by Paula Maher

Created on: May 04, 2008   Last Updated: September 20, 2011

Do you find yourself sitting in front of the Pc getting very annoyed because it takes forever to start up? I may have a solution.

There are programs that automatically start up when you boot your computer all ready for you to access. If you look at the bar on the bottom right hand corner of your screen you will see the small icons of said programs. These are what generally cause a delay in starting your machine as you await for this hidden software to open.

Did you know there is a way to reduce the amount of software that automatically launches with your Pc? It may help speed up the initiation. It is also nice to know that you can actually choose which ones you want to access via the taskbar on the bottom of your screen.

One of the ways this can be done is using MSCONFIG command.

HOW TO USE MSCONFIG IN WINDOWS XP

• Click Start at the bottom left hand corner for you screen.

• Click Run.

• Type MSCONFIG in the window and click Ok.

• System Configuration Utility window will appear click the tab marked Start up.

From here a list of all the software will appear along with check boxes; the idea here is to uncheck the programs you don't really need in order to speed the system up.

Which do I uncheck? You may ask. This is an excellent guide by Paul Collins: http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php.  On this site you will be able to do a search on each individual abbreviated program name as it appears on the start up menu and the website will give you a clear indication as to what the abbreviation stands for and the keys below will assist you in deciding what to enable or disable.

Keys:

• "Y" - Normally leave to run at start-up
• "N" - Not required or not recommended - typically infrequently used tasks that can be started manually if necessary
• "U" - User's choice - depends whether a user deems it necessary
• "X" - Definitely not required - typically viruses, spy-ware, ad-ware and "resource hogs"
• "?" - Unknown

When you have made your choices click Apply.

You will be asked to restart your computer now or exit without restart. The changes will not be implemented until you re-boot.

Once you have done this, a window will appear each time you start up your pc indicating that there have been changes made to the start up menu; all you need to do here is click Ok and check the box asking for this message not be shown again .

HOW TO USE MSCONFIG IN WINDOWS

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