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Windows Tip: Speed Up Your Startup

Learn how to disable startup programs that eat system resources and memory.
Speed up your startup time by turning off those system-level tasks you don't need. Every application that launches at startup munches a few clock cycles, pulling power away from your CPU that could focus on more interesting stuff, such as games. Come along with Chris Pirillo as he shows you how to speed up your computer on today's episode of "Call for Help."

To run MSCONFIG, follow these steps.

Go to the Start menu.
Choose Run.
Type in msconfig.
Press OK.

Now that you are in MSCONFIG, go to the Startup tab. Uncheck any programs that you are familiar with. Otherwise, you may inadvertently turn something off that you need to compute normally. When you are finished selecting programs, click OK. Next time you start your computer, it should launch faster.

If you turn off a program that you need, simply restore it. Open MSCONFIG and click on the General tab. Select the box labeled "Normal Startup - restore all device drivers and software."

MSCONFIG is not available with Windows 95 or 2000. To speed your startup with Windows 95, download PC Magazine's Startup Cop. This free program will manage your startup programs. Since MSCONFIG isn't available for 2000, you'll need to download MSCONFIG for XP.