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Could someone please tell me how to turn off running
background programs?
I assume that what you want to do is not just turn them off, but
stop them from automatically starting each time you boot.
On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its
Options to see if it has the choice not to start. 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.
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 with google
searches and by asking 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.
