free, 465828k cached

Notice the amount of cached memory. Simple math... RAM used by appz: 294MB (and I have a LOT of them - Mozilla, KDE, Karamba, etc). In case a programs "starves" your PCs of memory - run doxygen recursively on /usr/include - you can actually see how the cached memory decreases to compensate for the processes memory needs. Preatty neat. Now I know why I WuV Linux . Plus I have a 1 gig swap I got filled up about half when running doxygen .


EDIT: Just noticed I have a zombie process... 10x

here's what i get right now:

top - 16:30:03 up 6 min, 0 users, load average: 1.06, 0.81, 0.39
Tasks: 64 total, 1 running, 63 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 18.1% us, 4.2% sy, 0.0% ni, 66.7% id, 10.6% wa, 0.3% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 384668k total, 320952k used, 63716k free, 8136k buffers
Swap: 506008k total, 0k used, 506008k free, 178112k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
1690 root 15 0 143m 11m 135m S 2.0 3.1 0:08.96 X
2268 mycomputer 16 0 88024 24m 26m S 2.0 6.4 0:11.55 firefox-bin
1 root 16 0 1580 516 1424 S 0.0 0.1 0:02.83 init
2 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0
3 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.11 events/0
4 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.06 kblockd/0
5 root 25 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush
6 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush
7 root 25 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kswapd0
8 root 10 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 aio/0
10 root 17 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kseriod
14 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kjournald
144 root 19 0 2172 1276 1588 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.57 devfsd
234 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.11 khubd
712 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kjournald
958 root 23 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pccardd
967 root 17 0 1728 708 1436 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 cardmgr
1132 root 16 0 1652 548 1480 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.01 ifplugd
1148 rpc 16 0 1712 580 1540 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 portmap
1162 root 16 0 1640 632 1468 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.01 syslogd
1170 root 16 0 2604 1540 1416 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.07 klogd
1599 xfs 17 0 5372 3792 2512 S 0.0 1.0 0:00.05 xfs
1651 root 16 0 2684 688 2504 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 mdkkdm
1666 daemon 18 0 1616 536 1456 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 atd
1682 root 18 0 1584 584 1412 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 acpid
1701 root 16 0 2168 880 1828 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 xinetd
1708 root 17 0 3448 1388 3012 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.05 mdkkdm
1771 root 16 0 1624 624 1460 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 crond
1878 root 15 0 2128 996 1788 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.00 dhclient
1892 root 18 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1893 root 18 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1894 root 18 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1895 root 19 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1896 root 19 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1897 root 19 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
2095 mycomputer 16 0 2544 1224 2300 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.09 startkde
2169 mycomputer 16 0 14640 6112 13m S 0.0 1.6 0:00.21 magicdev
2183 mycomputer 16 0 6100 3844 4308 S 0.0 1.0 0:00.06 gconfd-2
2186 mycomputer 16 0 23232 9592 22m S 0.0 2.5 0:00.08 kdeinit
2189 mycomputer 16 0 23064 9688 22m S 0.0 2.5 0:00.09 kdeinit
2191 mycomputer 16 0 24628 10m 23m S 0.0 2.9 0:00.10 kdeinit
2194 mycomputer 15 0 57936 16m 55m S 0.0 4.3 0:01.65 kdeinit
2195 mycomputer 16 0 3372 1836 2648 S 0.0 0.5 0:00.14 fam
2209 mycomputer 15 0 13044 8132 11m S 0.0 2.1 0:00.79 artsd
2211 mycomputer 15 0 62940 17m 60m S 0.0 4.7 0:00.39 kdeinit
2212 mycomputer 16 0 1572 336 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 kwrapper
2214 mycomputer 16 0 56028 13m 53m S 0.0 3.7 0:00.19 kdeinit
2215 mycomputer 16 0 56868 15m 54m S 0.0 4.1 0:00.85 kdeinit
2217 mycomputer 15 0 64356 21m 60m S 0.0 5.6 0:01.64 kdeinit
2219 mycomputer 16 0 24132 9m 23m S 0.0 2.7 0:00.01 kdeinit
2223 mycomputer 15 0 59748 18m 56m S 0.0 4.8 0:01.99 kdeinit
2233 mycomputer 16 0 56348 15m 53m S 0.0 4.1 0:00.63 kscd
2234 mycomputer 15 0 17668 10m 15m S 0.0 2.7 0:00.77 gaim
2239 mycomputer 16 0 57764 14m 55m S 0.0 3.8 0:00.21 kalarmd
2242 mycomputer 16 0 56464 16m 53m S 0.0 4.4 0:16.18 ksysguard
2243 mycomputer 15 0 1788 764 1504 S 0.0 0.2 0:01.80 ksysguardd
2244 mycomputer 16 0 2564 1268 2300 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.01 firefox
2263 mycomputer 20 0 2596 1288 2300 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.01 run-mozilla.sh
2279 mycomputer 15 0 58956 17m 55m S 0.0 4.6 0:01.77 kdeinit
2280 mycomputer 15 0 2736 1564 2344 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.02 bash
2311 mycomputer 17 0 2172 1036 1964 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.35 top
2312 mycomputer 15 0 163m 46m 115m S 0.0 12.3 0:05.67 soffice.bin
2339 mycomputer 16 0 2736 1564 2344 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.03 bash
2371 mycomputer 15 0 2168 924 1964 R 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 top

