Computer question for you Grand Poobahs of the PC World!

L6steel

L6steel

Joined
Sep 23, 1999
Messages
5,855
I was told I need to clean up my start folder because my pc is running slow, especially when I fire it up. I was told about a program that had something to do with startup cpr but had no luck finding it so I went into explore and found my startup file to see what was in it. Tons of shortcuts is all I saw in it. Why would it have those in the startup folder? Would it help or hurt if I deleted em?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
 
Start> Run> Type in msconfig> Click on Start Up> Check off what you do or don't want running in your System Tray. Restart you PC.

This will keep all of those non-essential programs running in the backgroud slowing down your PC. The only programs that run on my laptop are my antivirus program wireless connection, and anti-spyware program.
 
this might not be your problem but you may have some adware/spyware on your computer. download adaware and spybot search and destroy and run them from time to time. be careful what you change/delete as far as startup if you change the wrong thing it can get interesting. later,ahgar
 
Almost every time you install a program it puts itself in your startup list because the designer of that program thinks it's so wonderful you'll want to run it every time you start your computer. :rolleyes:

Unless you actually use it every time you start your computer, follow Ken's directions and uncheck the box. If you ever change your mind you can just check the box again to restore it.

K.V. Collucci said:
Start> Run> Type in msconfig> Click on Start Up> Check off what you do or don't want running in your System Tray. Restart you PC.

This will keep all of those non-essential programs running in the backgroud slowing down your PC. The only programs that run on my laptop are my antivirus program wireless connection, and anti-spyware program.
Click to expand...

Programs also put themselves on your desktop and in your tray, and you probably don't want them there either.
 
If you're unsure about whether or not you want something to start up automatically on your system, you can do a search for the exectuable name at www.google.com and find sites that describe what exactly the process does. A big list of stuff you don't recognize can be hard to wrap your head around.
 
"A big list of stuff you don't recognize can be hard to wrap your head around."

You aint kiddin, Simon!
I did what you said ,Ken ,and I can't make any sense out of the stuff in the file, lol. Guess I'll have to experiment or search google like Simon says and figure it out. I tried deactivating everything in the file and my pc said no way!
Thanks for the help guys!! I'll get it all worked out!
 
http://www.mlin.net/files/StartupCPL.zip

I think that's the program you want. MSConfig works, but this is a great utility to have that makes things more clear cut.

Install that, go to control panel and click startup, go to the HKLM/Run tab and the Startup (User) tab and take a picture of each. If you don't know how to do that, heres a quick step by step.

While in the prgram hold alt and press PRINT SCREEN (Located to the upper left of the backspace key usually)

Hold the windows key in, press R, then type in mspaint

Paste the image and save as jpeg

Go to www.tinypic.com and upload the jpeg and post it here.


Either me or some other members here can tell you what to remove. Might want to take a quick glance over the photos to make sure nothing you don't want showing on a public forum will be displayed, but if you could do this it would probably be the easiest way for us to help you clean up your startup.

Some other possible things you might want to try are defragging your harddrive(s), emptying cache's, checking for spyware etc. If you need help with any of these processes just ask.
 
I tried deactivating some of the items in there and when i rebooted the pc said I needed to fix it, lol. No matter what I did, I got the same result unless I put it back the same as it was to start.

Vivi, there is no startup icon in my control panel. I checked and it aint there. :)
 
That program I linked to at the top of my post adds startup to the control panel. Sorry for not stating that beforehand.
 
L6steel said:
I tried deactivating some of the items in there and when i rebooted the pc said I needed to fix it, lol. No matter what I did, I got the same result unless I put it back the same as it was to start.

Vivi, there is no startup icon in my control panel. I checked and it aint there. :)
Click to expand...

What about printscreen of what you have on the list?
(open the window with the list, press Printscreen (PrtSc, usually above arrows/next to backspace or F12 key) on keyboard, then open any picture editor and paste (ctrl+v) it there, save and post it here)
 
Ha, I got it Huugh!
startup.jpg


Oops, here's a second so you can see everything in there.
startup2.jpg


I can figure out what a couple of em are but I still don't know if I should leave em alone or not. :)
 
First of all, these sites can help you identify running processes: http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/other/a/
http://www.processlibrary.com/

Disable these:
engutil - easy cd creator
igfxtray - intel graphics helper, tray
start - try to find out what it is from where it is located (Program Files/Cox - have you installed something called Cox (game or anything)?), but it shouldn't be necessary
Cagent - Compaq OCR
Drgtodsc - easy cd creator "drag to disc" - if you don't use it, disable it
rxmon - roxio easy cd creator - only needed when burning, so get rid of it from startup
Realplay - realplayer (get rid of it, and you may also want to uninstall it and install "real alternative" instead)
Qttask - quicktime tray (same as above, except now it is "quicktime alternative")
capfax - it should make phone and fax service more user friendly, if you don't use it, disable it
WinMX - WinMX Peer-to-peer file sharing tool, if you don't use it, disable it
msnmsgr - MSN Messenger if you use it, leave it
wkdetect - checks updates for MS Works, disable it.
fdm - "free download manager" download accelerator, if you are using it, leave it as it is, if not, disable (or uninstall)

-----
Also I would suggest you to try out XP Anti Spy
 
Thanks Huugh!
I deactivated all the ones you said to.
Don't even have MSN Messenger in my add and remove programs file. Must have dumped it already. There are so many programs I never use but I don't know if it would hurt the pc to dump them or not.
The Cox file is my isp. I'm on cable now and have service with cox Cable. I also use their security suite which comes with an anti virus, anti spyware, firewall, and parental control program. I run the virus and spyware scan every other day and clean up my internet files on a regular basis.
Once again, thanks for the help!!!
I need to take some pc classes. Would be fun to learn all this stuff and maybe even how to write programs.
 
You are welcome :)
MSN messenger is bastard to uninstall - use XP anti spy to remove it.
As for uninstalling - printscreen is your friend :D (and Google too, you can usually find out very easily what anything is)

L6steel said:
I run the virus and spyware scan every other day and clean up my internet files on a regular basis.
Click to expand...
Just from curiosity - do you use Internet Explorer? I recommend Firefox, it is easy to use, free, more secure and has more features. If you don't like Firefox, then you can try Opera. But MS Internet Explorer is rubbish.
 
I'm using win2k... when I type msconfig, nothing happens... are my paths set wrong, or is this an XP only type of thing?
 
If you want msconfig you can get it from any WindowsXP (or even download somewhere on the internet). It will work in W2K

here is (search for msconfig) another way how to list startup programs.

As I have already said that function is also in Spybot S&D.

Or if you want to keep it simple and not install anything, then perform this:
Start -> Run -> regedit -> My Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Run

There you can simply delete registry key of unwanted program.
 
I can tell a difference in the speed of my pc now!!
I do use MS Internet Explorer Huugh. Didn't know there anything else available. Is Firefox an available free download or do I have to buy it? I'll give it a try!
 
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