Questions

[Guest]

I see two strangely named startup entries in msconfig with names that change
when there are more or less startup entries. What are they? ( I run XP Home)

How do I reset the window size of the "Favourites" explorer bar in Internet
Explorer?

In the msconfig utiliy, I have some services disabled and unchecked. Am I
suppose untick the manual services?

Do I delete the Windows Update icon in the start menu since I have
Microsoft Update icon?

How do I remove or fix the Windows Media Player toolbar as it does not work
at all?

 

[Sharon F]

I see two strangely named startup entries in msconfig with names that change
when there are more or less startup entries. What are they? ( I run XP Home)

No idea what they are without the names. Sorry.

How do I reset the window size of the "Favourites" explorer bar in Internet
Explorer?

The column is resizable. Use the mouse to "grab" the edge that meets up
with the page body and move it to the left.

In the msconfig utiliy, I have some services disabled and unchecked. Am I
suppose untick the manual services?

Depends on what the services are and why they were disabled. Personally, I
never use this area to enable/disable services. Instead I use the console
for Services found in Administrative Tools. However, if the system is
running fine now, I would suggest leaving things as they are. Just tuck
this knowledge about disabled services away and if you eventually run into
problems related to those services then consider enabling them again.

Do I delete the Windows Update icon in the start menu since I have
Microsoft Update icon?

It's up to you. These are two different update sites. One does Windows
only. The Microsoft Update site includes updates for MS products including
Windows. If you have Office products installed, the MS Update site is very
convenient.

How do I remove or fix the Windows Media Player toolbar as it does not work
at all?

Post this question in the Media Player newsgroup. Be sure to include more
details about the toolbar problem and your version of Media Player in your
post. There is a link to the Media Player newsgroup on this page:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/community.aspx

 

[Guest]

I see two strangely named startup entries in msconfig with names that
change

No idea what they are without the names. Sorry.

Well, if I just installed Windows XP Home and had no other software in the
startup list, what startup items would there be still? Could the two entries
be system critical and encrypted the names so I wouldn't disable them?

Depends on what the services are and why they were disabled. Personally, I
never use this area to enable/disable services. Instead I use the console
for Services found in Administrative Tools. However, if the system is
running fine now, I would suggest leaving things as they are. Just tuck
this knowledge about disabled services away and if you eventually run into
problems related to those services then consider enabling them again.

If I disable the services in Administrative Tools they would not appear in
msconfig right? Then how do I remove the unticked service entries in the
msconfig?

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Dan

Unless you give us some idea of what they are, how can you expect an answer
other than what you have had already?

If the two entries are not giving you a problem other than their presence
annoys you, why bother about them at all..

You might try typing the entry names into a Google search box and see what
comes up if you want to keep the anonymity thing going..

 

[Sharon F]

Well, if I just installed Windows XP Home and had no other software in the
startup list, what startup items would there be still? Could the two entries
be system critical and encrypted the names so I wouldn't disable them?

Mike, sometimes the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) provided software
included in your XP, will add services and/or startup items. Even if you
leave those things out, there are still XP services that will only appear
if needed by that computer's configuration. In other words, it could be
important on your system and not needed on mine.

For the msconfig question: The simplistic answer is to re-enable the
services in msconfig. Then disable them in Administrative Tools. That gets
the record keeping sorted and accurate in both tools. However...

Be careful, depending on what those services are - you may not want to
restart with them enabled. Not knowing what they are, I can't ignore the
possibility that these could be problem causing services that should not be
allowed to run on the restart. Their presence may only cause errors but
there's a chance that enabling them could also cause the system not to
boot. This is why I suggested leaving things as they are as long as
everything is working okay.

While disabling in msconfig should be considered a temporary
troubleshooting approach and Administrative Tools used for the actual
configuration steps, there's nothing wrong with leaving things as they are
now.

 

[Guest]

I think the two entries are Winlogon Userinit and Winlogon Shell, well
according to Winpatrol that's what they could be.

The services are all Microsoft. I'll just enable them again and disable them
in the Administrator Tools.

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Dan

What harm are they doing?

 

[Guest]

I didn't say they were harming anything. I'm say that it's strange how the
startup entries are so oddly named, I can't tell what it is unless I check
the startup location.