Clean your software

For about 20 years, I’ve been giving free help to folks whose computers got messed up. That extensive experience has taught me most computer problems can be solved by software cleaning: just remove any software routines that distract the computer from what you want to accomplish! If you remove those distractions, the computer can concentrate on accomplishing your goal. The computer’s headaches — and yours — will disappear. The computer will run reliably — and faster.

Here’s how to do software cleaning in the three most common operating-system environments: modern Windows, classic Windows, and DOS 6.2.

Cleaning modern Windows

To clean modern Windows (Windows 95 & 98 & Me & XP), you can use many methods. I’ll start with the methods that are the simplest and most foolproof, then progress to methods that are more advanced and risky. To get free help using these methods and my other tricks (which are more bizarre), phone me anytime at 603-666-6644.

Shut down If the computer is on, try to shut it down properly:

Click Start.

For Windows XP, click “Turn Off Computer” then “Turn Off”.

For other Windows, click “Shut Down” then press ENTER.

Turn the power off.

If you can’t do that shut-down procedure properly, give up and just turn the power off.

Wait for the computer to quiet down.

Start the computer again Turn the computer on. Wait for the Windows main screen to appear, so you see the Start button.

If the computer refuses to show you the Start button, go into safe mode. Here’s how.

Turn the computer’s power on; then immediately hold down the F8 key, and keep holding it down. You’ll hear some beeping.

For Windows XP, do this: take your finger off the F8 key; the computer will say “Windows Advanced Options Menu”; from that menu, choose “Safe Mode” (by pressing the HOME key then the ENTER key then the ENTER key again). Eventually, the computer will say “To begin, click your user name”. Click your name. Press the ENTER key.

For other Windows, do this: keep holding down the F8 key, until the computer says “Microsoft Windows Startup Menu”; from that menu, choose “Safe mode” (by pressing 3 and then pressing the ENTER key). For Windows Me, close the “Help and Support” window by clicking its X button. For Windows 95 & 98, do this: wait several minutes until the computer says “Windows is running in safe mode” (if the computer refuses to say that, skip ahead to the section called “do DOS editing”), then press the ENTER key.

Now you see the “Start” button, but all four corners of the screen say “Safe mode”. While you’re in Safe mode, you can repair your computer’s software but cannot use fancy features: you cannot use the CD-ROM, printer, sound, fancy colors, or tiny icons (you see big icons instead).

Close whatever is open Get out of any programs you’re in (by clicking their X boxes). Close any windows that are open (by clicking their X boxes).

At the screen’s bottom, to the right of the Start button, you might see some other buttons.

Narrow buttons (narrower than the Start button) are okay (and commonly occur in Windows 98 & Me & XP).

If you see a button that’s wider than the Start button, get rid of that button (by clicking it then clicking the X button that comes up).

Simplify the display Find a spot in the screen’s middle where there’s no icon yet. Right-click there (by using the mouse’s right-hand button). From the pull-down menu that appears, left-click the bottom choice (which is “Properties”). You’ll see the Display Properties window.

For Wallpaper, choose “None”. Here’s how. For Windows XP, do this:

Look at the Theme box (which is below the word “Theme” and above the word “Sample”. Make sure the Theme box says “Windows XP” or “Windows XP modified”. (If it says something else, click the box’s down arrow then click “Windows XP”.)

Click “Desktop”. In the Background box, make “None” be highlighted (by pressing the HOME key).

For other Windows, do this:

Look under the word “Wallpaper”. You see a list of choices. Click the top choice, which should be “None”. (If you don’t see “None” as a choice, make that choice appear by clicking the “5”, then click “None”.) For Windows 98 & Me, click “Pattern”.

Look under the word “Pattern”. You see a list of choices. Click the top choice, which should be “None”. (If you don’t see “None” as a choice, make that choice appear by clicking the “5”, then click “None”.) For Windows 98 & Me, click “OK”.

Click the “Screen Saver” tab (which is at the top of the window). Then for Screen Saver, choose “None”; here’s how:

Look at the Screen Saver box (which is wide but not tall). In that box, you should see the word “None”. If that box doesn’t say “None” yet, make it say “None” by pressing the HOME key.

