Startup

[Debbie]

It used to be sooo easy! Now, I look at the enabled items in my startup menu
and it is no wonder my pc runs slow. What can I disable? Do I need to keep
every .exe file enabled? My startup tray is so full of icons. Help!

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

It used to be sooo easy! Now, I look at the enabled items in my startup menu
and it is no wonder my pc runs slow. What can I disable?

Experiment: that's what msconfig is for.

Alternative: google each item listed in msconfig and see what you find.

 

[JS]

Use msconfig (Start/run/msconfig) is the easiest/simplest way

If you want to dig deeper:
Try Autoruns from the MS Windows SysInternals site:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx

AutoRuns will show/list all apps/etc. that load/run when you first boot
(Boot Execute tab),
when you logon (Logon tab) and other programs that load (grouped by labeled
tabs) for easy viewing.

It also provides the ability to selectively allows you to stop (use with
care) any program that you don't want to load. You can undo any changes you
have made.

Note: To get additional details on an item in the list you may need to
highlight the item (right click) and use the 'Search Online' option to get
the details, especially useful for the more obscure items in the list.

JS

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

all of them.

then see if your next
boot up is better.

if so, then enable them
again them one at atime,
rebooting and testing
which works and what
does not.

however, if after you
initially disable them
and your pc still runs
poorly, then there are
other issues involved.

--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Gord Dibben]

I would first check the applications' preferences.

Many of them can be configured to not run at boot-up.


Gord

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It used to be sooo easy! Now, I look at the enabled items in my startup menu
and it is no wonder my pc runs slow. What can I disable? Do I need to keep
every .exe file enabled? My startup tray is so full of icons. Help!

First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that
start automatically, not just with those that go into the tray. Not
all autostarting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the tray.

On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its
Options to see if it has the choice not to start (make sure you
actually choose the option not to run it, not just a "don't show icon"
option). Many can easily and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't
work, run MSCONFIG from the Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab,
uncheck the programs you don't want to start automatically.

However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of
running the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell
you, you should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs
you run, but *which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but
others have no effect on performance.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do
is determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what
the cost in performance is of its running all the time. You can get
more information about these at
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it there,
try google searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed
decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.