Is there a way of stopping items from starting on boot and is there a list to edit startup items? Adobe updater for CS5 is a real nuisance and many more have self installed themselves.

msconfig is the tool for you. Built into Windows since close to forever, just klick Start -> Run -> type "msconfig" -> OK.

On Fri, 11 Jun 2010 22:11:50 +0000, badspell68 wrote: > Is there a way of stopping items from starting on boot and is there a list to edit startup items? Adobe updater for CS5 is a real nuisance and many more have self installed themselves. First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that start automatically, not just with those that go into the system tray. Not all auto-starting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the tray. On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its Options to see if it has the choice not to start (make sure you actually choose the option not to run it, not just a "don't show icon" option). Many can easily and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't work, run MSCONFIG from the Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab, uncheck the programs you don't want to start automatically. However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of running the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell you, you should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs you run, but *which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others have no effect on performance. Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do is determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what the cost in performance is of its running all the time. You can try internet searches and ask about specifics here. Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003 Ken Blake