Although wallpaper and screensavers are cute fun, you should delete them (by choosing “none”) because they consume RAM, slow down the computer, distract the computer, distract you, and are unnecessary (since all modern monitors are built well and don’t need to be protected by screensavers).

Click the “Appearance” tab. Then make the appearance be standard. Here’s how. For Windows XP, do this:

Look at the “Windows and buttons” box. In that box, you should see “Windows XP style”. If you see “Windows Classic style” instead, change it to “Windows XP style” by pressing the keyboard’s down-arrow button.

For other Windows, do this:

Look at the Scheme box. In that box, you should see “Windows Standard”. If that box doesn’t say “Windows Standard” yet, do this: click the box’s “₆”, then click “Windows Standard”, which should be the third-from-bottom choice. (If you don’t see “Windows Standard” as a choice, make that choice appear by clicking the “₆”, then click “Windows Standard”.)

Click the “Settings” tab. You have to decide how many colors and pixels to request. For normal operation, you should request 1024-by-768 pixels and 16-bit color. But you have these choices:

Pixels Comment

640-by-480 best for 14-inch CRT monitors; Windows XP omits this choice

800-by-600 best for 15-inch CRT monitors

1024-by-768 best for 17-inch CRT monitors, most programs, most Web sites

1152-by-864 best for 19-inch CRT monitors

1280-by-1024the writing is too small, and the screen flickers or is unreadable

Color quality Comments

16 colors lowest quality, for computers that are broken

Windows XP omits this choice

256 colors low quality, mainly for ancient computers running Windows 95

Windows XP omits this choice from this menu

16-bit color “16-bit color” means 2¹⁶ colors, which is 65,536 colors

use this for most computers, most programs, most Web sites

Windows XP calls this “medium quality”

other Windows call this “high color”

24-bit color “24-bit color” means 2²⁴ colors, which is 16,777,216 colors

accurate color, but slow

intended just for artists & photographers fussy about color

Windows XP calls this “high quality”

other Windows call this “true color”

32-bit color “32-bit color” means 2³² colors, which is 4,294,967,296 colors

highest quality but too ridiculously slow

intended just for the absolutely fussiest artists & photographers

Windows XP calls this “highest quality”

Windows XP omits this choice if your video card can’t handle it

Suggestions:

Switch to fewer colors if your computer is old (with a slow CPU chip or with little RAM on the video card) or having trouble.

Switch to fewer pixels if your eyesight is poor or your monitor’s screen is blank, fuzzy, or unreadable.

To choose the number of pixels, do this:

Find the screen-resolution slider. (Windows XP calls it “Screen resolution”; Windows 95 calls it “Desktop area”; other Windows call it “Screen area”.)

Drag that slider towards the left or right.

To choose the color quality, do this:

Find the Color quality box. (Windows XP calls it “Color quality”; Windows 95 calls it “Color palette”; other Windows call it “Colors”.) Click that box’s down-arrow, then click the color quality you want.

Click “OK”.

If Windows XP says “Your desktop has been reconfigured”, click “Yes” (before the image goes away).

If another Windows says “The computer will now resize your desktop”, do this: press ENTER; wait for the screen to look different, then immediately click “Yes” (before the image goes away).

Right-click in the screen’s middle (where there are no icons), then do this.…

Windows XP: click “Arrange Icons By” then click “Name”

Other Windows: click “Arrange Icons” then click “by Name”

Check your total RAM Make sure you have enough RAM.

Windows 95 requires 4M of RAM to run at all, 16M to run well.

Windows 98 1st edition requires 16M of RAM to run at all, 32M to run well.

Windows 98 2nd edition requires 24M of RAM to run at all, 64M to run well.

Windows Me requires 32M of RAM to run at all, 128M to run well.

Windows XP requires 128M of RAM to run at all, 256M to run well.

If your RAM is less than the quantity needed to “run well”, the main way you can make Windows run better is to buy more RAM.

To discover your total amount of RAM, do this:

For Windows XP, click Start then “My Computer” then “View system information”.

For other Windows, right-click the “My Computer” icon then click “Properties”.

Read the message on the screen. When you finish reading, close any windows by clicking their X buttons.

