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To taskkiller or not?

So I've seen a lot of tossing back and forth on the issue. So having the task killer running less battery efficient than just closing out of some programs?

Many people will tell you "of course!" while other will say "how could you!?" This is a pretty long read, but it gives you many good reasons why you should not be using one. Personally I do not, but I'll occasionally kill poorly written apps that don't close and use the processor/battery.

Android is doing a great job managing tasks on its own, no need for battery-draining apps.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

The thing to do is do some extensive reading and decide for yourself. I have decided against it. Android does a good job of memory management. If you have a problem app, you can stop it with the device's own method.
Via the XDA app for the HTC Inspire

I personally do not use one, but I can say if I found an app to easily force close one app at a time I would probably use it. Maybe one with a favorites list or something. The stock method to force close a troublesome app is rather annoying IMO because it takes forever to find the right one in the huge list of apps, and I have some apps, Pandora is the most common, that occasionally will freeze when going out of range of WiFi while trying to connect, or when the app is in the recently used list for a long time.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App

tjb433 said:
I personally do not use one, but I can say if I found an app to easily force close one app at a time I would probably use it. Maybe one with a favorites list or something. The stock method to force close a troublesome app is rather annoying IMO because it takes forever to find the right one in the huge list of apps, and I have some apps, Pandora is the most common, that occasionally will freeze when going out of range of WiFi while trying to connect, or when the app is in the recently used list for a long time.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
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I use "Where's my droid power" (without quotes, of course). In this, it's rather easy to find any app you've run.
Hit the app you want, and hit details. That opens the screen to force close, clear cache, etc.
Via the XDA app for the HTC Inspire

Simba501 said:
I use "Where's my droid power" (without quotes, of course). In this, it's rather easy to find any app you've run.
Hit the app you want, and hit details. That opens the screen to force close, clear cache, etc.
Via the XDA app for the HTC Inspire
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Click to collapse
Thanks for this, I just got it and will try it out, it has a pretty simple UI which I like, and the percentages seem to make sense although I kinda wonder how it figures them out lol, still would prefer a favorites list. But it definitely does make it easier to find the app u want to force close.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App

tjb433 said:
Thanks for this, I just got it and will try it out, it has a pretty simple UI which I like, and the percentages seem to make sense although I kinda wonder how it figures them out lol, still would prefer a favorites list. But it definitely does make it easier to find the app u want to force close.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App
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No problem. Yeah, I'm not sure how it figures the percentages either, but it does seem roughly accurate.
Via the XDA app for the HTC Inspire

Not. No task killer will ever manage android memory as good/efficiently as the Linux kernel. If you want to make the kernel more aggressive at killing off processes and apps, you can very easily put an echo script in Init.d to change the minfree values. Some kernels(like mine) already do this. I have set so it will pretty much never drop to below 90-100 mb of free ram. Sense seems to run pretty good like this, and never bog down

Is there anyway to easily force close an app other than going thru a bunch of menus? I don't know of any other way to completely wipe the cache and history from the browser other than to force close it. Without force closing you can still use the back arrow to see where you have been. If i'm done browsing then the next time I browse I like to open the app with a brand new session and have it go to the home screen.
Thanks,
Ho'okani

There are two options I can think of off the top of my head. One is to use a different browser that will let you clear the cache on exit. I believe both Mirren and Firefox do this. Dolphin might also.
The second way is to use something like Process Monitor Widget which brings all running processes as close as two taps.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App

re:
Active Apps is a pretty nice Task Killer program. It similar to the Samsung line, in that it only allows you to close apps that you specifically open. This prevents you from closing the apps that will automatically (behind your back) re-open, and therefore use more battery life. It has 4 screens - 1 for task killing, 1 for quick uninstalls, 1 for RAM clearing, and 1 for storage capacity. Ad-filled version is Free from market, non-Ad version is like $2, but well worth it.
Set up a widget to monitor how many apps are running straight from your home page.

