List of Programs that Should NOT be Unchecked in MSCONFIG?

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Carver

A friend has a Compaq Presario SR 1603 WM desktop that is super slow. I
helped him do a disk cleanup, defrag and uninstall some unused/unneeded
programs. Doing that does not seem to make his computer any faster. I assume
that the next thing to try is to lessen the number of programs at start up.
Where could I find a list of programs that shopuld NOT be disabled from
start-up?

In case you the question arises, his computer is slow all of the time, not
just at start-up
 
Carver said:
A friend has a Compaq Presario SR 1603 WM desktop that is super slow. I
helped him do a disk cleanup, defrag and uninstall some unused/unneeded
programs. Doing that does not seem to make his computer any faster. I assume
that the next thing to try is to lessen the number of programs at start up.
Where could I find a list of programs that shopuld NOT be disabled from
start-up?

In case you the question arises, his computer is slow all of the time, not
just at start-up
Click to expand...



The only thing you really need at startup would be the virus checker and
firewall (if you have one)

Not too likely anything else is needed...but if it turns out that you
disabled something you need there...you can always re-run msconfig
and add it.
 
Philo,

Thanks for your quick reply. It makes sense, as you suggested, that I could
always go back to msconfig if I disabled something that should run.

I have an HP Pavilion. When HP Support tells me to disable programs in
Selective Start, they always give a list of 10 or 12 programs that should not
be disabled (depending on which technician replies). So I have always
assumed that it is necessary for certain programs to remain. Since the Compaq
belongs to a friend, not me, I am especially concerned about doing something
wrong.
 
All items can be deleted in msconfig. If the OS needs something that was
deleted, it puts it back.
What is his memory size? Disk size? Give more info.
 
Carver said:
Philo,

Thanks for your quick reply. It makes sense, as you suggested, that I could
always go back to msconfig if I disabled something that should run.

I have an HP Pavilion. When HP Support tells me to disable programs in
Selective Start, they always give a list of 10 or 12 programs that should not
be disabled (depending on which technician replies). So I have always
assumed that it is necessary for certain programs to remain. Since the Compaq
belongs to a friend, not me, I am especially concerned about doing something
wrong.
Click to expand...


They have no idea what they are talking about...
Windows will run without anything at all in startup...
so all you neede there are applications that are essential to have running
at all times...
All my machines have a minimum of items in startup.

Because I use Photoshop I have the Adobe Gamma loader running at startup...
other than that just a firewall and Visrus checker.

My old , obsolete machines run better than the new ones I test out in the
stores!!!!
 
How to demolish your operating system in double quick time!

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
No Carver it is not as sensible as you seem to think it is!

Using msconfig is a diagnostic and not intended as a means of crippling
start up items.

A better approach is to use Autoruns.

Use Autoruns to find any unwanted start ups!
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx

With Autoruns you can uncheck an item, which disables it from starting,
or you can can right click an item and then delete it. If you uncheck
you can recheck to re-enable the item. It is a much safer approach than
editing the Registry. Another useful feature of the programme is that
you can right click an item and select Search Online to get information
about the item selected.

If you think a computer is slow there are many other things to look at
before pruning what loads when you boot.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
All about disabling programs at startup
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm

Also see:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/Autoruns.mspx
and
www.dougknox.com
Win XP Utilities, Startup Programs Tracker. This utility tracks the common startup vectors
and will show you what is loading at startup and from where. The included Help gives a
brief tutorial with some good information on removing the entries that the program finds.

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|A friend has a Compaq Presario SR 1603 WM desktop that is super slow. I
| helped him do a disk cleanup, defrag and uninstall some unused/unneeded
| programs. Doing that does not seem to make his computer any faster. I assume
| that the next thing to try is to lessen the number of programs at start up.
| Where could I find a list of programs that shopuld NOT be disabled from
| start-up?
|
| In case you the question arises, his computer is slow all of the time, not
| just at start-up
| --
| Carver
|
|
 
John John said:
No it doesn't.
Click to expand...


There are a few apps that will put themselves back in startup if you take
them out...
but for the most part they stay out unless you put them there...

However taking apps out of startup DO NOT destroy the OS.

In all the years I've been doing computer repair only once did I see an app
that did really need to be there...
it was some type of total security utility.
anyway a boot to safe mode and re-enabling it in startup was all that was
needed
 
I assume
that the next thing to try is to lessen the number of programs at start up.
Click to expand...


No, not correct. 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.


Where could I find a list of programs that shopuld NOT be disabled from
start-up?
Click to expand...


There is no such list. Windows doesn't need any of them. The only
programs that should not be disabled are those *you* want to start
automatically. Obviously that list should include your
security-oriented programs, but everything else is up to you.

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.

In case you the question arises, his computer is slow all of the time, not
just at start-up
Click to expand...


Then you should also consider the possibility of malware infection,
which is a very common problem these days, and is probably more likely
the cause of his performance issues than startup programs. Looking at
autostarting programs is fine, but I also recommend that you begin
troubleshooting by going to MVP Malke's malware removal site at
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware and
following the instructions there.
 
A friend has a Compaq Presario SR 1603 WM desktop that is super slow. I
helped him do a disk cleanup, defrag and uninstall some unused/unneeded
programs. Doing that does not seem to make his computer any faster. I assume
that the next thing to try is to lessen the number of programs at start up.
Where could I find a list of programs that shopuld NOT be disabled from
start-up?

In case you the question arises, his computer is slow all of the time, not
just at start-up
Click to expand...

Get this thing and Google up what the heck is starting up.

You don't really need many, if anything to startup.

This program is safe and rock solid.

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
 
Hogwash. I have unchecked every item in msconfig with no effect on the OS. I
can then recheck any item I want.
 
Perhaps my poor choice of words. I have done that several times as a
debugging technique. There is no damage to the OS
whatsoever.
 
That includes all tabs in msconfig?

--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Carver,
Another thing you should consider before unchecking programs in the MSCONFIG
startup folder, is to see what programs are being run at startup. Then press
Cancel, to prevent the need to Reboot. With list in hand, open each program,
and see if there is a setting under the program's
Options/Preferences/Settings/Tools folder to turn off being started when
Windows start, when an Internet Connection is found, for a scheduled update,
or any other reason. Especially for programs that you do not use often. If
there are not these features listed in the program, then you can go back to
the MSCONFIG Startup folder and uncheck the programs, you feel that you do
not need at startup, press OK, Reboot PC.

He may need a upgrade in RAM for his PC, these are the minimums that I
recommend:
For XP: min. 512KB of RAM Preferred: 1GB of RAM
For Vista: min: 1GB of RAM Preferred: 2GB of RAM

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A friend has a Compaq Presario SR 1603 WM desktop that is super slow. I
helped him do a disk cleanup, defrag and uninstall some unused/unneeded
programs. Doing that does not seem to make his computer any faster. I
assume
that the next thing to try is to lessen the number of programs at start up.
Where could I find a list of programs that shopuld NOT be disabled from
start-up?

In case you the question arises, his computer is slow all of the time, not
just at start-up
Click to expand...

Get this thing and Google up what the heck is starting up.

You don't really need many, if anything to startup.

This program is safe and rock solid.

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
 
Actually it was "List of Programs that Should NOT be Unchecked in
MSCONFIG?"


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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