Hi:o

I'd love to know how I can stop programmes from starting up when the computer is first switched on, as it is taking ages to load up. I have XP professional.

Hope you can help!

Hi go to START --> RUN and type msconfig

Then click the startup tab at the top. Then deselect everything you don't want to start and press OK then you will get a message saying restart is required. It is not just press exit without restart.

Then next time you restart and logon you will see a box saying you have disabled things just check the box that says don't show this again or similar then press OK.

If you need to do it on any more porgrams in the future just repeat this.

There's a couple of ways to do this.
1/ ** EASY ** Click Start > All Programs > StartUp and just delete the entries that you don't want to start on boot up. (May not contain what you are looking for)
2/ ** HARDER ** Click Start > Run > Type MSCONFIG > Enter.
Go to the last tab, labeled Start Up and uncheck the ones you don't want to start on boot up. *** Be Very CAREFUL with this as its a very powerful tool ***
3/ There are other ways, Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/) has this functionality builtin to its Advanced tools and there are third party programs that also do the same.

Hope this helps

True but 3/4 of things on my computer are in the registry so you need msconfig or spybot or manually delete them yourself as I do.

Hi,
I would suggest using the Start/Run , then type in the MSCONFIG method.
Click on the StartUp tab, and look to the left, scroll down, and see everything starting up when you boot up the computer.
You can left click on anything, (such as Auto Updates), or anything you see that you might not want starting up. That removes the checkmark.
Then click on Apply, and OK. Re-boot.
If you have unchecked something you really need, you can always go back and recheck it.
I know this answer has already been addressed, but try it.
Later, if you wish to know how to Edit the Registry, and remove any entries from there as well, please post back. Unchecking something in the StartUp tab stops it from starting up on boot up. And, if you find you aren't going to ever use it, it can then be removed from the Registery as well.
Best of luck.

Thanks so much for your replies. DId as you suggested and computer is loads more quick now. Thanks again!:D

Excellent, I'm so glad we could help.