Task Killers & Your Benefit

I've been using TaskPanel - it is accessible in the notifications window.  It allows you to auto-kill certain tasks when they are inactive.  Also allows easy switching to a task (I didn't know you could just hold down the Home button and it would bring up the list of tasks for switching).  It usually goes from something like 60-70mb free up to 130-180mb.

In all honesty, though - I have not seen any significant slow downs.  I rarely go in and kill all background tasks (another option in TaskPanel).

Another nifty app I just saw today was Startup Cleaner - it allows you to turn off the automatic starting of various apps (like AT&T Hot Spots).  Not sure if it makes the boot time any faster - maybe a little.  But starts out with more memory free.  Starting off at 130mb.

The best thing about TaskPanel is that it is free and ad-free.  Adv Task Killer sucks data usage.

Really?  Adv Task Killer sucks data?  I thought that was the whole point!  To make sure I didn't have data-eating tasks running.  Geeze.  Thanks for the tip! 

Ok thanks for the response

I use the Advanced Task Killer Free and have not noticed it sucking a lot of data like some suggest.  However, here is how I use it:
1) I disabled the auto startup option,
2) I have selected certain apps to Ignore,
3) I launch it periodically and hit the "Kill selected apps" button very quickly (which also kills ATK as well),
4) I also use the paid version of Startup Auditor to prevent certain apps, such as AT&T Navigator from loading.

Hope this helps.

I don't use any battery management/booster or task/tas killer..and have excellent battery usage from 2 Captivates..I usually get 2 days on a charge as well..

Mac

Never thought of a task killer to save on battery, but to control memory usage.  I did not like to see apps load into memory that I do not use such as AT&T Navigator.  I also felt like things got slow and that running ATK (Advanced Task Killer) Free sped up my phone.

I have tried ATK, Taskiller and a few others.  Personally I prefer ATK because it is not too agressive in killing processes that shouldn't be killed.  I found that Taskiller tended to kill things that affected how the phone operated, like had a problem seeing downloaded apps in the Android Market and had to reboot to see them.

I have decided that I am going to try not running a Task Killer on a regular basis but try to do it very sparingly. Will see how that works out.

I was using advance task killer for about two weeks.  Everything was fine then yesterday the notifications icons along the top of the phone started to disappear after a few seconds.  When I exited ATK this problem went away.  I ended up uninstalling ATK at that point.  I don't mind using a task killer to get rid of needless programs but after reading all of this it seems like the verdit is still out whether it works or is even needed.  My problem as a new user was that unless the ATK listed what an app or process did, I had no idea if it needed to be killed or not.  I mean how are you suppose to know if Process: com.sec.android.app.sns should or shouldn't be killed?