13 replies to this topic

[James (Jim) Hillier]

Claw - Sorry for not getting back to you mate. Had visitors all weekend; children, grandchildren and even a great grandchild, so been pretty busy.
Will post something tomorrow mate.

[Claw]

PleaseJim,,always spend time like that. Those are blessings.Grandchildren and great grandchidren are all rewards you get when the "GOOD LORD" decides you've done alright. Enjoy every second of it buddy.

[James (Jim) Hillier]

Okay Claw...I'm back. The article Marko linked to is all about Windows services, I wasn't talking about Windows services. I wouldn't recommend users mess with them, not unless they are advanced users at least. Most services involve dependencies, which means that switching off one service may actually affect several other services that depend on it, and a feature you actually want will then also stop working.

What I was referring to was mostly the startup programs and the background running processes they initiate. The best clue that a machine's resources are being overloaded is the number of icons in the sys tray, if there are lots of icons you can bet that is a major cause of an unresponsive machine. Mouse over each icon and identify associated programs.

Machines slow down over time, yes. Part of that is down to poor maintenance, lack of cleaning, lack of defragmentation, etc. but it is also because, as time goes by, people install more and more software which insists on auto-starting with Windows. In the vast majority of cases it is totally unnecessary, security software being one notable exception.

The preferred method for disabling auto-start is via the software's own preferences/settings: right click on the sys tray icon, select preferences/settings and disable the option. But this is not always possible, so we move on to Windows System Configuration utility.

Type msconfig into a 'Run' dialogue box and click OK. Now in the System Configuration window click on the Startup tab. If you see lots of items listed and enabled you know you are on the right track.

Now click on the Services tab and then click the little box next to "Hide all Microsoft services". Again, if you see lots of items listed and enabled you are definitely on the right track.

It's quite usual for me to find 20, 30 or even more items listed and enabled under each tab. Now all you need do is identify each enabled item and disable all those deemed unnecessary, which will generally mean the vast majority.

Here's a screenshot of my startup items; I have a couple of security programs, an email manager and several little desktop tools enabled:


Here's a screenshot of my non-ms services, as you can see, Avast is the only one I have left enabled:


That's it, those items are the most neglected by your average user. As I said in my original post, if the user manages those elements properly and keeps them under control, it goes a long way to ensuring a responsive machine.

Cheers mate...Jim

[Claw]

Thanks Jim,,I just checked 2 of my computers,,,,it wasn't as bad as I expected. I owe you one buddy. Oh yea,,I hope you had a great time with your family,,treasure every second of it.