Help with startup

[Mathlete]

So I am trying to speed up a slow second computer. It has a lot of stuff on it that I don't want deleted. I would prefer not to have to get all of the stuff off it and reformat. As I look at the startup items there are a whole bunch of them that I have no clue what they do. Short of looking each one up individually, are there any freeware programs that will aid in the process of speeding up an old computer?

Thanks in advance.

 

[EagleKeeper]

If they are in the StartUp directory, just copy them all off to a scratch area.
anything in the startup should be optional for the computer.

This is different than drivers and utilities that are identified in the registry.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Windows Defender will list what starts up. You can disable most of them.

 

[mc866]

ccleaner will allow you to disable or delete startup programs.

also type msconfig in the run command line and go to the startup tab to make the changes without any 3rd party applications.

 

[armstrda]

start - run - msconfig

 

[tzdk]

No there are no programs that can automatically remove entries because they are useless. You could do a Hijackthislog and/or an Autoruns log. Post it on the internet for the world to see. Hijackthis log you copy and paste to http://pastebin.com/ when you click send, link change in browser and those clicking that will see what you pasted. Autorun log can be 1-3mb so upload to a service like http://drop.io/ again give url which let people download log. Autoruns is here http://technet.microsoft.com/e...nternals/bb963902.aspx like a very extended msconfig. No install needed, at the bottom click Run Autoruns - in IE preferably but program wont mess up even if you do install it. Click save when its done. Hijackthis you get here http://www.trendsecure.com/por...ls/hijackthis/download can click executable link and run it with no install. Do a system report, copy all, paste. Done.

There are similar tools which can report hardware. Some do both software and hardware like SIW http://www.gtopala.com/. But all dumb and cant tell you how to optimize. Be careful with SIW btw, can also report license keys and some networking details you might not want out. You will see report is in 3 sections, hardware, software, networking. These settings exclude some noise and personal info http://i32.tinypic.com/11htoag.jpg

 

[Rottie]

Winpatrol is what u should be looking for

 

[akugami]

There are also a ton of services you can disable. Blackviper.com has a lot of information that will help speed up your computer. Disabling one or two might not do much but cumulatively they can add up to the point where your computer feels faster. Especially on older computers.