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| The Windows Task Monitor (taskmon.exe) is a smart little program that is only available
if you are running Windows 98, 98SE or Me. The purpose of this program was to enable Windows'
Disk Defragmenter tool to go beyond ordinary defragging and carry out some performance tuning.
Taskmon does that by remembering how many times you open each program, and gives that, and other
information, to the Disk Defragmenter tool so that, when you defrag your hard drive, your main
programs will be defragged optimally, rather than contiguously, and the programs you use most
frequently will be optimised the most. |
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| This optimisation partly explains why an old Windows 98SE machine will open key programs
like Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and Outlook Express four times faster than the latest super-fast Windows XP or Vista machines. |
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| Over time, however, TaskMonitor gets overwhelmed by its own cleverness, with
the result that some of the programs you use the most might not be optimised at all. While
others, just as badly, will be flagged as ineligible for optimisation when they are actually
eligible. Furthermore, the record files that TaskMonitor builds up can become exceedingly
unwieldy with time and this may affect system performance and stability. For those reasons,
it is a very good idea to occasionally declutter TaskMonitor, letting it start from scratch
again with a clean slate. Once TaskMonitor has established a new, current, program-usage
profile for Disk Defragmenter to use, it is advisable to then turn TaskMonitor off, thus saving
on running resources and avoiding a growing risk of instability. The following steps will
show you how to exploit the value of TaskMonitor to its maximum. |
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| 1. Back up first |
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| This project involves alterations in the Windows Registry (indirectly), and in a system
folder and a system file (directly). The risk of any corruption is extremely slight.
However, if your system is currently clean, working perfectly, and configured the way you like
it, now would be a very appropriate time to back up the registry and also to make a restorable image
of your entire C: partition.
You will get a reminder to back up, later, in Tip 1 when you get to it (half way down the
RH column). |
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| 2. Disable TaskMonitor |
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| First, if you normally have Task Scheduler enabled (as well as TaskMonitor), and one of
the tasks the Scheduler is set to run is Disk Defragmenter, start by disabling Task Scheduler
to avoid any possibility of a conflict between Disk Defragmenter and TaskMonitor while this
project is in hand. |
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| TaskMonitor is an invisible program that is run by the Windows Registry each time the PC
is started. It can only be disabled by altering the relevant registry entry. But
that can be done safely and remotely, by anybody, via Msconfig (aka System Configuration Utility).
To do this, click Start > Run > type in msconfig > OK > Tools menu > System Configuration
Utility > Startup tab > untick TaskMonitor (see Fig 1). If there is
no such entry for TaskMonitor on your machine, that means its entry in the Registry has been
removed by somebody at sometime. In that case, you have two choices. One is to ignore
this article completely and simply leave Disk Defragmenter to work as it always has on your
machine, rearranging your programs contiguously, rather than optimally, which is still of value
(and, indeed, the only way available in the later versions of Windows (i.e. 2K, XP & Vista). |
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| The other option is a lot more trouble because it will mean manually putting TaskMonitor's
entry back in the registry. Any search engine would find you the instructions for doing
that but, first, check that the necessary program 'taskmon.exe' is actually on your machine,
in the C:\Windows directory. Otherwise you will be wasting your time! |
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| However, assuming you can satisfactorily see TaskMonitor, as per Fig 1, untick the
box in front of it > Apply > OK > close Msconfig > at the window asking if you want
to restart the computer now, click OK (but only after ensuring you have closed any other open
programs, including disconnecting from the internet if currently connected). Note that,
after this reboot, or after subsequent reboots involved during this project, you may see a message
on screen saying Windows experienced an error accessing the registry and will carry out a restart
to fix the problem. Don't worry about this, just leave Windows to reboot automatically
and sort itself out. In any case, provided you have backed up the registry as per step
1 above, you have the reassurance that you can restore it at any time if need be. |
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| 3. Unhide your system files and folders |
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| If system files are not normally visible on your PC, they need to be derestricted temporarily.
