Speed up Start-up Time Too

Taking forever to shutdown is bad enough, but loooooong start-up times are a pain in the ass, too. One possible reason for a long start-up, as well as sluggish performance, is that there's too much crap loading itself at start-up and running in the background.

You can find out what's loading itself at start-up by clicking on Start, then Run..., typing in msconfig, and clicking OK. You'll see a list of all the things set to load up when you start the computer. Many of them are essential for running your computer, some are optional, and some are crap. But which is which? That's where Sysinfo.org comes in. It's got a huge, searchable list, of all the programs you're likely to see in that start-up window, what they do, and whether you should keep them loading every time you start your computer.

It can get a bit confusing, since a lot of trojans and other nasties try to trick you by installing malicious applications with the same names of the important files, but they are put in a different directory (not in system32 in WinXP where they belong). Just type in the name of an app, see what Sysinfo advices, and then leave it alone, or get rid of it, whichever you prefer. Just be careful! Chances are you won't screw up your computer, but it's always possible if you're not careful or if you're totally clueless.

Good luck.