I am running xp windows and my daughter has been downloading bits and pieces which are in the start up program. This means it takes ages to start my comp. Can somebody tell me how to delete these unwanted programs from start up please

Thanks

Keith

Start up programs are initiated from a number of places. You have two Startup folders, one for All Users, and one for the current user. These are combined into the Start Button/Programs/Startup folder. The easiest way to get rid of these is to navigate to the item from the start menu, right click it and then click delete. This will only remove the shortcut from the start menu; the program will still be installed so you should make a note of them in case you want to remove them permanently.

There are also a number of common registry keys that control startup (as well as numerous non standard ones which you have little hope of finding). These need to be deleted from the registry using regedit, but they can be disabled using msconfig. Click Start Button then Run and type msconfig in the box that comes up then click OK. The msconfig window will open, click on the startup tab and you will se a list of all common startup programs (including the ones in the startup folders), each has a check box that can enable it.

If you have so many extra programs you should make sure that you have good Anti Virus and Anti Spyware installed and that it is up to date and running. It's also worth going to a couple of the anti virus websites and running their free on line scans.

The other thing you could consider is reducing the privileges on your daughters login account so that she can't add so much software.

There are free programs such as TweakUI and Xsetup which can help with this.

... and if you're not sure what some of the program names that seem to be getting loaded are, there is a good list on http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

It will tell you if the programs are needed or not.