Startup items?

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Hornnumb2 · #1 Post by **Hornnumb2** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:28 am

I need to turn a bunch of startup stuff off, anybody know what the minimum startup items on a T60 with XP pro. I have tons of stuff on here and it start so slow. Thanks

SHoTTa35 · #2 Post by **SHoTTa35** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 9:30 am

start - run - msconfig - OK - startup tab and uncheck stuff

Hornnumb2 · #3 Post by **Hornnumb2** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:25 am

Yes I know what to do just not sure what programs need to be left for necessary stuff, trackpoint and such. Thanks

#4 Post by **ZaZ** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:27 pm

One man's bloatware is another's useful program. You got to figure out what works for you. For the ThinkVantage Tools I only keep power manager, hard drive protection and ultranave.

tylerwylie · #5 Post by **tylerwylie** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:38 pm

FredGarvin wrote:One man's bloatware is another's useful program.

QFT.

I just wiped the whole [censored] thing when I got it, reinstalled Vista and made it usable, and realized it's the addons and Vista that I hate, and the fact that it's easier to do my job with linux.

Puttagee · #6 Post by **Puttagee** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:47 pm

FredGarvin, is correct, it's different for each user. I suggest you go through the list uncheck what you know you don't need, run it for a few days and see if it works for you. If you're not sure about any of the programs on the list you can always google it.
I prefer to uninstall the programs I know will not be used.

ThinkPad · #7 Post by **ThinkPad** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 1:54 pm

Puttagee wrote: If you're not sure about any of the programs on the list you can always google it.

Thats what I do, If I see its something I would not need on every boot up I just remove it.

eecon · #8 Post by **eecon** » Sat Feb 02, 2008 10:45 pm

Hornnumb2 wrote:I need to turn a bunch of startup stuff off, anybody know what the minimum startup items on a T60 with XP pro. I have tons of stuff on here and it start so slow. Thanks

I intially have 74 Processes upon cold startup listed under WinXP Task Manager>Processes on my T61 with an Nvidia 140. This drops to 70 Processes after about 10 minutes. I used to have about 85 Process but uninstalled CSS, RR (in favor of Acronis 11), Norton AV (in favor of Zone Alarm Security Suite), Sonic Record Now (in favor of Nero 7 Ultra), disabled file indexing, disabled all auto updating and scheduled tasks (except for WinXP auto-checking for any critical Windows Updates .... "notify only" but don't download). I also added the Full Pro version of Diskeeper 2007.

My T42 with WinXP is similarly configured (except that RR is still installed on it and Acronis 11 is not) and levels off at about 72 processes after about 10 minutes.

My home built desktop with WinXP is also similarly configured and levels off at about 48 Processes as I recall, so I assume about 20 to 22 of the processes on the T61 and T42 are ThinkPad specific, like hard drive shock detection, power management stuff, etc.

BTW, since I received my T61 in September (with the Advanced Mini-Dock, Lenovo Enhanced KB and travel mouse), I've never bothered to even start my desktop unit (an Intel P4-3.0 with lots of noisy fans for the hot graphics card and several internal HDs). It's primary use now is only as a stand for my scanner next to my desk.

The T7500 2.2 duo Core is more powerfull and much quieter than the old desktop unit (even when my external HDs are running attached to my T61). However, I'm not a gamer so it's possible that my desktop's ATI All-in-Wonder x800XT 256mb graphics card will out-perform my T61's Nividia 140M 128mb .... both machines have 2GB of RAM. My desktop also has 10,000 RPM Raptor HDs .... but like I said, I've never bothered to startup my desktop after I initially sync'd it up with my T61, then took a business trip. When I came home I simply moved my 22" WS monitor over to the digitial video connector on the back of the advanced mini-dock and never looked back since.

My home office stays much cooler and quieter now, plus no more hassels of synchronizing computers before and after business trips!!

Puttagee · #9 Post by **Puttagee** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:19 pm

70 processes?? Sounds very bloated to me, I'm down to the low 30s. I was on a mission some time back and removed as much as possible. Granted if I need to do certain things I need to start up processes but that suites me just fine. It just make me sick when I see so many programs running for no reason.

eecon · #10 Post by **eecon** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:30 pm

Puttagee wrote:70 processes?? Sounds very bloated to me, I'm down to the low 30s. I was on a mission some time back and removed as much as possible. Granted if I need to do certain things I need to start up processes but that suites me just fine. It just make me sick when I see so many programs running for no reason.

Yeah you're probably right, but 70 is a lot better than 85 and this T61 T7500 runs twice as fast as I'll ever need .... plus, I rarely, if ever use battery power. It spends 95% of it's life docked with an external monitor, KB and mouse.

I'll start a new Polling thread "How many processes do you have running?"

Puttagee · #11 Post by **Puttagee** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:39 pm

eecon, that should be interesting to see. Just noticed it's for the T6x....

#12 Post by **bill bolton** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:07 am

Puttagee wrote:70 processes?? Sounds very bloated to me.

If some abitrary number is your criteria, you are approaching the issue in entirely the wrong way in respect of contemporary systems.

It is not the number of process which matter, it is which ones are the most active. The system impact of processes which are essentially dormant and only activate on specific command for specific purposes is essentially very low.

Cheers,

Bill B.