To do this, open My Computer > View menu > Folder Options > View tab > at 'Hidden
files', enable 'Show all files' > at 'Hide file extensions for known file types', remove
the tick > Apply > OK. |
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| 4. Create shortcuts to Applog and Optlog |
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| During this project, you will be accessing a system folder called Applog, and a file inside
it called Optlog.txt, a fair number of times. To avoid lots of tedious drilling down to
them every time, put a temporary shortcut to both items on your desktop. To do this, double-click
on the icons for My Computer > C: drive > Windows > Applog. If the Applog folder
is missing, or is completely empty, that means TaskMonitor has never been operational on your
machine. If that is the case, you might as well forget about this article and just continue
defragging the way you always have. On the other hand, if there is stuff in the Applog
folder, find the file Optlog.txt > right-click on it > Create Shortcut (see Fig 2)
> find the new shortcut (probably at the bottom of the window) > using the mouse's right-button,
drag the shortcut > drop it on the desktop > Move Here. Back at the Applog
window, go up one level to hide the contents of Applog > right-click on Applog > Create
Shortcut > find the new shortcut and right-drag it onto the desktop > Move Here. |
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| Make the shortcut to Optlog.txt open in a maximised window automatically, to make this
columnar text file easier to read. To do so, right-click on the shortcut > Properties
> Shortcut tab > at Run, change 'Normal Window' to 'Maximized' from the drop-down menu
> Apply > OK. (Top tip: you can do this for any shortcut you would like to open
in a maximised window every time, such as the Internet Explorer shortcuts on the desktop, Start
menu and Quick Launch toolbar.) |
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| 5. Identifying any unoptimised applications |
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| Double-click the shortcut to Optlog.txt to open the file. It will have a list of applications
in it showing the order in which they will be optimised and how many times you have used each
one. The file will look somewhat similar to the view in Fig 3 except the
"Uses" column will be in hundreds, if not thousands, rather than the single digits
seen in Fig 3. Every program you use ought to be in Optlog's list - but some will
not be there. Peruse the whole list very carefully, including the 'Programs Ineligible
for Optimisation' section which you will find right at the bottom. Write down the names
of any programs you know you use but are missing from the list. Concentrate only on useful
tool-type applications - if the missing items are large and complex programs like games
or works of reference, ignore them if they are missing. We will come back to your 'missing'
list later when we reveal a mistake made by certain programmers which inadvertently keeps their
programs out of the optimisation list. |
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| It usually comes as a big surprise to people doing this project when they discover some
of their important applications, programs like, say, Dreamweaver, Image Optimizer or Step-by-Step
Will Maker, just for starters, are not being optimised for defragging when it was assumed they
would be because TaskMonitor was correctly enabled. But more on that later. For now, just
write their names down. When you have finished noting the missing programs, close the
Optlog window. |
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| 6. Emptying the Applog system folder |
|
| To give TaskMonitor a clean slate, it is necessary to remove all the existing contents from
the Applog folder. Rather than just deleting them, move them into a temporary holding
folder in My Documents. They could then be pasted back into Applog in the (unlikely) event
that it needed to be restored to exactly how it was before. To move the contents, double-click
the shortcut to open the Applog folder > Edit > Select All > Edit > Cut > go
to My Documents > create a new folder called Applog Temp > right-click on the new folder
> Paste (to dump the contents of the Clipboard in the new folder). Close all the open
windows > restart the PC again. When the PC has finished booting, double-click the
Applog shortcut to confirm the folder is now completely empty > close the folder. |
| |
| 7. Enable TaskMonitor |
|
| Run msconfig again, return to the Startup tab (as in Fig 1), tick TaskMonitor to enable
it, restart the PC when prompted. |
|
| Some other web articles we have seen assume that is the end of it, having satisfactorily emptied Applog, and that TaskMonitor can be left to repopulate the Applog folder automatically. It is true that it would be repopulated. But it would do so with the same programs missing as before and almost certainly with others being wrongly marked as 'Ineligible for optimisation'. Because of that, we are going to show you how to kick start the entries into the folder manually, and how to observe what is happening in there as you do so, so that any anomalies or omissions can be identified and, where possible, rectified before
letting TaskMonitor take over completely. |
| |
| 8. Repopulate Applog manually |
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| Programs have to be opened twice before TaskMonitor will log them in the Applog folder.
