I have a Dell Dimension 4300 which seems to be churning like mad at start-up, and is getting slower by the day. Is there too much going on at start-up that may be unnecessary and slowing things down? How can I check and maybe eliminate the unneeded operations?
Thanks for any help

Thanks Scott, I ran Autoruns, and I see the Logon tab, how do I post the screen here?

Ok, my problem is I don't know how to make an image out of the Logon screen result from Autoruns. I see now how to post it to the forum using ImageShack once I am able to make an image out of it.
Thanks for your patience.

Is the Snipping Tool available in XP?

Yikes! Yes I'm using XP. I'll try the print screen method. I did save it as a .txt file, but it looks pretty jumbled.

Yessir.

do print screen of the autoruns logon, then open paint>edit>paste then edit image as you feel it, then file>save as> select desktop then change image type to JPG or PNG. image should be ready for upload.

pbro, you'll be able to quicken your boot time by light speed. You have way too many programs that start with your computer. Many of these programs may be favorites of yours, but they do not need to run at startup.

Before you take advice from HTG members, why don't you start unchecking the programs you KNOW you don't need to start with your computer with every startup. If you are unsure leave them as is until we can offer assistance.

What i'd like for you to do before unchecking anything is to time how long it takes from the time you push the power button on, to the time your desktop appears. Then check again after the first round of startup program removal. This way we can quantify exactly how much your boot time has improved.

...and i got annoyed that nvidia added two startup programs. now i have a total of four

OK, do I just uncheck the boxes on the Autoruns Logon tab and then save and voila!, it changes my settings, or do I have to go somewhere else to uncheck the boxes?