Control
Windows Startup Applications
The startup speed of Windows XP is very dependent
on the number of applications that are automatically started during
Windows startup. Part of computer usage is to install additional
computer software. Although a lot of applications add useful
functionality to the computer, many of them configure part of the
application to be started when Windows starts. Typical applications
that do this are hardware drivers (printers, video cards, etc.) and
security software.
For some of this software it is necessary or
beneficial to be running at the start, but it is certainly not required
for all these applications. And it definitely has a negative impact on
the startup time, Windows can boot slow as a result. So it is better to
select which applications you want to start during Windows startup and
which not.
Everyone is probably familiar with the Startup
folder in Windows. Applications present in this folder are
automatically started during Windows startup. Removing applications
from this folder
that are not required to start will speed up your system start.
The startup folder is however not the only method
of starting applications automatically in Windows XP. The registry also
has some options that allow applications to be started at load time.
Controlling these applications can of course be
done directly by using a registry editor, like regedit in Windows. You
need to know where to look in the registry and how to change the
registry. Easier is to use a free applications from Microsoft called
Autoruns. The application can be downloaded at: www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx.
When started, the autoruns application will show
everything that is loaded during Windows startup, drivers, services and
applications. The various tabs in the application interface allow easy
access to the categories. Using the description, publisher and image
path, it is easy to select software that is not needed at computer
startup. Clear the checkbox in front of the entries that you want to
disable.
Next time you boot your PC, the startup time
should be a lot less. Windows will load faster and probably also use
less memory at startup. If your system is low on memory this will be
especially good since the page file usage will be reduced.
Note: If you want to
start Windows without starting the applications in the startup folder,
you can press and hold the Shift key during startup. This is a one-time
function though.
|