So, open and then close, twice, any three of Windows' generic programs, such as Notepad, Paint
and Internet Explorer, as these programs are certain to be recognised by TaskMonitor.
Now, open Applog again and what you will see will be similar to Fig 2, but now with only
the three programs you just opened in there. Close the Applog window (NB close fully,
not minimise). |
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| Now, continue to open and close, twice, all of the other applications you use, whether regularly
or occasionally - except do not bother opening any DOS programs you might still have.
More about DOS programs later, in Tip 5, in the RH column. |
|
| As you continue to progressively open and close twice all your programs, keep peeking into
Applog after every three or four new entries to check they are all appearing in there.
If and when you notice any programs failing to appear, close Applog and open and close the program(s) another two times. If they are still missing, make a note of their names. These will mainly be the same programs that you wrote down as missing under step 5 above. But, as before, do not bother noting them as missing if they are games, or huge works of reference such as encyclopaedias, translators, speech recognition etc., because contiguous defragging would be as good as anything for programs with unusually large image collections or databases. |
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| When you peek in Applog, you may notice two entries occurring for some programs. This is normal if your machine has more than one partition, or a second hard drive. For example, you may see Winword.lgc and Winword.lgd, or Netscp6.lgd and Netscp6.lgc. This is reflecting that the program is installed to one partition (C or D) but is used to open or save documents on another partition (D or C respectively). The file extension lgc means a log associated with the C: drive, while lgd means a log associated with the D: drive. Any such duplications will NOT be repeated in the Optlog summary when it is generated, prior to defragging, and, therefore, these duplications still only count as one program in the total number of programs that are
allowed to be optimised (maximum 50). |
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| When you peek in Applog, most of the program names will be fairly recognisable, like Mspaint
for Paint, or Winword for Microsoft Word. A few, however, will be hard to identify. These are often associated with peripherals you run, like a printer, scanner and OCR. And Windows itself likes to drop a few cryptic ones in there too. It is quite easy for a list of more than fifty programs to quickly build up. However, only the most-used fifty of those can qualify for optimisation. |
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| It is important to remember, all the time, to keep closing the Applog window after looking
in it, before running any more applications. Otherwise there is a risk of suffering a
General Protection fault ("blue screen of death") if you start any programs with this particular
system folder still open. |
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| Continue opening and closing, twice, all the applications you commonly use, all the time noting any
that fail to appear in Applog. When you have finished, close all windows and restart the
PC again. |
| |
| 9. Regenerate the Optlog.txt file |
|
| Once you are through opening and closing all the applications you commonly use, and have restarted the PC, it is time to make Windows create a new Optlog file to replace the one that was deleted when you emptied Applog earlier under step 6 above. This text file will list the programs that are eligible for optimising and, probably, some that are supposedly ineligible. To create the file, open, but do NOT run the Disk Defragmenter. Click Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. |
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| When the Disk Defragmenter window opens, you will hear your hard drive chuntering away and see the PC's activity light flashing on and off. This is Windows updating the Optlog.txt file. This may go on for half a minute or more. Wait until you are certain all activity has ceased. Then, taking care not to accidentally click the OK button (as that would start a defrag, for which we are far from ready), click the Settings button > check there is i) a tick in the box next to 'Rearrange program files so my programs start faster' (very important, otherwise the Taskmon log will be ignored!), ii) no tick against 'Check the drive for errors' (as that would run ScanDisk as well as Defrag, which would take forever) and, iii) a dot against 'Every time I defragment my hard drive' > OK > Exit (to close Disk Defragmenter), taking great care to press 'Exit' and not 'OK'. |
