TrueImageMonitor.exe

TI9 Home installs

TrueImageMonitor.exe
TimounterMonitor.exe
schedhlp.exe

as Auto Startup Programs

Is it necessary to include these programs in the auto startup routine?

I try to restrict auto startup programs to only those that are essential to run the system. What is TI monitoring and why? And what are the implications of removing these from the Startup?

 

Absolutely no need to have them starting when Windows starts.

 

Tks for that.... I just had a feeling that they were not necessary.

 

Check the archives, you'll see explanations of the purpose, and how much resource they use, which is nearly next to nothing. ;-)

 

I would not disable anything unless Acronis documents that you can.
That's just asking for trouble.

 

I agree. There were cases in earlier versions of TI 9 of grief caused by disabling. There have been subsequent posts that indicated you can disable some in later versions but it didn't seem to be totally clear to me. Acronis did say that the resources used by these items was very little.

I'd much rather have a slow reliable system than a fast, unrelable one.

 

luking at task manager, those progs use little resources.

I do wish that there was an option to disable the scheduler.
I define tasks but will ONLY run them manually. so I have no need for the overhead of a scheduler.

 

That was one of the things that was stated in earlier posts, TI actually used the scheduler for manual backups!

 

If so, that's just an artifact of how TI is implemented.
The implementation could allow a manual task to operate independently of a scheduler.

 

Howard,

Yes, it is so.

Probably, but I'm sure Acronis could provide you with a valid reason why they designed the software this way. In anycase, removing this feature would pee off a load of Maxtor One-Touch owners who have linked their one-touch buttons to the TI scheduler script .

 

Entirely separate issue.

The software that interfaces to a one touch can also manually start a task, etc.

 

THat's a whole can of worms.

If users really knew why certain "design" decisions were made, they would either die laughing or die of a heart attack or start a revolution.

A good example was the so called "Year 2000" problem caused by programmers stupidly deciding to save space in the encoding of the year. That never made any sense.

Or, now we get nasty, until recent years, the penchant for most software developers to code for a single-byte character set. This was a major problem because most software tat was widely used was written by ANSI-centric programmers in th eUSA. Indeed, until the mid 1980's there was still significant opposition to certain character coding concepts that are taken for granted today, but we are still overcoming their effects in software design,

And, when left to their own devices, implementors can be awfully stupid, but this is way off topic, so I'll not give more examples.

 

Not really, if you are prepared to look at the bigger picture.

 

Thank you for the history lesson . As a 63 year old that has been playing/working with computers since 1979 (starting with a Texas Instrument TI99-4A) I'm well aware of the background to many of the programing decisions made in those early days.

 

Tks for all your responses.

I am not disagreeing with those who have more experience of this software than I do but I am trying to understand the logic behind these services... so bear with me

* schedul2.exe and shedhlp.exe
I assume that these processes provide the services that are required for users that want scheduled backups. Very useful in a commercial environment. However, if a user always starts backups manually is there any need to have these running?

* TrueImageMonitor.exe
This one I don't understand. What is TI monitoring? The "results" of whatever is being monitored must be written to the same disk where TI is installed, which in most cases would be the system disk. If the system disk goes bad, the "results" of the "monitoring" will go to disk havana together with the OS and everything else. The last good image will be on another disk or perhaps even on some kind of removeable media and would be unchanged by the "monitoring". So what is being monitored and why is it important to the "restore" process? (which in the final analysis is the whole purpose of TI)

* TimounterMonitor.exe
No idea what this could be doing or why it is a separate process from TrueImageMonitor.exe.

It would be really helpful if someone could explain why these services are necessary for TI to function.

Tks

 

This issue comes up again and again. Folks want to reduce the number of processes that are resident. There are many threads.

This one has a short explanation from Acronis of the most of the resident files:

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=48956

and

https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=79541

Very briefly, as processes, they don't seem to take up clock cycles unless you are running Acronis -- they are loaded but in "standby" until needed.

But search the archives and read and find out more including various workarounds for avoiding the processes when not doing a backup or restore

sh

 

Thanks for the links shieber. It makes for interesting reading.

Still confused

 

Hello Catamaran,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please take a look at previous posts which contain the detailed explanation:
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=599037&postcount=11
https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showpost.php?p=729157&postcount=15

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

Hello Acronis Support

Thank you for your reply and the links to the other Threads.

I have just checked the running Processes (Task Manager > Processes) and the only Process that I can see is "schedul2.exe". The other processes, schedhlp.exe, TrueImageMonitor.exe and timoutermonitor.exe are not running.

Should I be able to see all 4 processes in Task Manager?

Should I reinstall TI9?

 

I have been running for years with the scheduler disabled. No problems at all.
To get rid of the scheduler, run services.msc.
Right click on the acronis service and set it to manual. Also stop it if it is running.

