GeekByte: Clear Out Those Startup Programs

In Windows XP and Vista you can clean up what starts when you boot your computer. There’s a lot of programs that you really don’t need to have starting up every time you turn your ‘puter on. Most programs seem to want to stick themselves in the startup without you knowing, and before you know it your system tray (by the clock on your taskbar) is full of little icons and your computer takes forever to boot. There’s a couple of ways to prevent those items from starting up. The first way is to click on Start and choose Run. Type msconfig and click OK. A new window will open with several tabs at the top. Choose the Startup tab. You can uncheck the items that you don’t want starting up with your computer. If you aren’t sure of what one is, the Command and Location columns may help you figure it out. You can always go back into the Startup tab and recheck anything that you decide you would like starting up, so don’t be too afraid to get creative.

The second way is to click on Start, Programs, and choose the Startup folder. Right click on anything that you don’t want starting up and choose Delete. Doing this will place that shortcut in your Recycle Bin. Keep those shortcuts in there for a while until you are sure that you are happy with the result.