Start Up

[codswallop]

When I start up my PC I have about 40 icons on my desktop,without you knowing what they are for,do they all start up causing a very slow start? If so can I disengage the progs. I seldom use(not uninstall in case I need them in the future)and how do I go about it please? Or am I on the wrong track as usual ?? Thanks

[VHG]

Just because an icon is on your desktop is does not mean the program starts up when the computer starts up.

There are a number of programs you NEED to start on start-up (many of which are needed for Windows) and some programs you may not need, but unless you know what you are doing it is risky to stop some programs starting up or Windows may not work properly.

There is a program in Windows caled MSCONFIG that lists all the programs that will start on start-up so you could try to look at those and see if you can stop any starting up.

[Buenchico]

The icons on your desktop will just be shortcuts to the programs, not the programs themselves. If you want to check, right-click on one of them and select Properties. There should be a Shortcut tab, while the General tab should show the file size to be extremely small (perhaps just 3 or 4 Kb).

You don't need those icons on your desktop; if you get rid of them, you'll still be able to access the programs from Start > Programs. (To remove an icon from your desktop, right-click and select Delete).

Alternatively you could tidy everything up by organising your desktop icons into folders. Right-click on your desktop and select New > Folder. Give it a suitable name (such as 'Image editing', 'Word processing' or Utilities). Then drag relevant icons onto the folder icon to place them inside it. (Double-click a folder to view its contents).

Your desktop icons are unrelated to which programs run at start up. To see those, go to Start > Run and type 'msconfig' (without the quote marks) into the box. Click OK and select the Startup tab. Click to remove the ticks alongside any programs you don't want to run at start up. Click Apply and OK. Restart your PC. You'll see a box telling you that you're using Selective Startup. Put a tick alongside 'Do not show this message again'.

Alternatively, it's a little easier to control your startup programs if you install Ccleaner:
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner
(Click on Tools > Startup).

Chris

[VHG]

>>You don't need those icons on your desktop; if you get rid of them, you'll still be able to access the programs

Note they may not be icons for programs, they may be actual Word documents or Excel spreadsheets or similar files (I have known people who keep their actual files on the deksop).

Deleting these icons WILL delete the actual file.

[Buenchico]

A valid point from VHG (although, from the wording of his post, it would seem that Codswallop probably hasn't stored any files on the desktop). To check, right-click and select Properties, as above. Genuine shortcuts will have the 'Shortcut' tab present, while the 'General' tab will show a very small file size.

[tamborine]

Open a new folder named 'icons' & shove them all in there. They dont slow 'start up'.

[codswallop]

Thanks to you all for your replies that were very helpful.I'll troll through the suggestions later.