Somthing running in the background...hmmm

Hello

I notice from time to time that while I'm on my Linux box just reading the news, etc, the HD light will suddenly come on and I can hear the HD cooking as if there was some process going on or something was happening on my computer. After a few minutes or even as long as five, the light will go out and it will stop. This happens when I run Red Hat, Mandrake and Debian. It even happens on Windows. Come to think about it, it happens on any computer I use so I guess it's just a normal operation or some "hidden" process going on...perhaps a cron file or server log is being generated or something?. Could someone shed some light on this for me please?. Just kind of freaks me out a little bit wondering whats happening "behind the scenes". Also, is there any way to turn these automatically-run processes off or adjust the time when they should run, etc?.

Thank's again!:-)

Oh, that. It is just your Debian install planning on crashing your box. The cure for this is to install Caldera 3.1.1 workstation.

Hi

I like Debian. It is a completely non-commercial, ports-based system (like BSD). However, I would'nt recommend it for the uninitiated or for those who like to stay on the "bleeding edge". They take forever to come out with new releases and currently have very old versions of KDE and Gnome. That aside, can anyone here shed some light on my original question?;-)

- Thank's

As far as Windows goes, I think nobody knows what's going on behind the scenes, thank you very much closed source (open up old 'open source vs. closed source' wounds).
In terms of Linux, there are frequently dozens of processes and daemons running in the background (type ps -aux) and any one of them could be doing something on your system. If you think it's a cron job, just edit /etc/crontab (as root) to your liking. To see how, go here:
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/Misce..._in_Linux.html
among other places for information.

jimbrown, that's cause Deian is very stable. It's like OpenBSD. Things take forever to come out.

su
ps -A
lsmod

Will tell you what's running "behind the scene".

Quote:

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Originally posted by janet loves bill
Oh, that. It is just your Debian install planning on crashing your box. The cure for this is to install Caldera 3.1.1 workstation.

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BWAHAHAHAAHAHAAA! :D

Oh that was funny. You'll have to do penance now you know.

This is really quite simple and isn't myseterious at all. What process is running?

$bash: ps aux

That will tell you. It's a interesting quetsion. Because yes. There are all kinds of things running on any Unix system (unless you disable them). But perhaps your talking about a bigger issue ? :D

Perhaps you should have a look at /etc/inetd.conf (if you have inetd going) to comment out some of those services as it sounds as though deep down what you are really doing is expressing a security concern. Weed out what you don't need. If your still curious, you can always cruise on over to /var/log and start examining. But seriously, being security aware is a good idea.

If your wondering about processes, kill them and see what happens. Once you do the ps aux look at the PID. If you don't think you want it, kill it. But again, editing inetd.conf will get rid of some of the daemons I wonder if you have running :D

Hi again

Gawsh, never expected so many helpful and courteous responses and in such short order:-). Beats the heck out of trying to get support from bug-ridden M$ after 10 rings, 15 "press this button and press that button" instructions, rude and costly support, greedmongering nickle-and-dime-you-to-death-for-every-little-thing attitude, stick-you-up-at-walletpoint, etc. Thank's a bunch people. Thumbs up for Linux and the fantastic people who support it!:-)

- Cheers

This reminds me of something that happened to me last summer when I was dual booting Win98 and Mandrake 7.1. Win98 was on there because it was installed on my machine. I had three DOS apps attached to Win98 which I used as my so-called safety net while I was learning Linux. A friend dropped by and decided to set up Win98 as he would like it and to activate an internet connection and I figured, what the heck, he can't do any damage and I don't plan to use it. However, he asked me what I had running in the background. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that that scoundrel Win98 was detecting my Linux partition and when my friend wasn't able to set up the internet connection, I said no problem, we'll access the net through Linux. But, there was no Linux prompt; only a very feeble Grub trying to find Linux. The boot disk couldn't rescue Linux so a new install was required. Needless to say, my machine only has Linux on it now and NO ONE, except my Linux mentor, is allowed access to my computer.