In
I have a few programs that start after I boot up. They
automatically
go into the sytem tray and run. How do I configure WinXP so I
can
control what starts up and what doesn't? Thanks.
First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that
start automatically, not just with those that go into the tray.
Not all autostarting programs manifest themselves by an icon in
the tray.
On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its
Options to see if it has the choice not to start (make sure you
actually choose the option not to run it, not just a "don't show
icon" option). 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*. Some of them can hurt
performance severely, but others have no effect on performance.
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 at
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it
there, try google searches and ask 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.
