CT Helper
 

Is a Creative Labs file that runs in the back ground of those who use a Creative sound card.

Every once in awhile when I go to shut down or restart the PC, a box will pop up saying that CT Helper will not shut down, and I have to click it to shut it off.

I just Goggled it, and ran across this forum.
http://www.d-silence.com/comments/10...5,84449,.shtml

The file is also known to grab your CPU and max it out to 100% :mad2:
There is a link on the above page to a cool Window monitoring app that lets you shut things off called Startup Monitor.
http://www.mlin.net/
Have not tried it, abut I'll give it a go, even though I already use MSconfig to control a lot of the things that run in the background.

PS, just realized the app is Startup Control Panel.
The one I mentioned is another app the guy makes.

Corey, there's also a function within Spybot>Advanced>Tools>System Startup that works like MS Config but shows even more running processes than MS does. I found it useful to disable a couple of things taking up processor % as shown on Windows Task Manager Performance tab.

Corey, thanks for the heads up. Alot of PC users are having problems with CTHelper.exe. Most, just like you (Corey), just remove it from startup using MSCONFIG.

I am guessing CTHelper.exe is either

a) using too much memory (about 4 megs)
b) It's causing problems with API interface locking up process threads. Root cause from bogus API programming but not seeting the following variables;
1) failing to set a KillTimer()
2) timeKillEvent()


Either way, CTHelper.exe is not needed.

Also make sure you turn off in either MSconfig two more apps from Creative.
They are:
UpdReg
ADGJDet

Those are both in the Registry.
I rebooted, and all seems to be well.

BT, did not know about the Start Up area in Spybot.
Will have to check into it this weekend.

Amusement, I'll see if this speeds up the PC too.
I hate it when stuff not needed runs in the background.

I think us tweakers spend an awful lot of time fixing things that software screws up.
I like the PC to run as wide open as possible, and not be bogged down by bloatware.

Greetings,
In other threads you were taking steps to speed up your boot process. Just a reminder about MSCONFIG. Even though you choose not to let a program start on boot, the entire boot record must be read by the OS. If you have alot of items shut off in MSCONFIG, you may want to remove them from the registry so your machine won't have to read them in the boot file. This can speed up your boot considerably. You should also take a look at what processes are running. Some don't show in MSCONFIG but are started on boot and indicated in the system process.
You can use regedit to do this, but be careful you don't delete the wrong files.