1. click on start
2. run
3. type msconfig
4. go to the startup tab
5. uncheck everything else except

• ScanRegistry
• TaskMonitor
• SystemTray
• LoadPowerProfile
• Your antivirus program (trust me, you won't have a hard time figuring out which one is your antivirus program. It is pretty obvious.)

Since you need these startup items to be running all the time in order for your computer to work properly, make sure there is always a check mark next to all of these startup items.

If you don't see one or two these items in your list of startup items, that's cool. For example, some people may not have a LoadPowerProfile while others may have two. The big thing to remember is that you don't want to uncheck any of these files if you have them.

The rest of the startup items, however, are completely optional. Whether you leave these optional startup items on or turn them off is completely up to you. A good rule of thumb is to disable only those programs that you recognize and don't need to have running all the time. When in doubt, leave it on. Or, better still, check out Paul "PacMan" Collins' huge "Startup Applications" list at http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm

yes i understand that is how it works when the system boots up.  but what about when the computer is already booted up & i open word or outlook.  how do i speed up the opening of these programs.

 

i recommend a defrag

Rache623,

I was going to suggest looking at the running processes with the Task Manager, but then I realized ME doesn't ship with a "Task Manager"!  I did find  a free one for ME, about which I know nothing other than what's in the article.

If it turns out some process is "hogging" the processor, you could get symptoms like that. Is your machine connected to the Internet? Perhaps it's picked up some form of spyware or malware. See the first link below for advice and help with spyware/malware problems.

Jim

I have norton system works and did a memory check & this is what it told me in addition to all the program infomation .  does anything look out of wack.  The only spyware adware i have is from Kaza lite .  however i do not have kaza running at the time.

< General Information >
  Memory Utilization: 51%
  Total Physical Memory: 512 MB (536870912 Bytes)
  Available Physical Memory: 188 MB (197382144 Bytes)
  Page File Capacity: 1537 MB (1611403264 Bytes)
  Available Page File capacity: 1304 MB (1367404544 Bytes)
  Largest free block: 1022 MB (1072152576 Bytes)
  Swap File pages: 130878
  16-Bit USER free percentage: 15%
  16-Bit GDI free percentage: 41%

based on the above does anything look out of whack.

based on the above does anything look out of whack.

No, that all looks OK. Does SystemWorks have the ability to display the processes list like the "task managers" do? When you start a program, is there an unusual amount of disk activity?

Also, did you scan the machine for spyware/adware with one (or better both) of the tools suggested in ChrisRLG's post?

Jim