Start Up Menu vs Sys Resources

[ransom]

How can I safely remove programs running in the backround from the Start Up Menu? How do I determine which ones to remove?

History: I have a GS-400 with 384mb of Ram. I have never been able to raise my System Resources, above the 26-36% range. Twenty-six programs are running in the backround. Eighty percent are microsoft programs, that I only use occasionaly. I have been told that removing programs from the start up menu will help me achieve that goal but I don't know how. Any ideas will be appreciated.

[theelf]

To help anyone figure out what you can safely stop from running at startup it would be best to post a list of what is running here.

[reghakr]

You're right, your resources will not go up until you remove unneccessary programs loading. Check these spots and follow these general maintenance tips:

Check these startup locations:

If Win98, go to Start>Run, type msconfig, click the startup tab and check here. Leave systray, scan registry, Load Power Profile, your virus scanner and firewall if you have one.

If Win95, backup the registry and/or export the following keys:
go to Start>Run, type regedit. Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curre ntVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Curr entVersion\RunServices
and delete the entry in the right pane.

Go to Start>Run, type sysedit. Look over the autoexec.bat for unneccessary lines, click the win.ini and check for programs loading here:
[windows]
load=
run=

Check the Start>Programs>Startup folder for shorcuts.

If it's running that poorly, right-click on My Computer, click the Performance tab and verify the File System and Virtual Memory are 32-bit. Put your swapfile on a larger partition or drive if possible.

Click the Virtual Memory button and make sure that Windows is managing the virtual memory.

Open Explorer and navigate to c:\windows\temp and delete all files here. Empty the Recycle Bin.

Open Internet Explorer, go to Tools>InternetOptions, click the Delete Files and Clear History buttons. Click the Settings button and set a reasonable cache size. I'd suggest about 40MB for a 56K connection, as little as 10MB for cable or DSL.

Close all tray applications and hit Alt_Ctl_Del and end task on all items except for explorer and systray, disable your screensaver, then run scandisk, then defrag.

If you don't know what an entry is or what it does, post back.

reghakr