Eliminate programs that run at start-up

You can speed up your computer's boot time and improve the overall performance of Windows XP by stopping programs from running at start-up.

Start by cleaning out your Startup folder. Find it in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, where username is your Windows logon name. Delete the shortcuts of any programs you don't want to run on start-up.

As with any shortcuts, when you delete them, you're deleting only the shortcut, not the program itself. (You can also clear out the start-up items by going to Start > Programs > Startup, then right-clicking items you want to remove.)

Next, clean out your Scheduled Tasks folder. Go to C:\Windows\Tasks, and delete the shortcuts of any programs that you don't want to run automatically on a schedule.These two steps should keep most, if not all, unnecessary programs from automatically running.

Note: You can bypass all the programs in your Startup folder on an as-needed basis. To stop XP from loading any programs in the Startup folder, hold down the Shift key during bootup.

No programs in the Startup folder will run, but the items will still remain there so that they will start up as they would normally the next time you boot.