I've used a task killer for a long time, and I always thought it was great. I always noticed that my phone always ran more quickly than anyone elses comparable device. My battery however suffered. It seemed that where the task killer kept my phone flying through processes, when it was running it took the battery down. Now that I'm rooted and running gingerbread with sense3.0 I don't use it and my phone not only fly's but the battery is decent (as it can be).

looking for a few apps. maybe you guys can help me out?

looking for a location app Incas lost or stolen. but I'm rooted so I would like it to turn GPS on. I would also like it to give me the number is the similar is changed. maybe take pictures? and make it ring remotely....
I'm also wanting to make my keyboard keys bigger... I'm on cm7 gingerbread keys. I would like to increase the padding between keys. I bought an app for this but the phone says this app can save my keystrokes and it might send them to the developer ... scary stuff... lol
I'm also wanting something to clear the cache or speed my phone up as I sometimes get stuck with a sluggish keyboard.
and last I was wanting to increase my CPU while decreaseing it while not in use... any apps for this?
willing to pay for good known and trusted quality apps.

Thremix said:
and last I was wanting to increase my CPU while decreaseing it while not in use... any apps for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got an answer for this:
SetCPU, available at the market or in the link bellow
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=505419

Would you like fries with that too? At least make an attempt to look and try some solutions first. Google search and the market are your friends...
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App

Every third party keyboard will cause that warning to be displayed. As for the others, htcsense.com works great but you are on cm so you will have to use apps. It's been a while since I bothered with those kind of apps but I see people on here mention lookout. Honestly the only thing I use is fetchit to ring the phone at full volume. Never lost a phone but my wife constantly forgets where she laid hers down in the house so I just set that up to locate hers

I bought setcpu but I'm using CPU runner and it was free and I like it over setcpu... ill keep setcpu to help development. as for searching I have, I'm just asking for user opinions to save tike and money. I'm new to android and I need to re-build my app collection. I had atleast $500 in apps! lol

[Q] Why does my lock screen freeze every 6 days?!?!

Hi all ,
I really hope I'm not duplicating here, but I've had a look and it seems like no-one has had this exact problem. Please accept my apologies if there is someone with an absolutely identical problem and I've just not seen it. I have looked on various different forums however, and to no avail.
Background - I got my shiny new HTC Sensation at the end of Oct. Fell in love with it, and Android, quite quickly, as it gave me the customising ability that I could never get from my iPhone.
Issue - Every 6 days since I got it (a pattern I've only just noticed) the lock screen freezes. The ring and shortcuts are there, but no background - just black. No touch input works, but if I call it, it rings and the status bar responds, I just can't get into it. The only way to get to it, is to take the battery out and do a factory reset. This is obviously incredibly annoying as, even tho I have a good backup system, I still need to do all my widgets and shortcuts and blah blah blah. The reason I've only just worked out that it seems to be a 6-daily cycle, is that my provider have already replaced the handset once, and it still does it even on the new one. The latest episode was on Friday night just gone.
Current situation - On the advice of my provider, I am now using my phone without the SD card in it, and without any apps apart from the the stock ones. Then, if it's still running after a week, they told me to put the SD back in, and then get my apps back on in batches of 2 or 3. This is going to be a very lengthy process, and will therefore be a massive inconvenience.
Question - Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? I'm a total droid noob, but I've read lots of stuff and spoken to a few people and I've come up with the conclusion that it might be an auto task killer that is messing with a process, or it could be something that tries to update every 6 days, but causes a massive conflict somewhere in doing so. I'm really just guessing there, which is why I have come to what seems to be the best source of info on smartphones, to see if any of you guys and gals might have any ideas on this issue.
Thanks so much in advance for any help anyone may be able to throw in my direction.
Mike

a reset wont work? are you ROOTED? or Stock? if anwsered these im sorry its like 48 hour day for me right now and reading and even typing is putting me to sleep,
but back to your problem it could be something updating and causing the issue, if it happens every 6 days, on the 5th day go into phone and turn off background data, this will stop anything that wants to update in background, and see if that stop the problem, then you know it is something that is running that causing the issue
or possible as stated a auto task killer,
what apps do you usually have normally, a list of what you install on your phone can do eliminate of process