Clean up your hard disk Double-click the Recycle Bin icon. You see the Recycle Bin window, which shows a list of what’s in the Recycle Bin. To see the list better, maximize the window (by clicking the box next to its X box).

That’s the list of files you said to get rid of. If the list is not empty, deal with it as follows:

Those files are still on your hard disk and consuming the hard disk’s space, until you empty the Recycle Bin. If you’re sharing the computer with friends, ask their permission before emptying the Recycle Bin.

If you’re sure you don’t need any of those files anymore, empty the entire Recycle Bin (by clicking “File” then “Empty Recycle Bin” then “Yes”). If you want to erase just some of those files, click the first file you want to erase, then (while holding down the Ctrl key) click each additional file you want to erase, then press the DELETE key then ENTER.

Close the Recycle Bin window (by clicking its X button).

Next, find out how full your hard disk is. To find out, do this:

For Windows XP, click Start then “My Computer”.

For other Windows, double-click the “My Computer” icon

Right-click the hard drive’s icon (which says “C:”), then click “Properties”. You see a pie chart. Make sure the amount of free space (colored red) is at least 10% of the disk’s total capacity. If your free space is less, you’re in danger of having the computer gradually slow down or quit functioning, so you should delete some files. Later, I’ll explain the best way to delete unused programs.

If you’re not using Windows 95, do this:

Click the “Disk Cleanup” button (which is missing from Windows 95).

The computer shows a list of file types. For example, Windows XP shows this list:

o Downloaded Program Files

o Temporary Internet Files

o Offline Web Pages

o Recycle Bin

o Setup Log Files

o Temporary files

o WebClient/Publisher Temporary Files

o Compress old files

o Catalog files for the Content Indexer

For other versions of Windows, the list is shorter. (If the list is too long to fit on the screen, see the rest of the list by using its scroll arrows.) Put a check mark in each type’s box (by clicking) — except for “Recycle Bin” and Windows XP’s “Compress old files”, whose boxes should stay blank (since you dealt with “Recycle Bin” already, and “Compress old files” slows down your computer too much).

Click OK, then press ENTER. The computer will erase those files.

Now remove any defects from your hard disk’s directories. Here’s how.

While you’re looking at the pie chart, click “Tools” then “Check Now”. For Windows XP, do this:

If you have the patience to wait through an hour-long thorough check, put a check mark in the box marked “Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors” (by clicking); otherwise leave that box blank.

Press ENTER.

For other Windows, do this:

Click “Standard” (unless you have the patience to choose “Thorough”, which will make you wait about an hour).

Click “Start”.

Then the computer will run the ScanDisk program, which analyzes your hard disk. While the computer analyzes, choose “Discard” whenever the computer lets you. That makes the computer discard useless files. At the end of the ScanDisk process, here’s what happens:

Windows XP: the computer will say “Disk Check Complete”; press ENTER.

Other Windows: the computer will say “ScanDisk Results”; press ENTER twice.

Next, run the Defrag program, by clicking “Defragment Now”. (For Windows XP, then click “Defragment”. If Windows 95 gives you a choice between “Start”, “Select Drive”, “Advanced”, and “Exit”, click “Start”.) Then the computer will rearrange your hard disk’s files, so you can access them faster.

After a long time (typically an hour), the computer will say “Defragmentation is complete”. (Then if you’re not using Windows XP, press ENTER.) Close all windows (by clicking their X buttons).

Delete unused programs. Here’s how:

For Windows XP, click “Start” then “Control Panel” then “Add or Remove Programs”.

For other Windows, click “Start” then “Settings” then “Control Panel” then double-click “Add/Remove Programs”.

You see a list of all programs that are on your hard disk and designed for modern Windows. (You see the list’s beginning; to see the rest of the list, use the scroll arrows at the list’s right side.) In that list, if you find a program that you’re sure you’ll never use again (such as a lousy game), here’s how to delete it:

Click the program’s name.

Click the Remove button. (In Windows XP, that button might be labeled “Change/Remove”. In other Windows, that button is labeled “Add/Remove”.)

Then follow the instructions on the screen. The computer will try to delete the program completely: the computer will deletes the program’s folder, the program’s icons, and (hopefully) all references to the program.

