How to Make Your Computer Startup Faster with MSCONFIG

Over time, a computer can gradually begin to get slower and slower at startup. While there are a number of potential culprits for this, one primary reason is an increased or excessive amount of programs and services loading at startup. Though it may be important for a few programs to load at startup, you might have several starting unnecessarily. Decrease load times and increase the overall speed of the system using the Microsoft System Configuration Utility, or MSCONFIG, to stop undesired services and programs from executing at startup.

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button to open the Windows Start menu. You can also open the Start menu by simply pressing the "Windows" key on the keyboard. Type "Msconfig" in the "Search programs and files" box and press "Enter."

2. Click the "Services" tab. Locate the "Hide all Microsoft services" option at the bottom and click in the check box to select it. This hides the services included with the operating system, which effectively prevents you from accidentally disabling an essential service. What remains are services belonging to the third-party programs on the computer.

3. Locate the name of each service under the "Service" column. Typically, programs that a service belongs to is identified easily by looking at the name listed in this column. The name of the service will generally share the same name as the program name. Click to deselect each service you do not want to start automatically. As long as the "Hide all Microsoft services" option is checked, you can safely deselect everything from this list without causing startup problems. However, avoid deselecting the services that belong to the security programs.

4. Click the "Startup" tab when you have finished turning off the undesired services. This area of the System Configuration tool provides you with all applications that load at startup.

5. Identify the application by locating the name provided in both the "Startup Item" and "Manufacturer" fields. Click to deselect anything you do not want to start. As with non-Microsoft services, all of these are safe to disable, but avoid deselecting anything security-related.

6. Click "Apply," then "OK" to save and close. Restart the computer to apply and see the changes. Upon restart, you will notice an improvement in startup speed and overall system performance.

References

• Microsoft Windows: Using System Configuration
• Microsoft: System Configuration Utility Overview