THATgirl
New Member
Flamey this is what helped me besides defrag and scan every other day.
Click on Start, and type in MSCONFIG into the run box and click enter. A program called the System Configuration will open up. Click on the Startup tab (last one in xp, 2nd to last in vista). This is a list of every program that starts when your computer starts up. Most of it does not need to be here!! You can safely uncheck every program here without killing your computer, so don't be afraid (though you usually want a few to remain checked). If you find you need something checked, just go back and recheck it after you reboot. So, the question is, which programs do you want to remove? Here's how you tell.
First, uncheck everything related to quicktime and real player, they always manage to check themsevles. Expand the command column so you can see the entire column of file names. If you recognize the program, and don't care if it starts when Windows starts (you can always manually start the program, like quicktime) then uncheck it. If you are unsure what the program is then type in just the file name itself, like Acrotray.exe into google and the first few sites listed will tell you exactly what it is. In this case, adobe acrobat. Acrobat is actually partially running on your system even though you aren't using it! Why? Well, for example if you were running Home Inspector Pro which uses Acrobat, then your first pdf creation of the day would start up a whole 3-5 seconds faster. Not really worth it, so uncheck the box. Go through all the programs, typing them into google and uncheck the ones you don't want to start. Usually there is a touchpad program for laptops and a few other programs you might want to keep but 90% you will uncheck. Just ask here if you are unsure, or uncheck it and reboot and see what happens. I guarantee this will speed up your machine quite a bit. Often times you will even find a virus or spyware listed here as well.
Click on Start, and type in MSCONFIG into the run box and click enter. A program called the System Configuration will open up. Click on the Startup tab (last one in xp, 2nd to last in vista). This is a list of every program that starts when your computer starts up. Most of it does not need to be here!! You can safely uncheck every program here without killing your computer, so don't be afraid (though you usually want a few to remain checked). If you find you need something checked, just go back and recheck it after you reboot. So, the question is, which programs do you want to remove? Here's how you tell.
First, uncheck everything related to quicktime and real player, they always manage to check themsevles. Expand the command column so you can see the entire column of file names. If you recognize the program, and don't care if it starts when Windows starts (you can always manually start the program, like quicktime) then uncheck it. If you are unsure what the program is then type in just the file name itself, like Acrotray.exe into google and the first few sites listed will tell you exactly what it is. In this case, adobe acrobat. Acrobat is actually partially running on your system even though you aren't using it! Why? Well, for example if you were running Home Inspector Pro which uses Acrobat, then your first pdf creation of the day would start up a whole 3-5 seconds faster. Not really worth it, so uncheck the box. Go through all the programs, typing them into google and uncheck the ones you don't want to start. Usually there is a touchpad program for laptops and a few other programs you might want to keep but 90% you will uncheck. Just ask here if you are unsure, or uncheck it and reboot and see what happens. I guarantee this will speed up your machine quite a bit. Often times you will even find a virus or spyware listed here as well.