Using that method, find and delete all programs that you’re sure you’ll never use again. Then close all windows (by clicking their X boxes).

Examine the task list Here’s how to analyze what Windows is doing at any moment: while holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys, tap the DELETE key (just once, not twice). If you’re using Windows XP, then click “Processes”.

You see the task list. That’s a list of all tasks that the computer is running at the moment.

For Windows XP, the list of tasks is typically long, but don’t worry: Windows XP can handle a long list okay.

For other Windows, list should be short, as follows:

If your computer is “clean” (not distracted by any extraneous tasks), the only tasks that should be on that task list are Explorer and maybe Systray. (If you’re running in “Safe mode”, the only task on the task list is Explorer.)

Explorer is needed because it gives you the desktop picture. Systray is optional: it creates the sound-volume icon at the screen’s bottom-right corner, if your sound card is good enough to have its volume changed by software.

If your task list contains a lot more than just Explorer and Systray, your computer should be pitied, since right now your computer is trying to run all the programs on the task list simultaneously! I’ve seen too many computers where the task list contains a dozen items: the poor computer is trying to run all those tasks simultaneously and it’s amazing the computer hasn’t crashed already! (“Crashed” means “stopped working”.) The more tasks you have on the list, the more likely that your computer will crash, because each task consumes RAM and confuses the computer by interrupting its attention from the task you wanted to focus on.

Giving a computer a long task list is like giving a juggler too many knives to juggle: he might quit or die.

I get annoyed by magazines who tell readers to buy all sorts of fancy routines that are supposed to make your computer “better”. Though each routine is fine by itself, when you try to run them all simultaneously they interfere with each other and create crashes.

Although you can end a task by clicking the task’s name and then the “End Task” button (which Windows XP calls the “End Process” button), that ends the task just temporarily. To end the task permanently, so it won’t resurface the next time you boot up the computer, follow some of the strategies listed below.…

Empty your StartUp folder If you click on Start, then Programs, then StartUp (yeah, it’s there, keep looking), you’ll see what’s in the StartUp folder. Each time you start running Windows, the computer automatically runs all the programs in the StartUp folder. (That folder is the Windows equivalent of DOS’s AUTOEXEC.BAT file.)

On a clean machine (such as mine), the StartUp folder should be empty (so your task list stays short). Microsoft Office tends to put two items into the StartUp folder (“Microsoft Office Fast Start” and “Microsoft Office Find Fast Indexer”), but if you eliminate those two items Microsoft Office will still run fine.

Here’s how to remove items from the StartUp folder.…

For Windows 95, do this:

Right-click the Start button (by using the mouse’s right-hand button), then click “Open”, then double-click “Programs”. You see a list of all folders that are in your Programs menu. (To see the list better, maximize its window.) Double-click “StartUp”.

For other Windows, do this:

Click Start then Programs. Then double-click “StartUp”.

You’ll see icons for all the programs in the StartUp folder.

To remove a program from the StartUp folder, click that program’s icon then press the DELETE key then ENTER. (To remove all programs from the StartUp folder, do this: tap the A key while holding down the Ctrl key, then press the DELETE key then ENTER.)

If you’re not sure whether to remove a program from the StartUp folder, go ahead and try it (after getting permission from any friends who share your computer). Trying to remove a program from the StartUp folder is an experiment that’s safe for three reasons:

“Removing” an icon from the StartUp folder just sends the icon to the Recycle Bin, so you can restore the icon later if you change your mind. (To be extra-safe, tell your friends not to empty the Recycle Bin for several weeks, until you’re sure your newly emptied StartUp folder makes you happy.)

The icon you’re sending to the Recycle Bin is just a shortcut icon (since it has a bent arrow on it) rather than the program itself.

No items in the StartUp folder are ever needed to start Windows. In fact, Windows starts itself up before it bothers to look at the StartUp folder.

When you’ve finished, close all windows (by clicking their X boxes).

Remove unwanted networking For Windows XP, do this:

Click “Start” then “Connect To” then “Show all connections”.

