The number of programs that start when you turn on your computer and programs that start when you logon to your computer can have a dramatic affect on system performance. Too many can really slow down your computer especially if they eat up a lot of system memory.

There are a number of free programs that can show you every program that is starting. Here are just a few that I have used.

• Starter
• Startup Control Panel
• Regseeker

Microsoft has a built in application called MSConfig. To launch it click START – RUN, type in MSCONFIG on the line and hit OK. You will see tab called STARTUP.

Knowing what all these programs are is the tricky part. They best thing to do is use a search engine like Google to look up the name of the execution file. Execution file names end with either a .exe or a .com (qtask.exe, command.com). You will mostly see .exe extensions as .com extension are typically used with much older programs.

When doing this, do not delete anything unless you really know what it does and are sure you do not need it to start when it does. The best thing to do is disable it, restart your computer and see if it has an affect.