Shutting down certain programs before playing?

I read on EA's web-site about shutting down unwanted programs before you play a game. I know of anti's and firewalls but what else?

 

Most programs that run in the background will show an icon in the bottom left hand corner of your tool taskbar. Some do only show up in the task manager (control alt delete) but you will have to know what to look for--you really do not want to shut down part of you OS or anything to do with your connection. When I doubt something I usually just google it to see if its ok to end task or if I really need it.

If you have enough ram, say 1 gig at best, you probably dont need to shut anything down.

Hope it helps

 

They're usually talking about things that can usually hog up resources when you're playing a game, like third-party programs or any other open programs you have open when you're playing a graphics-intensive game like Doom3.

Assuming you beat the recommended system requirements, you can just ignore this rule and go ahead and do whatever you want. If your computer needs everything it can to run the game, then you go ahead and close down as much stuff as you need to get the game running at an optimal pace (although you may not want to shut down a part of the OS or your connection if you're in an online game, as Destructo said earlier.).