One of the quickest ways you can improve the speed of your computer is with a little tweak to the Windows startup list. The Windows startup list is a set of all programs that run at boot time. Maybe this is why your boot time is slow as molasses?

Basically, the more stuff you have on your startup list, the slower things will become. Not only are programs starting up, but they will continue running after your computer has booted and you have logged in. So there can be a massive loss in performance.

The startup list gets bigger and bigger, because many software programs are automatically added to this list during installation. The fact is, you probably don’t need half of these apps to run at boot time. You should just be opening most programs when you need them.

OK, to edit the startup, just do the following. On the quick search box, type in msconfig (for XP click Run, then type in msconfig).

Next step is to click on the “Startup” tab, and you will see something like the following:

Now you can just check or uncheck items as desired. Do NOT uncheck anything you are not sure of. After you are done, just click “OK”.

The next time you boot up, things should be faster.

Note: You can also use software to help you manage startup items and other optimization tasks, one of the best products available is PC Health Advisor, which you can download right now by clicking the link.