Trueimagemonitor.exe and timountermonitor.exe??

Discussion in 'Acronis True Image Product Line' started by pcumming, Apr 11, 2006.

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  1. pcumming

    pcumming Registered Member

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    Do these 2 processes need to load each time Window XP starts? I have Services set up as Manual for Acronis Scheduler 2. I lke to minimize what services are needed and what run.

    I only run Acronis to create images on a manual basis.


    Thank you very much
    Peter

    True Image version 9.1
     
  2. frankd3

    frankd3 Registered Member

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    I don't have an answer but I wanted to add that I was disappointed in an otherwise excellent update by the addition of yet another automatically running process for an application that I only run manually.

    Timountermonitor is the new one and it hogs more memory than the other True Image processes when the application isn't even running. And it's very rare that I need to mount an image. (I assume that's what it's for)

    I'm referring to True Image Home v9.0.3567

    Frank
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2006
  3. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    As far as I can see, scheduler2 must run even if you don't have scheduled events.

    I have checked the usage of this and it uses 1 second of CPU time - which is when starting an action with TI. It uses no resources otherwise.

    Looking in task manager - timountermoniter has used no time on my system - but then I didn't mount any images today.

    Recall that the memusage column doesn't actually mean that amount of memory or process is actually running on the system.

    It acts as a table/pointer that when called - that amount of memory (minimum) will be allocated to the service - I suspect on 686 machines and above, this memory is then locked and unavailable until the process has finished.

    Colin
     
  4. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello Peter and Frank,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    TrueImageMonitor.exe provides the interface between running Acronis True Image tasks and the user. It allows to observe the tasks progress and cancel the running tasks. It is started when a user logs into the system and terminates when the user logs off.

    Timountermonitor.exe observes the tasks concerning an image mounting (exploring).
    These programs are not required by Acronis True Image to perform its tasks, and can be terminated if you think it occupies too much memory, but you will loose the ability to control running Acronis True Image tasks.

    Thank you.
    --
    Tatyana Tsyngaeva
     
  5. pcumming

    pcumming Registered Member

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    Thank you.
    Peter
     
  6. frankd3

    frankd3 Registered Member

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    Tatyana,

    A thank you from me too for answering Peter's question.

    bodgy,

    I remember reading in another post from Support that True Image uses the schedule service even when performing the manual on-demand activities. I resigned myself to keep those running. I guess my thinking is still back in the days when I was using Windows 98 and always trying to reduce unnecessary system resources usage. I tend to react negatively to all these applications that keep adding services.
    But, it surprised me that we now need a new service when it wasn't needed before for mounting the image.
    I will keep your advice in mind. Maybe I can forget my old ways:D

    This build 3567 really is a good one.

    Frank
     
  7. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    I'm afraid this is one of those issues that doesn't really have any sort of a concrete answer one way or the other; it depends on your perspective and your hardware.

    I understand the desire to keep the system lean and mean but as you point out a lot of that came from previous versions of the OS. I remember from W3.1 that there were only 64K hives and heaps and it didn't matter what you did, that's all there was and you were stuck when the resources were quickly exhausted.

    With better OSs, faster processors, and lots of cheap memory a lot of the restrictions really aren't there in practical terms. That isn't to say there aren't poorly written programs around that suck up more resources than they should.

    There are lots of PCs like Ferraris and Lamborghinis around. They have the power and features to do over 300Km/h but in reality don't even do half that.

    Like I said, no good answer but the way I look at it, if it is only reserving some memory and making no obvious difference in how the PC runs, I don't sweat it. Yes, there are straws piling up on the camel's back but until he obviously sags why worry.
     
  8. DCM

    DCM Registered Member

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    Is Acronis going to release the new versionn as a trial that can be used by those who have already tried True Image 9 but did not get it because of problems?
     
  9. Mem

    Mem Registered Member

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  10. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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  11. DCM

    DCM Registered Member

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    I did download and try TrueImage 9.0 but because of all the problems, did not buy it. Did not want to buy something that is not going to do the job. "Corrupt Image" is not a good substitute for a backup image that will restore.

    If they have fixed that problem, I would like to try it again to see if it will be of any value to me. At this time, I have version 8 installed but it too has problems so I am not using it either.

    Until the problems are resolved, I will continue to use Ghost 9 even though I am definitely not a Symantec fan. Ghost 10 would not install on my computer so I sent it back for a refund.
     
  12. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello DCM,

    Thank you for your interest in Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    If you want to try to use Acronis True Image 9.0 Home once again, please submit a request for technical support. Provide the information to your request along with the link to this thread. We will help you as soon as possible.

    Thank you.
    --
    Tatyana Tsyngaeva
     
  13. MKairys

    MKairys Registered Member

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    Could you say a bit more about that? I don't see any difference, mounting and dismounting an image with and without it running. It doesn't seem to put up an icon or anything. What does it do with whatever it observes?
     
  14. pcumming

    pcumming Registered Member

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    I have neither service running and it still works fine.

    FYI
    Peter
     
  15. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello everyone,

    I would like to explain what timountermonitor.exe process is intended for. The point is that this process monitors the amount of free space available for the mounted image modification. In other words, it is responsible for not allowing user to add to the mounted image archive an amount of information (files and folders) larger than the free space available on the hard drive (logical drive) this particular image resides on. When timountermonitor.exe is disabled\turned off an error might occur in case of adding the amount of information larger than the free space left of the hard drive. If you are sure that you will stay within the limits of the hard drive's capacity then please feel free to disable this process.