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| After closing Defragmenter, click the shortcut to Optlog.txt and you will see something
not too dissimilar to Fig 3. Scroll to the bottom of your Optlog file to the section
'Programs Ineligible for Optimisation'. With luck, there will not be any in there but,
if there is, write down the name(s). If the code in front of the application's
name is S, that means the footprint of the program's file in Applog is too small to make it
worthwhile for Defragmenter to try to optimise the file, since it will already open as quickly
as it can. However, we have found programs can somehow end up in there inadvertently in
which case they can be rescued. |
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| To see if a program can be relocated from the 'Ineligible' section to the main 'Eligible'
part of the list, try this technique. It is largely a repeat of things you have already
done. Thus, close all open windows, run msconfig, disable TaskMonitor, restart the PC,
open the Applog folder, find the name of an 'Ineligible' program, right-click on it to delete
it. If there is more than one entry for the same program, delete them all. If you
had more than one 'Ineligible' program look for the others and delete them as well. Close
all open windows and restart the PC. Run Msconfig, re-enable TaskMonitor, restart the
PC. At the desktop, or Programs' menu, click the shortcut(s) to the 'Ineligible'
programs to open and close each one four times. Close all open windows, open Disk
Defragmenter, but do NOT run it. Wait a minute or so while the Optlog file is being updated,
then 'Exit' the Defragmenter window. |
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| Having finished the above, open the Optlog file and, fingers crossed, hope to see that the
file(s) concerned have leapfrogged from the 'Ineligible' section into the main
'Eligible' section. If any are still showing as Ineligible, there is nothing more you
can do about them. They will have to stay where they are. But don't worry about
it, they will still be defragged satisfactorily, merely contiguously rather than optimally. |
| |
| 10. About the 'Missing' Programs |
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| The reason certain programs never appear in the Applog folder has nothing to do, as has
been suggested on other web sites, with them being non-Microsoft programs. It is because
they are either DOS programs (which are never monitored) or, more commonly these days, because
thoughtless authors have given their programs names that are excessively long (which prevents
them from being monitored). If you examine the names of the 'missing' programs you have
written down, you will probably discover their names all have more than eight characters.
For example Dreamweaver.exe (11.3 characters) instead of simply Dreamwvr.exe (8.3). Or
RapidocsClassic.exe (15.3) instead of simply Rapidocs.exe (8.3), and so on. |
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| Normally, in Windows, the Program-group folder containing an executable file is given a
descriptive name, which can safely be longer than eight characters, if required. Consequently,
there is never any excuse for program writers to duplicate that same length in the actual name
of the executable. Nor is there ever any logic in doing so because long file names, and
the correspondingly longer path names which result, are a perpetual nuisance because they overlap
in the detail columns in My Computer, and Windows Explorer, when using the 'Details' view option.
Unfortunately, this malpractice of giving programs file names longer than eight characters,
by a minority of programmers who really ought to know much better, but obviously don't, is an
annoyance that the rest of us, not them, have to live with. There is more about excessively
long executable filenames later, including a radical way around the problem, in Tip 6,
near the bottom of this RH column. |
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|
|
| Fig. 1 (below) Shows TaskMonitor being disabled temporarily by unticking its
box in the System Configuration Utility's Startup tab. For full details, see step 2
in the LH column. |
|
| |
| Fig. 2 (below) Shows typical partial contents of a system folder called 'Applog',
with a temporary shortcut being created, to go on the desktop, to the system file Optlog.txt.
