Datasheet

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Chapter 1: Utilities and Security
What’s Running
$ US
When cellphones became smartphones — with Research in Motion’s
BlackBerry helping to lead the charge — they took the next step and
became tiny computers. Depending on what I am doing and where I
am traveling, my BlackBerry can have 50 or more little apps. Some of
them are demanding the attention of the microprocessor in the phone
all the time — applications that manage the connection to the nearest
cellphone tower or Wi-Fi system, for example. Others only reach out
when you ask them to do something: check a stock price, find a res-
taurant, tell you where you are.
This is all good stuff, but there is a problem lurking in the background:
even a super brain like the tiny one in your BlackBerry can become
overloaded with too many things to do at the same time. And there is
only a specific amount of random access memory (RAM) available to
the device in which to do its thinking.
Three things can happen: you can eventually pack so many applica-
tions into your phone that there is no room for new ones; you can
have so many apps running at the same time that everything will slow
down to a crawl, or your phone just might decide, “I’ve had enough.
I’m going to freeze right now and stop working. . . .”
Hooray, then, for the simple but highly informative What’s Running
app. In two words, it tells you what’s running.
Without even opening it (if you have enabled automatic update) the
app will show you the total number of apps running and waiting in
working memory (RAM). Once you open it, you will see a full list of
running apps along with important details such as whether they will
automatically be loaded every time you turn on the phone.
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