How to Optimize Windows Startup

Optimizing Windows 7 Startup

1. Open MSCONFIG. Hold down Ctrl and hit R. This will open a small Run box in the lower left-hand corner of your screen. In this box, type in 'msconfig.' Hit enter to continue.

2. Open the Startup tab. A small window should open in the middle of your screen with five different tabs at the top of the window. These tabs are 'General,' 'Boot,' 'Services,' 'Startup,' and 'Tools.' Each of these controls something different. Click the Startup tab to continue.

3. Review the information presented. The Startup tab will list all the programs that currently start running when the computer boots up. The name of each program should be on the far right-hand side of the box below, labeled 'Startup Item.' The next row over to the right should be 'Manufacturer.' These are important because before you disable a program, you need to know what it does for your computer. For example, it is not a good idea to disable your antivirus, which usually starts with the computer. Here are the basic rules to go by:

   1. Look at the Manufacturer: If you are looking down the Manufacturer row and you see 'Unknown,' you may be looking at a suspicious programs. Any program that is worth its salt, and is safe, will show its name off as much as possible (e.g., Apple Inc., Piriform Ltd, Google Inc., etc.).
   2. Look at the Software Updaters: These programs are important to update specific programs on your PC. For example, Google Update should appear in your startup if you have Chrome, Google Drive, or other Google products. Of course, it is up to you if you want to keep these running at startup, but they can slow things down a bit.
   3. When in doubt, Google it. If you are not sure about a company name or program name, and you would like to see what it does or other details regarding the program just go to Google and enter the company or program name. You might type in something like 'What is BlueStacks Agent?', for example.

4. Disable startup items. Each program should have a small checkbox to its left. Once you have figured out exactly what the program you would like to disable does, just uncheck the box. When you are finished choosing which programs to remove from your startup, hit the 'Apply' then 'OK' buttons at the bottom.

5. Restart the computer. A small little box should pop up that has two different buttons in it. If you don't mind restarting your computer, hit the 'Restart' button, but if you would like to wait until later, just click the 'Exit without restarting' button. The changes you have made to the startup will not take effect until the PC is restarted.