For full details, see step 4 in the LH column. |
|
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| Fig. 3 (below) Shows typical partial contents of an Optlog.txt file immediately after repopulating its list. The first column shows the numerical order in which the programs will be optimised based on the number of times in the third column that each program has been opened. The number of 'Uses' in this example are very low because TaskMonitor has just been restarted from scratch. For more information, see step 9 in the LH column. You can open Optlog in Notepad if you do not have the Bhaum text editor that was used here. |
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| Continued from bottom of LH column |
| |
| 11. Finally! |
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| If you have made it to this point, you will be relieved to learn there is nothing much else
to do! TaskMonitor will now be primed as efficiently as possible, and has been started
off with a clean slate so that its records will accurately reflect your current program usage
profile. Save a copy of the current Optlog file in My Documents, as Optlog1.txt, for later
comparison purposes. Use your computer normally for a week or so, then update the Optlog
file (by opening, but not running, Disk Defragmenter). Save it as Optlog2.txt in My Documents. |
|
| Compare Optlog1 and Optlog2, and look very carefully for any programs you know you have
been using but which show no increase in the number of 'Uses', or have actually dropped down
into the 'Ineligible' section. This is quite likely to have happened in one or two instances,
for no accountable reason. If so, try and kick-start them into behaving by opening them
four times, now, in the current session, and re-updating Optlog (after the next reboot) to see
if their 'Uses' increases. If no response, go into the Applog folder, delete the entries
only for these few renegade programs, restart the PC, open and close the programs concerned
four times, update Optlog and check they have returned into the list. Save a copy of the
file as Optlog3.txt. Delete the copies saved previously. The next time you reboot
the machine, make a point of using the erring programs a few times, reboot, update Optlog, and
check they are now responding properly. If not, give up on them! |
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| Although the ultimate aim of all this is to do a full defrag, this must now wait until the
'Uses' column has built back up to representative levels. However, running a thorough ScanDisk
now would not be a bad idea in view of all the activity that has been going on. Then,
after one or two months of normal use, the 'Uses' column will have built up sufficiently to
enable a meaningful defrag to be carried out, with the result that you will then have some faster-opening
programs. |
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Tips |
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1. |
Back ups |
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For backing up the registry (referred to in step 1 in the
LH col), we recommend WinRescue, an inexpensive shareware program. For cloning drives
(also referred to in step 1), there are plenty of drive imagers to choose from, like Norton
Ghost, Paragon Drive Backup, the former PowerQuest's Drive Image, and Acronis True Image.
Just make sure you have got, and are actually using, one or other of them. If only you
knew the number of people we have seen with trashed XP machines who already had Norton Ghost
installed from new - but weren't using it, didn't know what it was for, and don't even
learn their lesson after the disaster! Of the four tools we mentioned, we have used only
the middle two. They are both great, but Acronis, which we have not used, is reportedly
the best, though disproportionately bloated in its latest versions. |
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2. |
Save this page |
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If you intend to do this project, whether now or in the future, save
this page to your desktop so you can refer to it - as you will need to be disconnected
from the internet and working off-line when putting the contents into practice. To save
it, from your browser, click File > Save As, and follow the prompts to save it as a web page
complete. |
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3. |
Hiding system files |
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If you will need to unhide system files and folders, as per
step 3 in the LH column, remember, if other members of your family use the same PC, to
reverse the process when you have finished the project. |
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4. |
Desktop shortcuts |
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If you will be creating shortcuts on your desktop to Applog
and Optlog, as per step 4 in the LH column, remember, if other members of your family use
the same PC, to delete the shortcuts when you have finished the project. This will remove
the danger of the Applog and Optlog windows being open at the same time that any programs are
run, as that could result in crashes. |
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5. |
DOS Programs |
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In connection with step 8 in the LH column, 2nd paragraph,
note that DOS programs, such as DOS games, or WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, run independently of
Windows and will not be seen by TaskMonitor. They will not, therefore, appear in the list
of programs that can be optimised by Disk Defragmenter. They will still be defragged,
but contiguously. |
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6. |
Programs with long filenames |
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In connection with step 10 above, in the RH column,
programs with names longer than 8 characters break a Windows' heritage rule for the maximum
length of executable file names, known as the 8.3 rule (i.e. up to eight characters before the
dot for the file name, and up to three characters after the dot for the file extension.
