<<everything that my Task Manager said was running in the background and
attempted to find out what those cryptic looking words or groups of letters
really stood for.>>

 From the Start button, click Run and type msconfig.  Click the Startup tab.

 From there, you will see most of the programs that are configured to run
at startup.  If you are experiencing problems, that's the best place to start.

First, I'd be highly suspicious of any entry which does not clearly
identify itself. Any programmer who is not capable of doing that very
elementary task either is trying to conceal the identity of that software
for some nefarious purpose (eg spyware or worse) or is generally
incompetent. In either case, such software has no place in my computer--at
least, not to be running all the time, anyway.

In troubleshooting, start off by disabling everything you see
there.  Windows won't allow you to disable any vital system files, so it's
reasonably safe.  Just make sure that if you disable firewalls and a-v, to
unplug your modem line first if you are on broadband.

Then reboot if see if your problem, whatever it may be, is fixed or at
least improved.  This will either confirm or eliminate the cause as coming
from one of those programs you've just disabled.  Then re-enable each one
and see what effect it has.

Often you can make some pretty educated guesses about which are likely to
be the difficult programs, and which ones are benign, thus shortening the
process somewhat.  Others prefer to proceed by enabling groups of
programs---though you should never have that many programs running from
startup anyway. Ideally, these should be confined only to the bare
essentials.  If you can't recognise it, chances are you don't need it.

While you are in Msconfig, it pays to have a quick look in Autoexec.bat and
Sysconfig.  These archaic files are normally empty in XP, though some a-v
software seems to want to start from those. Any other entries should be
viewed with some suspicion.

There are many good freeware Startup control programs, but Msconfig, though
basic, serves the purpose reasonably well and safely for those not too
confident about playing around with startups. If you untick something, and
find it's needed after all,  just re-tick it to restore it.

Don Penlington




 From the Beach at Surfers Paradise in sunny Queensland.
Computer tutorials, local scenery,  and other things at my website:
http://users.tpg.com.au/deepend/index1.html

      "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware
        programs with his honest opinions in this weekly column.
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