Clean Up Week: Check Start-Up Programs

When you start up your computer, you know that Windows is loading.  However, Windows also has instructions to load a variety of start-up programs, too.  Some of these are important; you want your antivirus software to load right away!  However, sometimes programs that you don't actually need will be set to load at startup.  Once, I found a program that I rarely used had a little feature that "pre-loaded" portions of the software at startup so that the software would start faster when you opened it.

If it seems like it takes forever before you can use your computer after you log in, these startup programs might be the problem.  CCleaner (which I mentioned in yesterday's tip) has a feature that will allow you to disable or delete startup program entries.  Click on the Tools button on the left side, and then select Startup.  On the tabs at the top, you can see which programs start when Windows loads and which add-ons start when your browsers are opened.  If there is a program that you do not want to start, you can double-click the entry to disable it.  (Just like the programs list, do not disable entries unless you are sure that you do not want them.  You don't want to disable something critical to your computer's operation.)

If you don't want to install CCleaner, you can also do this through Windows.  In Windows Vista/7, go to a search box (on the Start Menu) and type "msconfig".  Then, click on the "Startup" tab to see the list.  Uncheck each option you do not want to start with Windows.  In Windows 8, the process is even easier.  Do a Ctrl+Alt+Delete and select "Task Manager" and then go to the "Startup" tab.  To disable an item, right-click it and select "Disable."

These tools are also helpful for fixing error messages that occur at startup.  Sometimes a program will be removed but its entry in the startup options will not, leading to an error message every time you turn on your computer.  If you get a message stating that "vloader.exe" is not available, you can go to CCleaner or msconfig and search for an option with that file name.  (You may need to look at the file name on the far right of the window.)  Disable that entry, and you should not see the message the next time you restart.