It's quite normal, considering you are running With 140MB used by Apps. This 140 includes the Office, mozilla, plus, tools like atd which is a scheduler - I don't need scheduled tasks so I took it out, another one is crond which would do about the same thing.... next is fam, it runs actions when files change... All these i have disabled in my MDK box coz I really don't need them. Plus magicdev. I prefer supermount . If crond, atd, fam are not vital for your computer's role I suggest disabling them, at least you'll get a faster startup with 1-5 secs depending on yur machine

hi,

do u know what apps like kalarm, kicker, knotify, ksmserver, knotify, kded, are doing? (each claims 10-20 mb)....though i don't recall starting them. on the bar next to the clock, i just see a battery and a volume icon. i'd like to prevent them from loading if they're not essential.

top - 20:40:30 up 37 min, 0 users, load average: 0.72, 0.43, 0.31
Tasks: 73 total, 2 running, 71 sleeping, 0 stopped, 0 zombie
Cpu(s): 11.3% us, 2.8% sy, 0.1% ni, 81.9% id, 3.5% wa, 0.3% hi, 0.0% si
Mem: 384668k total, 379564k used, 5104k free, 20732k buffers
Swap: 506008k total, 0k used, 506008k free, 191332k cached

PID USER PR NI VIRT RES SHR S %CPU %MEM TIME+ COMMAND
1682 root 15 0 144m 11m 135m S 2.0 3.1 0:54.58 X
4552 root 15 0 2168 932 1964 R 2.0 0.2 0:00.01 top
1 root 16 0 1580 516 1424 S 0.0 0.1 0:02.85 init
2 root 34 19 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 ksoftirqd/0
3 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.18 events/0
4 root 5 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.13 kblockd/0
5 root 25 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pdflush
6 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.04 pdflush
7 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 kswapd0
8 root 10 -10 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 aio/0
10 root 17 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 kseriod
14 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.05 kjournald
144 root 16 0 2292 1440 1588 S 0.0 0.4 0:01.81 devfsd
234 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.12 khubd
712 root 15 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.03 kjournald
958 root 22 0 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.00 pccardd
967 root 17 0 1728 708 1436 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 cardmgr
1134 root 16 0 1652 548 1480 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.01 ifplugd
1173 rpc 16 0 1712 580 1540 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 portmap
1187 root 16 0 1640 632 1468 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.03 syslogd
1195 root 16 0 2604 1540 1416 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.08 klogd
1585 xfs 16 0 5116 3520 2512 S 0.0 0.9 0:00.08 xfs
1643 root 16 0 2684 700 2504 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 mdkkdm
1652 daemon 18 0 1616 536 1456 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 atd
1668 root 18 0 1584 584 1412 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 acpid
1687 root 16 0 2168 880 1828 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 xinetd
1755 root 16 0 1624 624 1460 S 0.0 0.2 0:00.00 crond
1830 root 18 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1831 root 18 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1832 root 18 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1833 root 18 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1834 root 19 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
