Windows sidebar help

garmin

Distinguished
May 29, 2008
5
0
18,510
I check task manager and theres a process running in there called sidebar.exe, can someone tell me what this is? I thought I turned the sidebar off cuz it doesnt show on my desktop. Now I cant figure how I did that. I want to turn this process off, it eats up resource.
Also I have a process called iexplore.exe *32 and one called explorer.exe, why is there two internet explorers running?
thanks in advance
 
You're confusing Internet Explorer with Windows explorer. Windows explorer (explorer.exe) is your Windows GUI... this will be running regardless of what version of Windows you have and you cannot run Windows without it.

iexplore.exe *32 is, of course, Internet Explorer. The 32 indicates that you are running the 32-bit version. As for sidebar, as long as you have plenty of RAM, I wouldn't worry about it running.
 

garmin

Distinguished
May 29, 2008
5
0
18,510
Thanks, I killed it in control panel. lol.

Zoron, what is windows explorer and why is it running on my computer. Isnt internet explorer the only way to get online? I run Mozilla Firefox, I guess its 32bit?? Im confused now, why I have 32bit explorer on a 64bit OS?
 

JBenyon

Distinguished
Aug 2, 2009
5
0
18,520
explorer.exe is Windows Explorer - that is you're Start Menu, the taskbar (at the bottom of your screen, desktop (with all your shortcuts) without this process running, you wouldn't be able to control your computer.
 
Windows Explorer: The Process that allows you to view/control what is on your computer. Do Not Kill This Process!

Internet Explorer: A browser application which allows you to view Internet content. There are those who would argue this one should be killed on sight.