Change Startup Programs & Diagnose Error Messages Using msconfig

Do you have a lot of programs that startup and it takes forever for you to wait for them all to load before your computer is ready to start using?  How frustrating is that?  Do you receive any error meesages that only happen at startup and you just don't know what it means or what it's from? It almost makes restarting your computer a HUGE hassle.
Using the msconfig command can help eliminate all those startup programs that get in your way and cause problems and computer lag.

SYSTEM CONFIGURATION UTITLITY
Go to START --> RUN (another way is to select the Windows Key plus the letter R)


You will then type "msconfig" without the quotes into the box that appears.


A new window will appear and you are going to want to select the Start tab - this is THE only tab we will make any changes in.
**WARNING - Do NOT mess with any of the other tabs unless you know what you are doing.


Each item has a check mark on the left hand side of it. Un-check the programs you do not want to startup anymore.  All of the checked ones are what are starting up each time you boot up. You also need to know that by un-checking these boxes does NOT remove or uninstall the program from your computer and you can always go back and re-check any of them that you want back again.  NOTE:  Only uncheck ones that you know for sure what they are as some of them are used and needed by the system.  A good way to tell which ones to makes changes to is by looking further over to the right under the Manufacturer and Commands columns.  These tell you who they are by and where they are stored on your computer.  The ones that start with C:\ProgramFiles are really the only ones you want to mess with. One that start with C:\Windows\system32 are the ones that are needed by the system to start up properly.


When you are finished un-checking the programs you no longer want to startup, click APPLY.  Then click CLOSE.

Another window will appear letting you know that until you restart your computer, the changes will not take effect.  Select if you want to RESTART now or EXIT WITHOUT RESTART to restart at a later time.



DIAGNOSE STARTUP ERROR MESSAGE
You can also use this to diagnose any startup problems you may be having.  If you are always getting some weird system error message of any kind, you can un-check all of the boxes and one by one check them and restart after each one.  When you get to the error message again at startup, the last one you checked will be your problem.  Just uncheck that one and your problem of startup error messages should be gone.  This is not a guarantee to fix your startup error message, but it is a good start.

ENJOY!