1835 root 19 0 1568 448 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 mingetty
2116 mycomputer 16 0 6672 4468 4308 S 0.0 1.2 0:00.16 gconfd-2
3673 root 0 -20 0 0 0 S 0.0 0.0 0:00.01 khsfmodemd
3676 root 12 -10 3924 2260 2908 S 0.0 0.6 0:00.00 hsfdcpd
3828 root 18 0 3600 1696 3148 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.05 mdkkdm
3931 mycomputer 17 0 2544 1224 2300 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.09 startkde
4005 mycomputer 16 0 14624 6100 13m S 0.0 1.6 0:00.32 magicdev
4020 mycomputer 17 0 23232 9592 22m S 0.0 2.5 0:00.12 kdeinit
4023 mycomputer 15 0 23080 9772 22m S 0.0 2.5 0:00.34 kdeinit
4025 mycomputer 16 0 24656 11m 23m S 0.0 2.9 0:00.12 kdeinit
4028 mycomputer 15 0 57864 16m 54m S 0.0 4.3 0:05.92 kdeinit
4029 mycomputer 16 0 3376 1904 2648 S 0.0 0.5 0:00.42 fam
4043 mycomputer 15 0 13048 8136 11m S 0.0 2.1 0:00.85 artsd
4045 mycomputer 15 0 62832 17m 60m S 0.0 4.7 0:00.54 kdeinit
4046 mycomputer 16 0 1572 340 1408 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.00 kwrapper
4048 mycomputer 16 0 56044 13m 53m S 0.0 3.7 0:00.24 kdeinit
4049 mycomputer 15 0 56880 15m 54m S 0.0 4.2 0:03.82 kdeinit
4051 mycomputer 15 0 64568 21m 60m S 0.0 5.8 0:03.52 kdeinit
4055 mycomputer 15 0 59744 18m 56m S 0.0 4.9 0:07.46 kdeinit
4068 mycomputer 15 0 58372 17m 55m R 0.0 4.6 0:00.84 kdeinit
4073 mycomputer 16 0 56900 14m 54m S 0.0 3.8 0:00.26 kalarmd
4087 mycomputer 16 0 56988 15m 54m S 0.0 4.2 0:00.30 kdeinit
4088 mycomputer 17 0 24316 10m 23m S 0.0 2.8 0:00.04 kdeinit
4112 mycomputer 16 0 64060 25m 57m S 0.0 6.7 0:06.56 kdeinit
4184 root 16 0 2128 1000 1788 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.00 dhclient
4365 mycomputer 15 0 56248 16m 53m S 0.0 4.4 0:13.58 ksysguard
4366 mycomputer 15 0 1788 760 1504 S 0.0 0.2 0:01.59 ksysguardd
4367 mycomputer 15 0 58696 16m 55m S 0.0 4.5 0:01.19 kdeinit
4368 mycomputer 15 0 2744 1572 2344 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.03 bash
4400 mycomputer 16 0 56324 16m 53m S 0.0 4.4 0:12.36 ksysguard
4401 mycomputer 15 0 1788 772 1504 S 0.0 0.2 0:01.88 ksysguardd
4402 mycomputer 15 0 2564 1268 2300 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.00 firefox
4406 mycomputer 18 0 2592 1284 2300 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.01 run-mozilla.sh
4411 mycomputer 16 0 81944 26m 27m S 0.0 7.1 0:26.07 firefox-bin
4420 mycomputer 16 0 55212 14m 52m S 0.0 3.8 0:01.75 kdesu
4424 mycomputer 20 0 16184 6444 15m S 0.0 1.7 0:00.00 kdesud
4461 root 16 0 2444 1024 2028 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.00 su
4464 root 25 0 1624 516 1448 S 0.0 0.1 0:00.03 kdesu_stub
4495 root 15 0 26080 21m 12m S 0.0 5.7 0:02.51 drakconf.real
4517 root 18 0 2444 1020 2028 S 0.0 0.3 0:00.00 su
4520 root 15 0 2736 1564 2344 S 0.0 0.4 0:00.03 bash

Process 4045 from that output (artsd) can go, and so can kalarmd and kwrapper.

how do i remove them from startup? they're not listed under the control panel of kde. i'm new so pretty clueless. thanks. what does artsd and kwrapper do?

Frankly, I don't know what kwrapper does, but it had a pretty superficial function when I disabled it. aRtsd is the KDE sound server. In general, it's a nuisence to other apps who want the sound device, since it's always using it. aRts should be listed under the sound section of KDE.