How to Use MSConfig to Speed Up Your Computer

                    Use MSConfig to Speed Up Your Computer

    There are a few ways to "speed" up your computer or help it run better by using features that are already a part of Windows. I usually instruct people to use these features first before downloading any 3rd party software. One of the features is called msconfig. This feature allows you to determine, among other things, what programs will load automatically when Windows loads. This feature is also helpful in determining if there are any programs such as virii that are automatically loading up when you start Windows.

    To access msconfig first click on the Start button in the lower left hand corner of your screen. Then click on "Run". This will open up a dialog box with an input text box that will enable you to type in the name of a program to run. This is where you want to type in 'msconfig', without the quotes of course. Once you have typed that in simply click on the "OK" or "RUN" button, or just hit 'Enter' on your keyboard. This will bring up the msconfig feature.

    Once you have the msconfig feature opened you'll want to click on the tab that says "Startup". This will show you all of the programs that are configured to automatically start up when Windows loads. Go through the list and find programs that you do not want to automatically load. You can move the lines at the top of the window over to uncover all of the information on the various headings if you need to. Then just uncheck the program you do not want to load by clicking once on the checkbox. Be careful because some programs that are in there are supposed to automatically load by default. A lot of those programs will be in the C:\Windows directory. A lot of the programs you have installed will be in the C:\Program Files directory. If you do not know what programs are supposed to automatically load, feel free to do an online search for something like "msconfig windows startup" or something like that. Also, remember that anything you uncheck can be rechecked if you make a mistake.

    By unchecking various programs that are automatically loading when Windows starts you will be freeing up valuable system resources. A lot of programs are loaded by default when Windows starts causing your system to slow down a lot during start up while it struggles to load these programs. Furthermore, your system resources are taken up by these programs after being loaded and depending on how many programs there are and the size of them, they can really make your system struggle. Note: you can also click on the 'Services' tab and check the box that says 'Hide all Microsoft Services'. This will hide all the Microsoft services being loaded, enabling you to view services by 3rd party vendors that you may also not want to run automatically on startup. The difference between these and the startup tab programs we worked with earlier are that services are usually things like networking and internet software or printing services. Some of these services may also use up valuable system resources but most of the time the items in here are supposed to be running. Notice I said MOST of the time. Again, if you want to be sure....do an online search to find out which services are supposed to be running.

    After you have gone through and unchecked the startup programs and services you no longer want to load automatically you can click the 'Apply' then 'Ok' buttons on the bottom. After you do this Windows will pop up a message saying something like "Some of the changes you have made require you to restart your computer, would you like to restart now or later?" And if you are able to go ahead and restart I would recommend doing it, otherwise you can just restart later. After you restart or the next time you startup your computer a message will pop up that says "You have used the Windows Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts.....etc." Go ahead and click the checkbox that says "Do not show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows starts" and click the 'Ok' button.

    And that is all there is to it! You have now configured Windows to only load up specific programs and services of your choosing and freed up valuable systm resources as well! This should make a noticable difference in the startup time and overall performance of your computer, based on how many programs you deselected and the size of those programs.

Good luck and happy computing!

Be sure to check out my website @ http://www.RegNeinStudios.com

-Curt