Speed up your PC with MS Config

When software is installed on a PC, a lot of the time it loads up when you switch the PC on and log in to Windows. If you take a look at your system tray which is on the tool bar next to the clock, you will see a number of icons. Although the system tray is useful, having too many programs loaded in the system tray can slow your PC down and lower the experience you have using a PC. I personally get rid of most programs from the system tray and only load them up when actually needed. Classic examples of programs using the system tray are iTunes, Quicktime, Anti Virus, Skype, MSN Messenger, ICQ, AIM, Various Graphics and Sound Utilities. Within weeks of buying a PC your system tray fills up on the task bar and things just gradually get slower and slower and boot times get longer and longer.

The chances are, if you are like me, you are not running iTunes, Quicktime, Skype, MSN Messenger and all the others at the same time. I probably use iTunes once a week and I very rarely use Quicktime…. so why do I bother having them load up when they just hog precious resources and slow the computer down.

How to Remove System Tray Icons

System tray icons can be very simple to remove, however just as equally they can also be very stubborn. Luckily there are a few Microsoft (MS) tools which can help with this process. The best way to start is to hover the mouse pointer over one of the icons in the system tray and see what description is given. Make a note of all the programs and their descriptions. If whilst carrying out this instruction you find a description of a program you know that you do not need to run then right click on the icon and search around for a menu item which says something like “remove from system tray”. Often, programs makes it difficult to find this option and instead will just have an Exit/Close option or even worse, nothing at all. Not to worry.

The next option you have is to check your start up menu. Click Start > All Programs > Startup. If this menu is empty then all is good. If not then see what is in there and determine if it is needed. Programs for example like MS Office Loader are not necessary, however if you find anti virus software then you will want to leave it where it is. If you identify a program that you want to remove then right click on the icon and hit delete. This will remove that particular item from the startup menu. If you are unsure what to delete then open a thread in our forum and we can let you know if it is needed.

Using MSConfig.exe to Remove Unwanted Programs from the Startup

Now that you have a slightly cleaner system tray and startup folder, you will have found that there are some programs that do not want to go, or just come back after booting up. Windows XP has an excellent tool called MSConfig.exe which allows you to tweak the settings on your PC and let your PC know exactly what should and should not load when booting up. By removing all the unwanted/unneeded programs, your PC will boot far quicker and run smoother and provide a more normal experience that you deserve to have.

To load up MSConfig.exe click Start and Run. Enter msconfig.exe in to the run box and hit enter.

Across the top of the program you will see a number of tabs. The first which is loaded by default is the general tab followed by system.ini, win.ini, boot.ini, services and then Startup. In this tutorial we are only interested in the Startup tab… so skip the other tabs and click on the startup tab. To give you some help here, I will let you know what can stay on the average PC to allow things to work. Most other items are then optional.

Common Programs to keep or Remove in MS Config

1.) hkcmd - Installed by Intel Graphics chipset drivers. Some say it is not needed and can be loaded manually. When I remove it from my startup I do see a couple of problems… so I tend to leave it selected.
2.) ctfmon - Watch this one carefully. ctfmon.exe can be good or bad depending on where the file came from. If you run Office XP then ctfmon.exe was installed to monitor the active window for speech recognition, translation, keyboard input and other input sources. However, I have read reports of the same file being disguised as a virus to log keystrokes and track you being online. If you are concerned about this file then read this article and Microsoft for an explanation on how to remove it. Also it would be wise and safe to uncheck the startup box if you are worried.
3.) DrvMon - Like ctfmon, DrvMon can be both good and bad. For full details on how to deal with DrvMon check out this article which will talk you through working out if you have the good or bad file loaded. Of course, you can always check out our own virus removal tutorial if you think you have a virus on your system.

Now that those three files are covered you now need to check what else is and is not needed. If you see Anti Virus software mentioned which could be labelled as AV then you will want to keep those loading at startup. However, programs such as GoogleToolBarNotifier can be safely unchecked. Go through, deselect all those programs you think will slow down your PC and then hit OK and reboot your PC. When you first boot up after running MSConfig.exe a message will appear. Just select to ignore and accept all as OK and it wont show again.

When rebooting you should find that logging in to your PC is far quicker then it was before, and everything will seem more responsive too. The amount of RAM that you have saved can give the performance a HUGE boost allowing you to work quicker and only load up programs when you actually need them.