There is also one .exe to be removed from the startup list.

 

Hello Catamaran,

We are sorry for the delayed response.

The services is started via HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices in Windows 9x/Me and via Service Control Manager in Windows NT/2000/XP/2003 (see Administrative Tools - Services)
Please note that you can start Acronis scheduling service via Administrative Tools -> Services. Make sure that Startup type is set to Automatic in Properties. You can also run the schedhlp.exe and schedul2.exe manually in Windows Task Manager (File -> New Task) or do the following:

- Download and run schedmgr.exe application;

- Issue the following commands:

service stop
service uninstall

- Close schedmgr;

- Replace schedhlp.exe and schedul2.exe files in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\Schedule2 folder with the files from this ZIP archive.

- Run schedmgr application once again;

- Issue the following commands:

service install
service start

- Close schedmgr.

If the issue persists, please create Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post and submit a request for technical support. Attach the collected file and information to your request along with the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

OS : Windows XP Pro SP2
TI9 : Build 3633

Hello Aleksandr

Thank you for your detailed reply.

I want to make sure that I have understood you correctly.

1. When TI9 is functioning correctly should I be able to see all 4 processes in Task Manager > Processes at ALL times? ("TrueImageMonitor.exe", "TimounterMonitor.exe", "schedhlp.exe", "schedul2.exe") The only one that I can currently see is "schedul2.exe". I did a normal install of TI9 and have not changed or disabled anything since the install.

2. Under "Services" the only service that is listed is "Acronis Scheduler2 Service" with a Status of "Started" and a Type of "Automatic". There are currently no other Acronis services listed.

3. If I don't want to run scheduled Backups do I really need any of these services running?

4. Which Services/Processes MUST always be running for the correct operation of TI9?

5. Must these Services/Processes (as listed in 4 above) be running for all users or only for the Administrator account? (assume that only the Administrator account will perform Backups/Restores)

Thank You

 

I have always disabled from starting these two startup programs below numbered 1 & 2 that appear in the "Startup" tab of Msconfig in WinXP in versions 9. Even though I know they consume little if any resources. I stop them by disabling through the registry, rather than through Msconfig.

1. TrueImageMonitor.exe
2. TimounterMonitor.exe (this is a new one, appearing only in v.9 series)

Leave the "schedhlp.exe", "schedul2.exe" as configured by Acronis. You need the Acronis Scheduler2 Service running when doing manual backups. In Msconfig in XP (Accessed by Run>msconfig>"Enter") this will show as "schedhlp" and the Command path is C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\Schedule2\schedhlp.exe and is located in HKLM in the registry. The service that is stopped by 'killing' it in msconfig, or otherwise, will render a manual backup inoperable. As stated by Acronis, this service is using very mimimal resources by just leaving it set to "Automatic" in "Services". Why take a chance on using the "manual" setting in "Services" for this one item that can render the program inoperable?

But probably the best way to operate Acronis for the average user is to leave the configuration of the these programs in their default configuration (running) if you are the least bit uncertain about what you are doing.

The above only applies to always preforming manual, self starting, operations, any type of scheduling needs the other 2 programs 'running' and 'ready'.

...Allen

 

Reply to Allen L

Allen, thanks for the advice.

I don't have a problem with running these services if they are necessary for a good, stable and reliable instance of TI.

I installed TI "by the book" and have not disabled or changed anything since the install. I have made a few test images and restores and they seem to be working just fine.

The problem is that the only process that I can see is schedul2.exe. I can see it in "Task Manager > Processes" as "schedul2.exe" and in Services and in msconfig under the Services tab as "Acronis Scheduler2 Service".

I cannot see any other Acronis processes or services running.

If I look in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Acronis\Schedule2\ then I can see the 2 program files "schedhlp.exe" and "schedul2.exe". So both programs have installed, but it would seem that only "schedul2.exe" is starting at system startup.

If "schedhlp.exe" is critical to TI operations and if I have been able to successfully create and restore images then why can't I see this program running either as a process or a service?

How do I get "schedhlp.exe" running at system startup? And - for the future - if I do decide to run backups on a scheduled basis (which I probably will do when I am more confident with TI) then how do I get TrueImageMonitor.exe and TimounterMonitor.exe running at startup?

So the question that I asked Acronis Support still stands: Should I reinstall TI to get all these services running properly for all Users? (By "all Users" I mean for both the Administrator account and my normal logon User account).

 

Hello catamaran,

When you initially installed TI 9.0 you probably chose the option to "Install For This User Only" rather than "All Users". As I'm the only user of my computer I've always selected the "Install for All Users" option.

As you can see from the screenshot below, my Task Manager reveals all four TI services. Note that the "Show all processes from all user" checkbox is ticked - make sure yours is too.

Regards