Close Background Tasks

Programs that cannot be seen by the user are referred to as background tasks.  Make sure that you have closed any programs or tasks running in the background as sometimes one of the programs can conflict with the game. Background applications such as Anti-Virus programs and Office Toolbars are often the cause of conflicts.

WINDOWS XP

• Hold down the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys at the same time

• Click the "Processes" tab.

• Click on the gray bar in the middle column that says User Name to sort by user name.

• Do NOT select anything for SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, or NETWORK SERVICE.

• Click on anything besides EXPLORER and TASKMGR for this User Name or other user names.

• Click on END PROCESS

• Repeat these steps until only explorer.exe and taskmgr.exe are open for this user profile.

 WINDOWS 98 & ME

• Hold the Ctrl and Alt keys down at the same time and hit the Delete key once.

• Single Click on each Program in the list and Click "End Task".

• The only two applications that you want listed here before installing or running the game are "explorer" and "systray".

• You will need to repeat this process after closing each application.

Note that some applications may need to be closed multiple times before the task terminates itself. Don't worry that you are permanently changing your system configuration; these applications will return when you restart your system.

WINDOWS 2000

With Windows 2000 it's a bit more difficult to determine which processes are run by the system, versus those run by the user that can be disabled. As it's nearly impossible to know which programs are running on a single users system, we can't recommend using the Task Manager to manually end the processes.

Be sure to disable any Antivirus programs, crash guards, file sharing programs, instant messengers or any other software currently running. Some of these might have an icon in the bottom right hand corner near your clock and be sure to close any other programs you have open at the moment. Usually you can right click on these icons near your clock and they should give you the option to Close, Exit or Disable it.

 WARNING:  Do Not Press CTRL+ALT+DEL again while the Task Manager is up.  This will reboot your computer.   Also, there are few items that might lock or reboot your computer when shut down. Check with your manufacturer for more information on these applications if encountered.