Hi ilostchild,
Thanks so much for your response.
In answer to your questions:
Not rooted. I really want to, but because of this issue, have not done so yet. So it's got HTC Sense 3.0, and lots of apps that I have never used and will never use from my provider, Orange.
Here's a list of downloaded apps:
Apps:
Dropbox
Tappin
Evernote
Es File Explorer, Task Manager & Security Manager
AVG antivirus (free)
Viber
Bump
IMDb
Ultimate Guitar tabs (Purchased)
Backup Everything
Dolphin Browser
Tune in Radio (Purchased)
Perfect Keyboard (Purchased)
PowerAMP full (Purchased)
Soundcloud
Zedge (I have "auto change wallpaper" option on)
ebay + paypal
MX Video player
Kindle
Skitch
uTorrent Remote
App2SD
Applist Backup
Various google apps (goggles, night sky, g+ etc)
Games:
Contract Killer
Drag Racing
Non market games:
Gameloft - Asphalt 6 Adrenaline; N.O.V.A. 2; Eternal Legacy
I think that's everything.
So, at the moment I am using my phone without the SD card, on the advice of my provider, to see if it is the SD card that is causing the issue. Could it be the SD card that is causing the problem? It doesn't make much sense to me as I can't see how a corrupt or problematic card would be causing such a time-related issue. However, as I said in my first post, I am an Android noob, so I'm not basing that assumption on anything apart from what I know about PCs.
One thought I did have, was that it may be my Zedge app. I had it installed on both the original handset and the recent replacement one. Plus, I had it set to an hourly wallpaper auto-change, and when the phone freezes, there is no wallpaper visible on the lock screen. Again, that is purely guesswork.
I hope that info is useful for you. And thanks again for taking the time to answer my post.
If you need any other info I will be more than happy to provide it.

It could possibly be that app zedge, ans no can't be sdcard if it was it would fail on the spot , also could be avg virus scanner , I suggest clearing phone and just installing zedge and see by sixth day, if it doesn't try avg, I only can see those 2 causing the problem

Thanks again for your help.
I'll try your suggestions. It's good to know it's not the SD card. I can start taking pictures again!

I wouldn't say it was avg I got it on my senny and its ok try the other app 1st how often does it change ur wallpaper and how many are there
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e with beats mod using XDA App

boroboy69r said:
I wouldn't say it was avg I got it on my senny and its ok try the other app 1st how often does it change ur wallpaper and how many are there
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e with beats mod using XDA App
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Evenin' squire,
Thanks for your input.
I have it set to one hour intervals (I bore easily!) and there are probably about 20 wallpapers that it cycles through. I'll give a go for a while without that app - although I've had a look for any known issues with it and I can't find any that are similar to my issue. I guess it could be a conflict with something else and I'm just unlucky enough to have the exact config of apps that creates that particular problem!
Thanks again mate.

Im not a dev, but i thought of this, what you could do is when it freezes up you can plug it in computer and get a logcat, maybe someone who can read it will know what happen

ilostchild said:
Im not a dev, but i thought of this, what you could do is when it freezes up you can plug it in computer and get a logcat, maybe someone who can read it will know what happen
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Click to collapse
That sounds like a really good plan, only problem is, I have no idea how to do it.
What do i do after plugging it in? Do i need any software on my PC?
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium

adb/fastboot/sdk installed, and when it happens just plug phone to computer,
go to adb directory(unless you have it set in windows enviroment)
and do adb logcat and it will output bunch of stuff and copy and paste it here

Thanks man.
Well, I'm on day 8 now with no issues (really hopeni haven't jinxed it now!).
I haven't re-installed Zedge or the avg antivirus and I've kept auto-sync off.
I will come back if it happens again, but in the meantime, thanks so much for your help with this. It's so good to know that there are actually people out there who don't mind helping out a fellow human.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using xda premium

Np, man glad to see it working, i suggest try it with auto-sync now without the app
see what happens, but glad its working good for you

Go away mirror!

Any reason why the app "Mirror" refuses to leave my "frequent" apps list, even though I have only opened it once (after noticing that it refused to leave my frequent apps list) and haven't opened it for over a month? I know I could disable or uninstall (rooted) but I'd rather not for the one random situation where it would be useful...
Sent from my HTC One S using Tapatalk 2

Just flick it up, it should eject itself from the list.
edit: realized I'm thinking of recent apps, this may not be what you mean

Just uninstall ,if ya need a mirror go to camera and change to front camera,same thing.
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium

How do remove the camera app?

