Windows XP Disabling Items On Start Up

nivrip

nivrip

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Daughter's PC is slow to get going so I've taken off all programs that we feel we can do without, used CrapCleaner extensively and defragged.

I've been on Start Up and disabled lots of items on there too. However, there are some on there that I'm not sure about. I'm sure I can remember Mucks saying that it is possible to disable everything but as a five star amateur I need the reassurance of the people who understand these things.

I thought it might be sensible to leave KIS enabled (am I right?) but can I ask specifically about the following.

There are five items under C:\WINDOWS\system32\

Namely
LVCOMSX.EXE
igfxtray.exe
igfxpers.exe
hkcmd.exe
ctfmen.exe

I've no idea what these are, so, is it safe to disable these five?
 
whoa !!! not so fast

no, you do NOT delete "stuff" from any system folder, especially NOT from system32 ... if add/remove programs didn't delete it, you shouldn't in that particular folder.

Try uninstalling programs no loger needed via add/remove

remove anything in the startup folder, here you can just delete or move to a backup folder if you like

name the offenders & we'll try to point you in the right direction

If they are viruses, worms, trogans and or other nasties ... format!!


:user:
 
Thanks for the replies, guys. Seems my post is somewhat ambiguous :o .
I have deleted unwanted programs using add/delete in Control Panel. I have NOT tried to delete the system32 items I mentioned (wouldn't dare). The items I have listed all appear in the Start Up list and I am simply wondering if they are neccessary in Start Up or whether they can be disabled in that list in order to possibly get the PC up and running a bit quicker.

BTW, it's ctfmon.exe (thanks V_R) not ctfmen.exe
 
I've a post here somewhere about that Office crap and how to disable it ... removing Ctfmon.exe from MSConfig does not disable Ctfmon.exe

The ctfmon.exe file should not cause system errors or problems since it is not a virus or harmful file. It is more a nuisance than anything.

My simple solution was to rename it ... cftmon.exe - cftmon.sav ... it'll pop back , especially if Office is part of your MS updating. ;)

One foolproof method, uninstall Office. :D


:user:
 
Just turn it off via Reg and Lang settings in control panel. Thats what i do. :)

Running Office 2010 here without it quite happily.
 
it is not enough to uninstall your programs using windows build-in uninstaller, there may be a lot of left-over rubbish, you should use a proffessional uninstaller to uninstall them and clean the registry. The most important thing is that you should do a virus scanbefore you do anything else above. Be care to delete any file in the system directory
 
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