For other Windows, do this:

Click “Start” then “Settings” then “Control Panel”. Double-click “Network”. (If the computer says “Your network is not complete”, press ENTER.)

You see a list of network components. Which ones do you need?

The typical computer communicates with other computers by using just an ordinary phone cord and an ordinary Internet Service Provider. Such a computer needs just 2 network components: Dial-Up Adapter (which teaches the computer how to use the phone cord) and TCP/IP (which teaches the computer how to communicate with the Internet). So for such a computer, keep just those 2 components and remove any others. For example, you can remove Client for Microsoft Networks. If you’re not sharing your computer with other people, or if you’re sharing just with people who all have the same privileges as you (no separate passwords, no separate screen setups), you can also remove Microsoft Family Logon.

If your computer is fancier, it needs more network components. For example, if your computer communicates with the Internet by using America OnLine (which is a non-standard Internet Service Provider), you must also keep a network component about AOL. If your computer communicates with the Internet by using a cable modem (which attaches to a cable-TV wire instead of a phone wire) or DSL (which attaches to a high-speed phone wire) or communicates with other computers by using an Ethernet card or a local-area network (LAN), you must keep network components that teach the computer about those features.

Remove components you’re not using; then your computer will run faster, stop asking for passwords to unused networks, and stop complaining about half-completed networks.

Here’s how to remove a component. For Windows XP, do this:

Click the component’s icon, then press the DELETE key.

If the computer says “You cannot delete a connection while it is busy connecting”, do this: press ENTER then click “Disable this network device”. (which is at the screen’s left edge).

For other Windows, do this:

For the typical component that you want to remove, click the component’s name and then click “Remove”. To remove “Microsoft Family Logon”, click its down-arrow then click “Windows Logon”.

When you finish saying which components to remove, click “OK”. (If the computer says “Your network is not complete”, press ENTER. If the computer asks you to restart, let it restart.)

Do DOS editing For Windows Me & XP, skip ahead to the next topic, “Strip WIN.INI”.

For Windows 95 & 98, you should do DOS editing; here’s how.…

If you started the computer normally (without having to use “safe mode”), do this:

Close all Click “Start” then “Programs”. If you’re using Windows Me, click “Accessories”.

Click “MS-DOS Prompt”.

If you see a black window, make it fill the whole screen by doing this: while holding down the Alt key, tap the ENTER key. (If you mess up, press Alt with ENTER again.)

Now the whole screen is black (except for white writing on it). The screen says:

C:\WINDOWS>

If you had to start the computer by using “safe mode” (or your computer was so messed up that even “safe mode” didn’t work), do this instead:

Try to shut down the computer properly: try to click Start then Shut Down, then press ENTER, then turn the power off. (If you can’t do that shut-down procedure properly, just be mean and turn the power off.) Wait for the computer to quiet down.

Turn the computer’s power back on, then immediately hold down the F8 key. Keep holding it down, until the computer says “Microsoft Windows Startup Menu”. Near the menu’s bottom, you’ll see a choice called “Safe mode command prompt only”. Choose that (by pressing that choice’s number, which is usually 6 or 7, and then pressing the ENTER key). The computer will say:

C:\>

Type “cd windows”, so your screen looks like this:

C:\>cd windows

At the end of that line, press the ENTER key. Then the screen looks like this:

C:\WINDOWS>

Your computer contains a WINDOWS folder. In that folder, you’ll find a TEMP folder. It’s supposed to hold “temporary” files. Some programs temporarily put files into that TEMP folder. Those files are supposed to self-destruct when you finish running the program that created them, but sometimes the computer gets amnesia and forgets to help those files self-destruct. For example, suppose while you’re using a program that created temporary files, the electricity suddenly goes out (or the computer crashes for some other reason); then the computer will forget to destroy those files. After several months of using the computer, you’ll discover that the TEMP folder still contains many files that the computer forgot to delete. Those old TEMP files waste space on your hard disk. They also make your computer slower, because whenever the computer needs to create a new TEMP file it must skip past all the TEMP files that are still there, to find free space.

