Disabling Programs at Start-up

One of the key factors in ensuring you have a fast-running computer is to make sure you don't have a whole host of redundant programs launching as soon as you turn your computer on. Many programs that you never use will start up every time and then run in the background, slowing things down.

There are only a few absolutely essential processes that you need to keep running when your PC is turned on. To see what is set to run at start-up, click Start, then Run, then type msconfig and click the msconfig program. Once open, select the Startup tab, and you will see a window similar to that below:



Generally, most processes that you see associated with programs, or auto-updaters, can be disabled. For the best results, do an internet search of the name of the program and 'start-up' or 'msconfig', to see what other people have recommended about each one. For example, in the image above, I could disable Microsoft Office 2010 and the Java Auto Updater as neither is essential, yet they will slow down the startup of my PC.

Warning: Be careful, as if you disable something important at start-up then it can cause your computer to function improperly - also, if you stop an auto-updating program form starting then you will have to update it manually in the future.