Closing open applications for new programs?

[Frank]

Often a program will say close all open applications
before installing a new program. In Win 98 I would go to
the task bar and closed all programs except explorer and
systray.

In XP I see several options including: APPLICATIONS and
PROCESSES.

If there is nothing in APPLICATIONS box am I OK to load
or do I have to close out all the things in the PROCESSES
box?
It seems when I close out things in the PROCESSES box it
always shuts the computer down?

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Frank,

Just the applications is fine. The processes box includes many necessary
system functions, and unless you are troubleshooting, they should not be
disabled (with the exception of AV software in some install cases).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone
Win98 Help - www.rickrogers.org

"Frank" > wrote in message
...
> Often a program will say close all open applications
> before installing a new program. In Win 98 I would go to
> the task bar and closed all programs except explorer and
> systray.
>
> In XP I see several options including: APPLICATIONS and
> PROCESSES.
>
> If there is nothing in APPLICATIONS box am I OK to load
> or do I have to close out all the things in the PROCESSES
> box?
> It seems when I close out things in the PROCESSES box it
> always shuts the computer down?
>