Windows Comand

[Phil Lilley]

What is the key command that brings up the menu that controls what programs are started up when windows starts?

[JobyKSU]

What is the key command that brings up the menu that controls what programs are started up when windows starts?

There are two (main) ways to have a program load on startup. The first, easiest, and safest is (assuming Windows XP) Start... All Programs... Startup. Anything with a shortcut in this section will automatically start after windows is up.

The second, and substantially more dangerous, is a few entries in the registry.

If you are relatively certain you know what you're doing, you can access this by start, run, and entering "regedit" and clicking ok. Navigate to:

HKey Local Machine --> Software --> Microsoft --> Windows --> CurrentVersion --> Run

Any entries here start automatically as windows is starting up. If you delete an entry, it will stop loading. If one does not know what they're doing, they can cause real headaches here!

Hope this helps...

::. JobyKSU

[strangercreek]

The other method is open a run command, by clicking your start button and typing MSCONFIG

This gives you a startup tab which lets you identify the items.

Note: this might not necessarily remove items from your startup folder but it usually removes the registry entries mentioned in the previous post. It will sometimes give you registry locations to items that are not in the convential "currentversion/run" key.

This works on 98,ME (i think), XP, and I think Vista. It does not come preloaded on 2000 however can be added by simply downloading or copying the MSCONFIG.exe file to the correct location (system or system32 folder)

Chances are 95% of what you see running in the systray (lower right hand) does not need to be there except your virus/spyware scan. Some people do prefer to have their PDA software and maybe printer toolbox, scanner software running all the time. I am a proponent of only calling up apps when they are needed. It saves memory.

I have increase performance for many a user simply by removing these items.

One other performance tip for XP, right click on "my computer" select properties, then the advanced tab, go to settings and select "best performance", then go down the list and select the last three boxes. This eliminates all of the fancy XP bs like fading in/out windows, shadowing, and features you don't need. Checking the last three boxes keeps the regular "look and feel" of XP, otherwise you can leave all of them unchecked. This makes clicking around and navigating the desktop quicker due to less delay.

There are many other performance tweaks besides but that one is very easy to do

[Phil Lilley]

I've checked and I was surprised how few programs loaded. On another computer, about 18 programs were loaded, slowing the computer down.

Thanks- maybe this will help someone else.

[Steve Smith]

Anytime you get an idea to edit the registry, make sure you set a restore point. If your not sure how to set a restore point, check the help files.

[Terry Beeson]

Good advice, Steve... Actually NOT a good idea to mess with the registry unless you "know what you're doing" but a backup of the file can "save the day."

[Seth]

Just learn how to back up and restore in case you goof something up. The best way to learn how to do something is getting in there and getting your hands dirty, especially when it comes to computers. This how I've went about acquiring most of my knowledge of pc's, networking, etc.