Richard_T

How do I know what I need in my Start Up folder?

Since I got the new windows SP2 and a new graphics card, I find my computer loads up allot slower than it used to. I looked at the files that run at start up and I was amazed how many there were. No wonder it takes so long! Besides my anti-virus and firewall software, what do I really need to load at start up? Also, is there any way I can find out what these files are before I disable them? I don't want a major catastrophe or anything if the wrong thing doesn't load when my PC starts up.

\"What? What did you say? You want me to turn it up??

Mike Fassler

yeah SP2 slows down pc performance alot, be sure and defragment your drive it helps alot, and kill excess processes you dont really need starting up at bootup. only things that need to load up at start up to work properly are defrag programs and antivirus programs, everything else should be fine. just google the process name and you will figure out what it does and it you really need it what kind of net connection do you have dialup or broadband? are you behind a router? if so disable the junky windows firewall its not gonna stop any hacker anyways. also kill the security center process its not needed.

EricWilliam

Mike, not to be blunt, but making a blanket statement that "sp2 slows down pc performance alot" is way off base..ive got a lab with 75 computers all running sp2 and not had a lick of trouble..it really annoys me reading all the microsoft bashing that goes on out here in internet land..anyway, Richard, if you want to know what services can be killed, check out
blackviper.com ..sounds strange i know, but he runs a very good site with everything you need to know about
services and how to configure WindowsXP

Wayne Bundrick

The firewall and other new precautions in IE may not stop a hacker but it will put a stop to the existing exploits that are out there and therefore it is worth it. I mean, you do lock your doors even though someone can break a window and still get in, right?

The hard drive is absolutely certain to be fragmented after installing SP2. And you need more than a defrag, you need your boot files moved to the front of the hard disk. I think Windows will do that for you, after about three boots, if the system becomes idle for 20 minutes, or something like that. Clicking Start/Run and typing "Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks" is supposed to force Windows to do it immediately.

Wayne Bundrick

\"It tastes like there\'s a party in my mouth and everybody\'s throwing up!\" -- Philip J. Fry

Scott L

Great advice Wayne. Out of all the things I tried to check defragging slipped my mind. I too had a much slower boot after SP2, checked out the Defragging Tool and the HD was in shambles. I just reformatted and it's nearly back to normal.

Now how do I get rid of that darn Welcome Screen that makes me click my name when Windows boots? Just started appearing after SP2.

Richard- you don't need anything in your startup folder except maybe Anti-virus.

Wayne Bundrick

In Control Panel / Users you can designate an account for automatic login.

Wayne Bundrick

\"It tastes like there\'s a party in my mouth and everybody\'s throwing up!\" -- Philip J. Fry