When your Windows computer starts to bog down, slow down and stall during startup – there may be an easy solution to your problem. See, many times when your computer is slow during the boot up or start up process, it’s due to too many programs trying to load when your PC is booting up for the first time. We’ve put together this short tutorial to show you, step-by-step, how to remove unnecessary startup programs and how to identify which programs are safe to remove.

Removing unnecessary programs to speed up XP startup

In order to find out which programs are loading when your computer is starting up, you need to open up the System Configuration Utility. Don’t worry — it’s a quick and painless process.

To access this utility:

• Click the Start button on your desktop
• Click on Run on the right-hand side
• Type in msconfig
• Hit OK

Now, you’ll need to view the programs that are scheduled to load when your computer is starting up and you can find this information by pressing the Startup tab.

Once you have this opened, you’ll likely see a good number of seemingly confusing words and file locations – but all you really need to know at this point is that the boxes with checkmarks (on the left) represent programs that are scheduled to run when your computer is starting up.

Identifying unnecessary startup programs

Now, this part is a bit trickier — but fortunately you have some help to do this. You’ll notice that in the Startup section of the System Configuration Utility that there are words next to the checked boxes –these are the words that we are going to use to check against the Windows Startup Database to see if they are necessary programs, whether they are programs that you can disable or even if they are potentially malicious programs which should be completely removed from your PC.

When you are attempting to check whether an application is needed by Windows XP, the search term you will be using will be in the Startup Item column next to a checked box. In some cases you may be able to guess what an application is, for instance, YahooMessenger is the popular instant messaging software –Yahoo Messenger. Unfortunately, not all startup programs are as clear as our example here – which is where the Windows Startup Database comes in handy.

Once you have identified and unchecked the unnecessary startup programs from the System Configuration Utility, you’ll need to press the Apply button and then OK. At this point you will be prompted to reboot your computer, though it’s generally ok to wait for the reboot until you are done with your session.

This one easy tip can make an immense difference in the amount of time that it takes your Windows XP computer to startup. If your computer is still lagging when it comes to starting up, please see some of our other computer optimization tips for ideas on how to address this problem.

As a Windows XP computer user, you’ve probably felt the pain of your computer taking an exceptionally long time to load after booting up. Some people literally have to wait five minutes or more for their desktop to display after their computer boots - now, we don’t know what your personal wait time is, but we do know of two ways to speed up the Windows XP startup process. That’s what we’re going to share with you here.

# Reason for slow XP startup: too many startup applications

Right after your computer boots up and before the desktop displays, there is a lot going on “under the hood” of your computer. Namely, essential operating system processes are executing and a barrage of programs are starting up at the exact same time. While some of these startup processes and programs are necessary - often times there are many unnecessary programs getting loaded when your computer is starting up for the first time - programs that are eating away at your available memory and computer resources. These unnecessary programs are essentially holding your computer hostage until they run their course, and by removing the commands to start certain programs when your computer’s loading, you will speed up the Windows XP startup process.

How to stop unnecessary programs from loading on boot up?

Now, this process is a bit technical and it can be somewhat problematic if you remove the wrong startup entry, but here is one method that you can use to eliminate unnecessary startup programs:

1. When your desktop has loaded, click Start >> Run
2. A box should popup and just type in: msconfig then hit your “enter” key or “Ok”.
3. Click on the “Startup” tab

At this point, you’ll see several lines and checkboxes on the left.  The checked boxes represent programs that are scheduled to load when your computer is booting and unchecked boxes represent programs that should not load when your computer is booting up. Now, we cannot possibly list all of the applications that can be safely “unchecked”, that is something that you will have to research on your own.

However, certain applications like Skype, Yahoo, AIM, Java updater, Quicktime and the Google toolbar notifier are generally safe to uncheck. If you’re not sure about an application, do not uncheck it or visit a computer forum and ask somebody who knows. Another thing - if you do not recognize a program name, do not uncheck it; removing necessary startup programs can cause system instability or worse - proceed with caution when utilizing this tip.

# Reason for slow XP startup: a messy registry

Your windows registry is the brains behind your computer - if it’s full of empty entries or outdated information it can really slow down your Windows XP startup time.

Fortunately, cleaning your registry is really simple with the help of a registry cleaning utility, and we recommend RegCure because it works and because it’s user-friendly.

By eliminating unnecessary programs and cleaning your registry, you can speed up your Windows XP startup time exponentially. As with any PC repair or optimization, please use caution and ask for help if you need it.  Speeding up your PCs startup time is something to strive for, but don’t risk damaging your computer for the sake of saving a few minutes a day - if you aren’t comfortable with modifying your startup programs, just using a registry cleaning tool may make a significant difference alone; it’s certainly worth a try.