Choosing which programs to remove from startup?

[Itinerantscholar]

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1501 with Vista on it. It has the typical
performance problems that have been noted for laptops running Vista. It
receives a "Windows Experience Index" of 2.0.

The first thing you are told to do to improve performance is eliminate
programs from startup. But when I go through the long list of programs, I
often can't tell what they do. For instance, I see in this list "Avantquest
Digital Line Detection," "Dell Quick Set," "Synaptics Pointing Device," and
"Java (TM) Platform SE 6U5," among many others. Do I just start
experimenting and see what happens when I turn them off? That seems very
risky. After all, that "pointing device"--that's my touchpad, isn't it? If
I turned off my touchpad, I think my computer would be useless to me, because
I do not know how to turn the touchpad on again without the touchpad.

In short: is there a way to know which programs would be the best ones to
turn off? In case it is not already obvious, I do not know a lot about
computers. My experience with Vista has been frustrating, because I feel
like I do not have the specialized technical training required to make my
laptop work well.

 

[Robert Hankins]

Begin by downloading a nifty little program www.winpatrol.com
This will help you to identify quickly which programs you don't need as for
instance: You don't need media players until you actually have a need.
Disable Windows Media Player, Real player or Dell Player. If you don't
dabble in photos regularly, disable Roxio, Windows Photo or Picasa if
loaded. If you don't play games,then disable all the games.
Take your time, go slow (THINK) and keep notes about what you have changed.
Remember that setting up a new computer in Vista might take a couple of
weeks until you get everything organized the way you want it.

 

[C.B.]

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1501 with Vista on it. It has the typical
performance problems that have been noted for laptops running Vista. It
receives a "Windows Experience Index" of 2.0.

The first thing you are told to do to improve performance is eliminate
programs from startup. But when I go through the long list of programs, I
often can't tell what they do. For instance, I see in this list
"Avantquest
Digital Line Detection," "Dell Quick Set," "Synaptics Pointing Device,"
and
"Java (TM) Platform SE 6U5," among many others. Do I just start
experimenting and see what happens when I turn them off? That seems very
risky. After all, that "pointing device"--that's my touchpad, isn't it?
If
I turned off my touchpad, I think my computer would be useless to me,
because
I do not know how to turn the touchpad on again without the touchpad.

In short: is there a way to know which programs would be the best ones to
turn off? In case it is not already obvious, I do not know a lot about
computers. My experience with Vista has been frustrating, because I feel
like I do not have the specialized technical training required to make my
laptop work well.

If you want to know what an item is or what it does you can type the
item into a searchbar and discover its purpose.
If you don't need access to a program at startup you can disable it.
You can then go to your All Programs list at any time and activate it when
it is needed.

C.B.

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

I bought a Dell Inspiron 1501 with Vista on it. It has the typical
performance problems that have been noted for laptops running Vista. It
receives a "Windows Experience Index" of 2.0.

The first thing you are told to do to improve performance is eliminate
programs from startup. But when I go through the long list of programs, I
often can't tell what they do. For instance, I see in this list
"Avantquest
Digital Line Detection," "Dell Quick Set," "Synaptics Pointing Device,"
and
"Java (TM) Platform SE 6U5," among many others. Do I just start
experimenting and see what happens when I turn them off? That seems very
risky. After all, that "pointing device"--that's my touchpad, isn't it?
If
I turned off my touchpad, I think my computer would be useless to me,
because
I do not know how to turn the touchpad on again without the touchpad.

In short: is there a way to know which programs would be the best ones to
turn off? In case it is not already obvious, I do not know a lot about
computers. My experience with Vista has been frustrating, because I feel
like I do not have the specialized technical training required to make my
laptop work well.

Which of the five elements gets you a base score of '2'?

Bear in mind that laptops have to balance between sheer power and battery
life. You could change the power settings, but ensure that you are connected
to the mains power.

How much memory do you have installed? You need more than 1gb RAM because
the video card will take maybe 256mb, leaving you with less than optimum for
everything else..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
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