There is still an underlying problem. Certain apps are in my frequent list even though I have never used them, and they push out apps that I use several times a day. Is there any way to "never show" certain apps in frequent?
Yes, I suppose the camera app would be just as good, so I will disable Mirror, but there are other persistent apps as well...

mmceorange said:
There is still an underlying problem. Certain apps are in my frequent list even though I have never used them, and they push out apps that I use several times a day. Is there any way to "never show" certain apps in frequent?
Yes, I suppose the camera app would be just as good, so I will disable Mirror, but there are other persistent apps as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand. However, I found another mirror app that works better than the stock one, and so I use it when I need to and have disabled the first one. I realize that it doesn't solve the underlying issue but it can help for now.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mmapps.mirror.free
That's the one I use.
Sent from my HTC One S using XDA premium.

great
Great one.
Thx man

Weird facebook UI = Compromised phone?

Hi all. My g/f's Nexus 5 has been having problems with facebook. The skin and user interface suddenly changed and looks slightly different layout. Enough to be noticeable but only just. It only happens on her account though. Also if I clear cache and data and sign her back in, the first time round it all works as normal. It is only until I close the app down fully and then go back in that it does it.
I tried uninstalling all apps and factory resetting but when I try again to install as the first app, it still does it!
Her account was hacked a few weeks ago. It started happening after this. I think a dodgey app has done this. I have fixed her account and resecured but it goes on being a problem.
No symptoms away from her nexus. Only the android face book app does this. Anyone ever seen this?
Sent from my XT1032 using xda app-developers app

coursemyhorse said:
Hi all. My g/f's Nexus 5 has been having problems with facebook. The skin and user interface suddenly changed and looks slightly different layout. Enough to be noticeable but only just. It only happens on her account though. Also if I clear cache and data and sign her back in, the first time round it all works as normal. It is only until I close the app down fully and then go back in that it does it.
I tried uninstalling all apps and factory resetting but when I try again to install as the first app, it still does it!
Her account was hacked a few weeks ago. It started happening after this. I think a dodgey app has done this. I have fixed her account and resecured but it goes on being a problem.
No symptoms away from her nexus. Only the android face book app does this. Anyone ever seen this?
Sent from my XT1032 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
As of right now no one will know what you are talking about without screenshots. Please take some before and after screenshots so we can help you.
sent from my neXus 5

Was her account hacked on her phone? If I thought there might be any malware on the phone I'd flash the factory image and start all over with fresh install of everything. But I'm also a little paranoid when it comes to having my accounts hacked.

Isn't FB slowly rolling out a new UI for their app? Could be what it is.

Facebook app looks the same for me for the past 4 weeks
Try start her phone in safemode then try again https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/2852139?hl=en

OK I worked it out. Its a new Facebook UI! Its the official android app. They seem to roll it out to certain accounts for some reason. She never signed up to beta test. When k signed in as her on my phone it changed my app layout too. If I then go as me it is changed for me too. If I then clear app data and only ever go on as me then it stays as the old UI.
I thought it was hacked because the UI looks a bit more flat and simple with slight change in tab layout. I prefer the old one myself. I will post screenshots later and I found a YouTube video about it.
Sent from my XT1032 using xda app-developers app

coursemyhorse said:
OK I worked it out. Its a new Facebook UI! Its the official android app. They seem to roll it out to certain accounts for some reason. She never signed up to beta test. When k signed in as her on my phone it changed my app layout too. If I then go as me it is changed for me too. If I then clear app data and only ever go on as me then it stays as the old UI.
I thought it was hacked because the UI looks a bit more flat and simple with slight change in tab layout. I prefer the old one myself. I will post screenshots later and I found a YouTube video about it.
Sent from my XT1032 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Facebook is abtesting their application. I have got the new UI for few weeks now and before that I had an another slightly different UI.
If you tear the apk apart you can see a lot of interesting abtesting folders etc. Now I have a great flat design and I like it
This is the old UI which I think all of you use:
http://www.androidheadlines.com/ima...ce-better-ui-ics-support-and-more_simrc_0.jpg
This is the new UI for that small user base who is able to test it:
http://www.androidguys.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/facebook_40_leak_ui1-630x368.png
At the moment we are at application version 6.0.0.28.28

Yeah.
I guess it says a lot about what I think of the new flat skin/UI. I thought it looked so amateur and mickey mouse that it was a redirected hacked app. lol to be fair, it's...alright. I just think it gives no improvement and also the font for the main headings is too large and not a nice font generally.
Glad I got this one cleared up. The hacked account a few weeks prior I think must have just been a coincidence, I guess.