Programs breaking this rule will not, unfortunately, be seen by TaskMonitor and will not, therefore,
appear in the list of programs that can be optimised by Disk Defragmenter. |
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It is usually possible to shorten the name of long-named
standalone programs without any ill effect. Using Windows Explorer (or My Computer), browse
to the program's .exe file > right-click on its long name > choose Rename > shorten
the name. For example, ImageSlicer.exe (11.3) could be shortened to, say, ImageSli.exe
(8.3). The shortened version will be automatically registered in DOS, where it would
show as IMAGESLI.EXE in place of the previous DOS truncation of IMAGES~1.EXE. TaskMonitor
will now see the shortened version and will put it in the list of programs eligible for optimising
by Disk Defragmenter. For proof, see in Fig 3 above, line number 12. |
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Programs still function normally if their names are shortened
as above, but only provided they are of the standalone, non-suite type of program. For
example, say you use Dreamweaver as a standalone program, you could safely shorten it to Dreamwvr.exe,
but not if you are using it as an interdependent part of the larger Macromedia suite of programs,
because the cross-links between programs in the suite would be broken. In some cases,
shortening a program's name will stop its proper Tips' dialog showing when you open the program
(solved by disabling the showing of tips), or may stop its Help button on the toolbar from opening
the Help file (solved by using the program's shortcut to Help in the Start menu or, if there
is no shortcut to the help file there, by creating one). |
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It should be noted that changing the name of a program would
cause a few new entries to be made automatically in the Windows Registry, referencing the new,
shorter name. The original entries that used the long name would continue, harmlessly,
to sit in the Registry. In addition, the shortcuts on the desktop, and in the Start menu,
would need to be re-pathed. To fix that, right-click on a shortcut > Properties >
at Target, change the program's name from the original long version to the new shorter name
> Apply > OK. |
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The circumstances when it would be inadvisable to change
(viz. shorten) a program's name can be summarised as i) if the program is part of a suite
of programs ii) if the program is one you might want to uninstall or upgrade at a later
date or iii) if you use an automated registry cleaner tool on your computer. Having
said all that, it is debatable whether anyone should bother going as far as to change program
names, even though we've shown it can be done. After all, the majority of PC users are
now running Windows XP or Vista - and they can't optimise any of their applications anyway,
not even the properly (short-) named ones. So there is probably no real point in worrying
about a few unoptimisable, long-named programs when they are no doubt opening faster in Windows
98 than they ever could in Windows XP or Vista anyway. This is prossibly one time to leave
well alone and just accept that all badly-named programs on your 98/Me machine will have to
make do with contiguous defragging instead of optimal defragging. |
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7. |
Percentage fragmented |
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Windows 95 did not have TaskMonitor, but it did give a helpful
message on the lines of "Drive C is 9% fragmented. You do not need to defragment the drive
now". |
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In Windows 98, with the advent of TaskMonitor, it became
impracticable to indicate how much a disk was fragmented. This was because the process
of optimising a program actually involves fragmenting it to a degree so that its component parts can be
rearranged in the order they are accessed when the program is opening. Given that up to
50 programs would normally be eligible for rearranging in this way, that could result in a significant
amount of intentional fragmenting. Consequently, showing the percentage fragmented
was dropped in Windows 98's Disk Defragmenter tool, to avoid showing misleadingly high figures.
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Confusion reigned, unfortunately. And there was no
denying that the previous Win95 practice of showing a percentage fragmented had been a very
friendly feature. So, unfortunately, TaskMonitor, and its unique optimisation capability,
were discontinued after Windows Me, so as to reduce the confusion. |
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8. |
Optimize limit |
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By default, TaskMonitor enables up to 50 programs to be optimised. That figure always seems excessive because it results in virtually every program you and Windows might use, including
some really obscure stuff, being embraced. The default figure can be changed by putting
a new key in the registry called MaxApps. A search on the internet for 'maxapps' will find pages giving
full instructions if you are interested. Giving MaxApps a hexadecimal value of 14 will
reduce the actual number from 50 down to 20, which, in our experience, is ample. |
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9. |
Controlling TaskMonitor |
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In theory, you can leave TaskMonitor running in the background
and forget all about it, apart from disabling it temporarily in order to be able to run the Disk
Defragmenter tool. However, if you re-enable TaskMonitor after defragging, TaskMonitor will continue building up its record files and these can become
excessively massive for no further gain - though at the risk of system instability developing because
Windows continually has to read and modify those growing records all the time. So, our final
tip is, after you have defragged, leave TaskMonitor off until such time as you feel you would like to
build up a new program-usage profile from scratch, as per the above instructions. Until that
time comes, Disk Defragmenter will simply continue to use the existing usage-profile each time, which, for the
most part, will be adequately efficient. |
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