A couple of my local Guru's seem to think it is important to go to Run > msconfig > and 'uncheck' most of the things listed there. Supposed to turn on my computer's afterburner, I guess.

Any merit to their claim?

B

Don't get crazy with that, you need to know what it is that you're unchecking.
Go line by line and do a search on google. There are a lot of sites that will tell you what you're looking at and if you need it in there at startup. A lot of services should be there, but you can't always tell from what you're looking at. Your antivirus suite may have a tool to help with this, I know TrendMicro does.

This can help a little.

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/OSguides.htm

Makes sense. One said that I could un-check EVERYTHING, and what really needed to be there would 're-set' itself. Uh........... nope, not doing that, but still I did find and uncheck WinZip. I'll go cautious then and see what happens. This new 'Box is SO fast I wonder it little things like this topic really have any perceptible effect.... so I asked !

^Thanks speedbump - lots of good hints at blackviper's site!

Unchecking certain things (certainly not all things) can help with startup times.

What I do is to see what things are "checked" after a clean install. I usually leave those alone. Everything that comes after gets careful scrutiny, if I don't need/want it, out it goes. Helps a lot with the startup times.

<GROAN!>

-Skater

The reality is that there are certain things you can turn off to save memory or CPU cycles. Some people would disagree and say that letting everything run just like Microsoft says it should is a good thing. I know that is not the case because I've been turning of useless and unneeded programs that run in the background for years with no ill effects.

By the same token, turning off a program that needs to run to let another program run will keep something from loading that you might need.

Also black viper's site is perfectly safe as I've been going there for years with no ill effects. Just don't download any of his little registry programs and you will be fine. Messing with the registry if you don't know what you are doing or letting someone you don't know mess with the registry is not going to turn out well for you. Registry cleaning programs, in my experience, will generally leave you sorry you ever messed with them too. Registry cleaners are very good for a computer repairman's business though.

I have Microsoft's default safety program Defender turned off because I don't need it since I'm running Spybot and have had good luck with it. I also have Microsoft's free anti-virus program running too so I don't have a thing against Microsoft.

His site is only safe if you understand the risks and don't do anything stupid... in the hands of a fool it'll end in tears.

Registry cleaners and their ilk are asking for trouble, I have never seen one do any noticeable good, I have seen plenty do noticeable damage though.

Defender gets disabled by Security Essentials anyway

Please prove to me a single positive effect (other than making you feel warm and gushy inside) of doing ANYTHING listed on that site.

Show me any of the following:

+1% or more in CPU performance gain.
+1% or more in application speed.
+1% or more in application efficiency.

Any one of the above will do.

Show me the before state, and the after state.

Only then will I concede.

In truth, this is a trick question, because I know that it can't be done. At least, not with any of the "fixes" on that site.

Sorry, but I can see numerous ways that that site can cause you to break your machine, and not a single way, other than a placebo effect, that it can have a positive effect on a machine. Further, a lot of the descriptions of services and what they are for and what they do, and what effect they have on a machine are just flat out wrong. Leading me to believe that the guy just does not really know what he's talking about.

And yet... His site continues to proliferate. Go figure.


-Skater

I use msconfig to turn off things I don't want starting up:

Adobe Reader quick start (I hardly ever open PDFs)
Alternative User Input Text Input Processor for Office (Or ctfmon for short. I don't need these things)
Quick Time quick starter (If I want to update Quicktime, I'll do it myself)
Real Player updater (Again, I will check Realplayer updates myself)
Google Updater Service (See above)
Creative startup programs (For the CD player and other registration reminders)
Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service (I don't share my Media files)
There are others, though I cannot remember them all. By the way, this does improve Windows boot time.

I build all my computers from scratch so there isn't a lot of extraneous stuff in the startup menu to begin with. Right now I only have 2 programs checked. My anti virus program and ATI tray tools. I don't need things like iTunes or Quicktime in that menu. I have a dual boot system and my computer boots up in less then a minute, and that's with choosing which operating system to boot and then entering a password.

I've been turning off unneeded programs that just run in the background for years and don't understand why it would be a bad thing to do that. Never had one problem yet. Unless you are running a deathstar computer, I can't see how it would not speed up the boot and your computers responsiveness in general.

I am always running a Deathstar, but that is besides the point.


-Skater

turning off services only frees up memory (a lil) and boot time... but turning off the wrong ones can cause BSOD and failure to boot.

I have to get one of those Deathstars.

Exactly! And most of us are already running 2GB or more... At the 2GB point, you do not need the memory freed up. There will always be more physical memory available than is used.

Also, the boot time saved is pretty negligible, and if those services need to be started after the fact for whatever reason, you can kiss that savings goodbye, and start heading into the negative.

If you have a half-way decent machine built in the last 2-3 years, with at least 2GB of memory, then none of these "fixes" will have any positive effects on your machine, but the negative affects could potentially be disastrous.

-Skater

Fascinating, as always. Sort of reminds me of the design testing of Old Days when you built what the Engineer said, then unsoldered/clipped away parts, slowly, until it didn't work!

As a purchaser of Factory Job computers, I never have quite the latitude of choice as You True Nerds, but I *have* uninstalled, unchecked, un-used... extensively, from the 'what I'm dealt with'. Truth of the matter, except for learning a few 'cause/effect' things, I have yet to see or 'feel' any change in the way the computer runs. Maybe next time I run my Recovery DVDs I'll just yawn and leave it ALMOST alone. [Do have to un-install the A/V and install my own].

T'anks....

B

Turning off services is, in reality, a waste of time. The amount of memory you'll get back is miniscule. If a service is not needed then it'll go idle and uses a tiny, tiny, tiny amount of memory, not worth worrying about.

And, as Skater notes, if you later do need those services then they'll load anyway (if you've just set them to manual) or not at all (if disabled), in which case you could then be in trouble.

Forget Black Viper, it's 2009, we don't need to worry about freeing up the odd couple of K's here and there... The OS is more than capable of handling memory availability.

I've *no* reason to question your statement, honestly. I *do* wonder if the same kind of position can/could be taken with the Services running at ....Computer > {RC} Manage > Services and Applications > SERVICES. LOTs of stuff shows Automatic or Manual. I have always thought THIS group of processes was more Holy then the stuff in the msconfig Start Menu ...

Agree ??

B

I use to use an app called GameXP. It's an old app and I haven't used it for a year or so.(Not gaming like I use to.) But it would do the shutdowns in the msconfig for you as well as reg changes, I think. Do a google for gamexp and they have a new version, with a freeware. Anyways the version I have is 5 yrs old but it worked like a champ. Noticable improvement on this ol' p4 3.2 system. It backs up everything so you can recover if something goes awry.