    Thank you.
    --
    Alexey Popov
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2006
  16. MKairys

    MKairys Registered Member

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    Could you explain this a bit more? This is a new feature in this release? What can you do with it? Can you actually add files and folders to a partition image? Or by "mounted image" do you mean that you can mount a files/folders backup (another new feature?)??
     
  17. Acronis Support

    Acronis Support Acronis Support Staff

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    Hello MKairys,

    Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

    Please be aware that starting from the build 3567 Acronis True Image 9.0 Home allows mounting a disk\partition images in Read\Write mode. That's what I meant by modifying an image. If you select Read/Write mode, the program assumes that the connected image will be modified, and creates an incremental archive file to capture the changes. Please see Chapter 11 of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home User's Guide for further details.

    Thank you.
    --
    Alexey Popov
     
  18. MKairys

    MKairys Registered Member

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    Thank you for he explanation, Alexey.
     
  19. skbaltimore

    skbaltimore Registered Member

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    How exactly is one supposed to disable Timountermonitor.exe? I can find Acronis2SchedulerService in the XP services console. But I don't see Timountermonitor there. I do see it in Spybot S&D's startup utility -- and can easily disable it there. But it seems to me there should a simpler way. Is it an option in the main program itself?

    Also, unless I'm mistaken, there are 4 Acronis processes running that add up to around 13,500K of memory allocation, yet are basically doing nothing as far as what I would use the program for, with no clear user options within the program itself to control those processes/choices:

    1. Schedhlp.exe (2,860k)
    2. Schedul2.exe (2,456k)
    3. Timountermonitor.exe (4,592k)
    4. Trueimagemonitor.exe (3,568k)

    That seems to me to be a bit past "nada", for basically nada of what I'd be using the program for. (I'm using the trial version today for the first time.)
     
  20. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    recall that although these are listed in Task Manager, unless you see CPU time being used, most of the contents of this list are not actually using memory.

    The memory info is basically a number held in a small part of ram which acts as a pointer and holder of information that will be used once the service has been called.

    It is similar to having a catalogue which lists how many pages there are in a number of different books for reading and where they are on the booshelf - it doesn't mean the catalogue itself has that many pages or that the books are contained within that catalogue, but when you go to the bookshelf to select a book - the catalogue tells you where they are and how many pages.

    Maybe a poor analogy - but it sort of gives you the idea.

    Colin
     
  21. skbaltimore

    skbaltimore Registered Member

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    I don't know, really. If that works for you, n/p. But personally, I'd rather not see any services running and/or memory allocated for something I'm not using.
     
  22. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    You can expand it a bit and say that the book may not be on the shelf in the local building (RAM) but has been moved to another storage facility (Disk PageFile) because there was little demand for it and the local building had more important books to store. This is what happens to services that don't have to be memory resident all the time.

    There is no denying that everthing in the sytem does use resources. Some use a lot more than others and there have been cases of ill-designed services and programs that have dragged systems to their knees. If somebody wants to chase the TI services around they are welcome to it but I view my hardware and XP as providing the resources I need and I intend to use them. If the machine starts to drag I'll worry about it then. What's the point in having them if they aren't used?

    Run a real-world bench-mark without the services in question and then install the services and run it again.

    To each his own.
     
  23. frankd3

    frankd3 Registered Member

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    Although bodgy and seekforever are correct in their reasoning and advice it seemed to me to be poor design to start these processes if they're not required. I discovered that they are not needed if you're like me and don't use the scheduling function. As far as I can determine they are only running in case you have an automatic schedule start itself. The monitoring processes could have simply started with the program. And by the way the monitoring is just that system tray notice which I don't require.

    The one critical service is the one that you discovered in the Services screen. Set it to manual. It will startup whenever the application is opened. That is required for even the manual True Image operation.

    Here's what I did:
    ONLY DO THIS IF YOU'RE FAMILIAR AND COMFORTABLE EDITING THE REGISTRY YOURSELF. WHEN IN DOUBT MAKE A TRUE IMAGE BACKUP FIRST!
    1 - as I mentioned above, change the service from automatic to manual.
    2 - use Regedit or similar tool and find your HK Local Machine Run key.
    At this point I exported the key just in case I needed to restore it. But that's really not necessary because it all comes back with each update install.

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
    delete the following values:
    TrueImageMonitor.exe
    AcronisTimounterMonitor
    Acronis Scheduler2 Service
    3 - Reboot

    Now let me state that I love True Image. I consider it essential software. I own two licenses, one for my laptop and one for my desktop. I just had to customize it a little. :D

    Frank
     
  24. bodgy

    bodgy Registered Member

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    There is another way to do this without the registry hack if you have XP pro.

    For scheduler2 service:

    Start button/run 'services.msc' or control panel/component services, or start button/administrative tools/component services.

    From the services list find Acronis Scheduler2 click on STOP then double click on the Scheduler2 entry and change to either MANUAL or DISABLE.

    Close Services.msc.

    For the other two:

    Start button/run/ 'msconfig'

    Click on STARTUP tab

    Look down the list until you find the above two entries and untick.

    Close msconfig.

    On restart of the computer, a warning notice will pop up with a box to tick so that on future bootups you will not get the notice (unless you alter something else in msconfig) and the configuration utility will not open.

    Colin
     
  25. norrisg

    norrisg Registered Member

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    It is the most insane thing imaginable to allow with a backup. I noticed it, and found it difficult to believe that anyone could possibly think modifying a backup is a good idea. There is no way I will ever open a backup for writing.

    Graham.
     
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