Tip of the Week: Mind your browser

By Phil Nickinson
last updated

Faithful WMExperts reader Dan (Hi, Dan!) brings word of a little trick he uses to significantly speed up his new AT&T Fuze, which was acting sluggish even with TouchFlo 3D turned off. So without further ado, Dan's tip:

I recently upgraded from the ATT Tilt to the Fuze. From Day 1 the Fuze would frequently slow down and often freeze, requiring a soft reset. Even with TF3D off, it still would slow down and crash.Long story short, I figured out why. I ran SK Tools [ed note: a handy little tweaker and memory manager] and looked at CPU usage at a time when the device was sluggish. It revealed that Opera was still running in the background and using up a large percentage of CPU, even though the Opera browser was not listed in the running programs.I then set up a shortcut using SK Tools to "Auto-kill" Opera. My Fuze has been running as smooth as silk ever since.

Well done, Dan! And thanks for the tip.

Phil Nickinson
Phil Nickinson

Phil is the father of two beautiful girls and is the Dad behind Modern Dad. Before that he spent seven years at the helm of Android Central. Before that he spent a decade in a newsroom of a two-time Pulitzer Prize-finalist newspaper. Before that — well, we don't talk much about those days. Subscribe to the Modern Dad newsletter!

7 Comments
  • While i don't have the Touch Pro I do have the original HTC Touch. I've also noticed that Opera Beta 9.5 seems to run even tho my Touch is telling me is closed out. I know because I usually run at 35% CPU usage and when Opera is opened and closed it jumps to 55% and stays there. is anyone having this issue?
  • Anyone know if SKTools Lite (the freeware version) will accomplish this?
  • Nevermind it only works for WM Standard
  • I proceed to check this out on my HTC Fuze (ATT Official ROM). What I found out was Opera9.exe running all the time, no matter it is closed (no significant CPU usage). Used Task Manager program to terminate Opera9.exe. Seconds later Opera9.exe shows up again in running processes. I noticed another application running in process list called OperaPreL.exe. I proceed to rename this \Windows\OperaPreL.exe (e.g. \Windows\OperaPreL-.exe) so it will not launch at startup. After this change Opera9.exe appear in running process only when run it and disappear when close it. After couple of hours using my Fuze, it looks more responsive and stable. I was experiencing my device get freeze pretty often.
  • Cool! Thanks, nameless commenter!
  • So Dan, what is the shortcut you created? Please advise. Thanks.
  • Step 1 - Buy SK Tools Version 4.3.2.2 (an excellent and powerful program but has a bit of a learning curve)
    Step 2 - In the SK Tools menu (find it with Category -> ALL-show all tools), Go to "CPU usage" to see what is using up your CPU (this is not an essential step, but educational only)
    Step 3 - Open Opera (or any other program you want to auto-kill). In the SK Tools menu tap "Processes". Check box the Opera program, the tap "action" then tap "Add to auto-kill list"
    Step 4 - In the SK Tools menu tap and hold "Processes" then tap "create short cut"
    Step 5 - Tap the soft key named "tools" -> "Shortcut Wizard". Tap the word "clean" and you get a pull down menu. Scroll down to "autokill" and tap it. Then tap "Shortcut filename and path" and find the shortcut named "Processes". Tap soft key "Action", "OK"
    Now you have a separtate Icon in your programs that auto-kills opera. When Opera is Slowing down your machine (even though you thought you closed it) tap the short cut to kill it.