Puttagee · #13 Post by **Puttagee** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:24 am

Granted these processes may be dormant and not using any processing power but they are using memory.....

#14 Post by **bill bolton** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:20 am

Puttagee wrote:but they are using memory.....

Since many users today have at the very least a Gigabyte of memory (and often much more), the memory usage of resident processes is in most cases fairly trivial in terms of the installed real memory..... and in any case many are quite probably in pagefile swap memory!

The largest resident process I have running is Teatimer (part of SPybot), which takes just over 30 megabytes, with most of the others being a few megbytes at most!

Cheers,

Bill B.

Superego · #15 Post by **Superego** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:19 am

Hornnumb2 wrote:Yes I know what to do just not sure what programs need to be left for necessary stuff, trackpoint and such. Thanks

Like everyone else here has said you'll need to figure what is specific to your system, but this might help get you started (I'm listing only Thinkpad-specific items on my T60p):

PWRMGRTR - DLL related to background battery monitor and tray icon...definitely keep.
BatLogEx - DLL related to battery logging (e.g. battery thresholds)....definitely keep.
SynTPLpr - Touchpad driver...definitely keep.
SynTPEnh - Touchpad enhancements, tray icon. Could probably be turned off, but I use some of the scrolling features.
TpShocks - Just like it sounds, active protection system...leave it.
EzEjMnAp - Easy Eject Utility (Fn+F9) This one's up to you. If you just yank out usb drives or use windows "safely remove hardware" utility, you could probably turn this one off.
TpKmapAp - For customizing keyboard shortcuts...you decide.
LPMGR - Productivity Center/Thinkvantage button...you decide.
TPOSDSVC - Handles on-screen messages...you decide
ACTRAY - Displays Access Connections in the tray...you decide.
ACWLIcon - Access connections wireless tray icon (shows signal strength)...you decide.
TPFNF7SP - Like it says, it's the FN+F7 presentation manager utility...you decide.
Bluetooth - Bluetooth tray icon....if you use it I'd keep it.
tp4ex - Adds some options for the trackpoint (what I'm not sure)...you decide.

As you can see most of these you need to decide which are useful and which are not. I would recommend you make a list of what is running now, decide which items are questionable, uncheck one and only one, and restart. If you can't live without that process, enable it and move onto to the next one. This may take a while, but it reduces the chance of something going wrong by disabling a bunch of processes at one time.

If you're not sure about a process, google can be your friend, or you can hunt for it based on the path listed and see if you can figure out what it is. In general I disable most of the stuff added by big software (Apple/Quicktime, Adobe, I'm talking to you!). You'll want to keep processes related to things like anti-virus, firewall, spyware/malware utilities, but if you really want to trim your system down you might be able to remove a few, but you should double-check before disabling anything!

My last suggestion is to check out the Elder Geek's guide to Windows services. Great guide to configuring services not in msconfig.

Marie-Anne · #16 Post by **Marie-Anne** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:29 am

SHoTTa35 wrote:start - run - msconfig - OK - startup tab and uncheck stuff

I prefer for many years already: Startup Control

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Small footprint, efficient and effective.

eecon · #17 Post by **eecon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 5:29 pm

Marie-Anne wrote:
SHoTTa35 wrote:start - run - msconfig - OK - startup tab and uncheck stuff
I prefer for many years already: Startup Control

http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Small footprint, efficient and effective.

Anyone else have any experience with this WinXP utility?

#18 Post by **jdhurst** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:33 pm

eecon wrote:<snip>
I prefer for many years already: Startup Control
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
Small footprint, efficient and effective.

Anyone else have any experience with this WinXP utility?[/quote]

I have it and it works. I may be using it again when Vista comes, but I do not know that for sure.

Right now, for me, the best of this lot is Startup Cop (PC Magazine), but I don't think you can get it anymore. If you can find it and download it, it works really well in NT4, 2000 and XP Pro.
... JDH

Puttagee · #19 Post by **Puttagee** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:07 pm

Bill,
I guess we can debate this item non-stop, I appreciate that the average user may not even be bothered by this, but this thread was started with a concern for the number of programs/processes starting at bootup. I cringe whenever I see my Brothers notebook startup, the system tray just explodes with icons, yes they do serve some convenience but the majority of the time we have no use for them. These programs may remain dormant during normal use (after boot) but it does increase the boot time and reduce available memory. These programs can also conflict with each other or even with a new program being installed so why have them? It’s true that newer Computers come with more memory for us to waste, seems very indicative of our society, but more isn’t always better. Where are the days when you can just buy a cell phone, and not a camera, organizer, browser?? So much crap is being crammed into phones that they also need a reboot from time to time. As you can probably guess I prefer to keep things simple but that’s just me. Anyways I’m getting off topic and I have no intension of hi-jacking this thread.

Back on topic, as Superego suggested I made a list of what was running, programs and services, after some research decided what to keep and what to stop then give it a test drive. It took a few tries before I got to a happy medium. Just make sure you know what you’re disabling. You can also check out this link which will give some explanation of the various programs.

eecon · #20 Post by **eecon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:49 pm

Puttagee wrote:Bill,
I guess we can debate this item non-stop, ... <snipped> ..... These programs may remain dormant during normal use (after boot) but it does increase the boot time ..... <remainder snipped>

Boot up time can sometimes be very important

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