8 ways to speed up Windows XP - Day 3

Day 3 – Prevent unnecessary programs from starting 

Yesterday we looked at removing unwanted applications from your PC and today we are going to stop the valid programs from slowing us down when we don't need them. A good place to tackle these programs is at system start up.  Programs that launch themselves at startup not only delay the PC from booting up but they will continue to run in the background and act as a drain on other system resources.

There are several ways to stop an application from running when Windows loads, I will address the two that can be easily carried out without the risk of intefering with critical startup processes.

1. Open up the application and check the settings for an auto-start option that you can disable.

2. Check the startup folder for shortcuts to applications you do not want to start when the PC boots up. The startup folder can be found by clicking on Start and All programs.

Right click the shortcut in the startup folder for the appropriate application and press delete on the keyboard. By doing this you will only delete the shortcut and not the application itself.

Well done, another step completed. See you tomorrow for step 4  :-)