There are a few ways to "speeed" up your computer or help it run better by using features that are already a part of Windows. I usually instruct people to use these features first before downloading any 3rd party software. One of the features is called msconfig. This feature allows you to determine, among other things, what programs will load automatically when Windows loads. This feature is also helpful in determining if there are any programs such as virii that are automatically loading up when you start Windows.

To access msconfig first click on the Start button in the lower left hand corner of your screen. Then click on "Run". This will open up a dialog box with an input text box that will enable you to type in the name of a program to run. This is where you want to type in 'msconfig', without the quotes of course. Once you have typed that in simply click on the "OK" or "RUN" button, or just hit 'Enter' on your keyboard. This will bring up the msconfig feature.

Once you have the msconfig feature opened you'll want to click on the tab that says "Startup". This will show you all of the programs that are configured to automatically start up when Windows loads. Go through the list and find programs that you do not want to automatically load. You can move the lines at the top of the window over to uncover all of the information on the various headings if you need to. Then just uncheck the program you do not want to load by clicking once on the checkbox. Be careful because some programs that are in there are supposed to automatically load by default. A lot of those programs will be in the C:\Windows directory. A lot of the programs you have installed will be in the C:\Program Files directory. If you do not know what programs are supposed to automatically load, feel free to do an online search for something like "msconfig windows startup" or something like that. Also, remember that anything you uncheck can be rechecked if you make a mistake.

By unchecking various programs that are automatically loading when Windows starts you will be freeing up valuable system resources. A lot of programs are loaded by default when Windows starts causing your system to slow down a lot during start up while it struggles to load these programs. Furthermore, your system resources are taken up by these programs after being loaded and depending on how many programs there are and the size of them, they can really make your system struggle. Note: you can

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