Which among the startup "junks" do we really need?

[jagged]

I have a T60 with T2400 Core Duo, ATI X1300, and 1GB RAM (512x2). I want to make my Thinkpad to load and run a bit faster but no sure which background processes to remove.

I installed Tuneup Utilities 2006 from www.tune-up.com and so far, my computer performance improved a bit. Are there other things I should be doing also?

When I run Windows Task Manager, it says that there are 63 processes running and and here are the data from the Performance window in it (only running Mozilla Firefox right now) .

Physical Memory (K)
Total 1046892
Available 542988
Systema Cache 427168

Is my computer running efficiently already or are there ways to improve it some more? I notice that in my old HP DV1000 which I currently reformatted, theres something like 30+ processes running only.

Please help, thanks!!!

[donking!]

Check out these threads:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=14185
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=22807

Especially the second link. In the first post of that thread, I mention a couple web sites that give you the rundown on just about every startup process you might have.

There's really two issues here, startup processes and services. The startup processes are pretty easy to deal with. Probably you would be best to download autoruns and use that to disable startup processes.

http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html

Autoruns allows you to disable processes without deleting them from the registry. That way if something messes up you can just uncheck the appropriate box and be back where you started.

As far as services go, you really have to work through them one by one and refer to the websites that I provide the links for (or something like them). Everyone has different needs and uses, so it's not really possible to say generically what services you need and don't need.

For more ThinkPad related processes and services (and not XP ones--of which there are many that aren't necessary for most people) you're probably best off Googling those processes to figure out what they are. There are a lot of web sites that tell you about processes. I found auditmypc.com and neuber.com to be the most consistenly useful and provide detailed information. But Googling is best, because none of these sites are exhaustive. You never know who's going to cover which process.

I'd also say before you start disabling things, you should definitely backup your registry and probably make a complete backup image of your startup partition with something like Acronis True Image (there's a trial version that can be used for up to 15 days for free).

It took me many hours to do this. But in the end I only have 40 processes running at startup and about 230mb RAM in use. And that was even lower before I installed my firewall and virus software.

Also, if you're a stickler for this sort of thing, it's a good idea after you install any new software to look at your list of running processes and see if they added anything. Many programs do (especially annoying little autoupdate checkers or fastlaunching processes).

Good luck!

[sidd]

Just a comment: Instead of installing yet another software, you can use msconfig (start->run->msconfig) to selectively disable registry startup/services/start menu startup entries without deleting (and losing) them.

[donking!]

Msconfig does not show anywhere close to as many processes as Autoruns. Autoruns is a 340kb stand alone application that doesn't require any special installation process (messing with one's registry, etc.).

When configuring services, msconfig only allows you to hide and unhide services. Services.msc, recommended by one of the websites I refer to in the threads I mention above (start->run->services.msc), allows you to determine whether a service starts automatically, manually, or is disabled altogether. A lot of services that you may not want to have at startup you still want them to be able to be run manually (other processes, when initiated, will execute them)(though sometimes once set to manual a service won't work--e.g. the automatic updates service). Services.msc also allows you to start and stop the service on the spot. And it provides brief descriptions of each service, as well as showing the current state of the service (whether it is started or not).

[sidd]

msconfig is not a replacement for service panel in the management console. But for startup programs, for me msconfig is sufficient. I ran autoruns (apologies for the misconception that it needs to be installed) - and it shows way too many information which can easily confuse a novice user. Showing protocol handlers, filters along with normal startup processes is overwhelming. But I do agree that it is more powerful tool than msconfig - but for the sole task of selecting which programs are run at startup, msconfig is a cleaner alternative, at least for me.

[donking!]

I agree with that. Autoruns can be confusing and for only the task of disabling most startup processes msconfig is probably fine. I was just trying to outline what someone might do, who hasn't done this kind of thing before, who wants to get deeper into things.

I think it is a bit misleading to say msconfig is good for just startup programs. There are many processes that run at startup which are not designated in any way in the msconfig "startup" list. A lot of them are found instead in services (and some still elsewhere) and I don't think, as I said, msconfig is better for that, even for the novice.

But I know a lot of people find msconfig to be a good basic tool.