Any tools for locking down unneeded applications while playing games?

[Taler]

As the topic says:

Any tools for locking down unneeded applications while playing games?

Free tools are better of course.

I think my PC has loads of junk that is still running while I'm trying to play.

That's why sometimes I can get full FPS and sometimes half.

[refraction]

Go to the run menu then "Process priority" and set it to "High", that will ensure nothing interrupts your pcsx2 experience ;p

[zero29]

sorry, but if you have no idea how to kill processes, then you probably have no idea which of them really are not neccessary. the fps ups and downs are more likely related to the game you're playing, unless it jumps constantly from 5 to 60 fps and back. if you still want to try your luck, then just kill unwanted processes via task manager (built in) or process explorer (more detailed, free download from microsoft). to permanently disable services and processes use the windows tool msconfig (start -> run -> msconfig). keep in mind that you'll need admin rights for most of these manipulations. btw, there is no tool that successfully manages to automatically optimise your services and processes, so if you find one advertised with such promises, avoid it