Chapter 1 : Bootup
Chapter 2 : Services
Chapter 3 : Drivers
Chapter 4 : Video Card and DirectX
Chapter 5 : Antivirus and Spyware
BootUp
The first thing you need to do is configure the programs that load on startup. Your computer may take a long time to boot because it is loading many programs, and you will notice many icons down on the taskbar to the right by your clock. (Figure 1)
Figure 1
Usually, when you install a program, it will load on startup. Why does it do this? Basically, if you want to use a program, it will already be loaded into memory so it will load up fast. However, do you really need to have Quicktime loaded when you have no intention of using the program? This is taking memory which can be slowing your computer down since you only have so much memory to go around.
Usually, a program will have an option that you can set to prevent it from loading at startup. Also look at your “startup” folder under the START button. Start/all programs/startup. This folder should be empty. You can safely delete any shortcut in this folder by right clicking, then delete. You are only deleting the shortcut, not the program. Alternatively, if you do want a program to start when your computer boots up, you can drag and create a shortcut into this folder. Just right click on the programs icon and hold the mouse button down while navigating to the folder. Then once you let go of the mouse button select create shortcut on the menu.
The best way of preventing programs from loading on bootup is to use the MSCONFIG utility. Start/run then type “msconfig” (no quotes). If you receive an error saying Windows cannot find msconfig, or the DOS box appears then disappears quickly, don’t worry, this is a normal occurrence on some machines, especially after an upgrade. Usually when you receive this error msconfig has moved to the
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386
folder. It should normally be located in the
C:\WINDOWS\system32
folder. I would suggest right click copy and then right click paste it back into the system32 folder. Then Start/run “msconfig” will work. You should be using msconfig a lot so you can either use the run command or make a short cut onto your desktop. Do this by right clicking on msconfig and while holding the mouse button down, drop it onto the desktop. Then select “copy here”, or “create shortcut”.
MSCONFIG
Msconfig is a very handy tool. You only need to be concerned with the startup tab. Make sure you select Selective Startup and all the ticked boxes such as Figure 2.
Figure 2
Next, select the Startup tab
Most likely you will have every box checked. What you have to do now is figure out what you want to uncheck. The list of what you can have is huge and I am not going to get into it because someone else has already done it. You can do an internet search for the startup item as there are many webpages devoted to the msconfig utility. Here is one which I think is very good.
http://www.greatis.com/appdata/index.html
For comparison, I have 49 startup items, and only 3 are checked. See Figure 3.
Figure 3
Each box checked will load the program upon boot. If you are unsure then I would suggest doing them one at a time and rebooting to see what effect it has. The best way however is to check with the link I provided.
You should now notice your computer booting faster and a performance increase. I would check msconfig at the very least once a week.
Chapter 1 : Bootup
Chapter 2 : Services
Chapter 3 : Drivers
Chapter 4 : Video Card and DirectX
Chapter 5 : Antivirus and Spyware