Delete the TEMP files. Here’s how.…

After the “C:\WINDOWS”, type “deltree temp” (which stands for “delete the tree of TEMP”), so your screen looks like this:

C:\WINDOWS>deltree temp

Type that very carefully: after typing the word “deltree”, make sure you press the SPACE bar and then the word “temp”. (If you forget to type the word “temp”, you’ll delete all of Windows!) At the end of typing that line, press the ENTER key.

The computer will ask whether you’re sure. Press the Y key, then the ENTER key. Then the computer will delete the TEMP folder.

Next, type “md temp”, so your screen looks like this:

C:\WINDOWS>md temp

At the end of typing that line, press the ENTER key. That causes the computer to “make a directory called TEMP”, so the computer creates an empty folder called TEMP.

You see “C:\WINDOWS>” again. Type “cd \” (and press ENTER afterwards). Now the screen says:

C:\>

Type “del *.chk”, so the screen looks like this:

C:\>del *.chk

That makes the computer delete any files that end in “.CHK”. Here’s why:

Any file that ends in “.CHK” was created by using “chkdsk” or “scandisk”. That file is just a “lost chain” (fragment of a discarded file). It’s useless. It just wastes space on your hard disk. It should be deleted.

Modern Windows doesn’t need a CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file. On too many computers, the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files are lengthy messes that waste RAM, make the computer sluggish, and cause memory conflicts. Here’s how to strip them down.…

Type “ren autoexec.bat *.a”, so your screen looks like this:

C:\>ren autoexec.bat *.a

That makes the computer rename AUTOEXEC.BAT to AUTOEXEC.A, so you no longer have a file named “AUTOEXEC.BAT”. (If you change your mind later, you can reverse the renaming by saying “copy autoexec.a *.bat”.)

Type “ren config.sys *.a”, like this:

C:\>ren config.sys *.a

That makes the computer rename CONFIG.SYS to CONFIG.A, so you no longer have a file named “CONFIG.SYS”. (If you change your mind later, you can reverse the renaming by saying “copy config.a *.sys”.)

If you’re still using some big old DOS programs, you can make them run better by typing this:

C:\>copy con config.sys

device=windows\himem.sys /testmem:off

device=windows\emm386.exe ram d=64

dos=high,umb

At the end of each line, press the ENTER key. Make sure you correctly type the spelling, punctuation, and blank spaces. At the end of the last line, press the ENTER key, then the F6 key (which creates the symbol “^Z”), then the ENTER key again. That creates a 3-line CONFIG.SYS file, which is slightly better than having no CONFIG.SYS at all. The 3-liner increases the available RAM and also creates expanded memory.

You see “C:\>” again.

If you did the DOS editing by clicking “MS-DOS prompt”, do this:

Type “exit” (and press ENTER). You see the Windows desktop screen again (with the Start button and the My Computer icon).

If you did the DOS editing by choosing “Safe mode command prompt only”, do this:

Turn the power off. Wait for the computer to quiet down. Turn the power back on. You should see the Windows desktop screen again (with the Start button and the My Computer icon). If you don’t see that, phone me at 603-666-6644 for further help.

Strip WIN.INI For Windows XP, skip ahead to the next topic, “Empty MSCONFIG”.

For other Windows, examine a file called WIN.INI, by doing this: click “Start” then “Run”, then type “win.ini” (and press ENTER). You see a window showing you the many equations that comprise WIN.INI. Those equations affect how Windows boots up.

Two of those equations should say —

load=

run=

In those “load=” and “run=” equations, typically nothing should come after the equal sign.

Any program mentioned after the equal sign will be loaded and run automatically every time you start Windows. A program should be mentioned after the equal sign just if you really do want to run that program every time you start Windows.

After scribbling a careful note on a sheet of paper about what junk came after the equal sign, delete the unwanted junk (by clicking just after the equal sign and then pressing the DELETE key several times). Or deactivate the entire line by putting a semicolon at the line’s beginning, so the two lines begin by saying “;load=” and “;run=”.

Then exit from the editor by clicking its X button. (If the computer asks “Do you want to save the changes?”, press ENTER.)

Shut down the computer completely (by clicking “Start” then “Shut Down”, then pressing ENTER, then turning the power off). When the computer has quieted down, turn it back on and watch what happens.

Probably Windows will start fine (faster and better!) because of the changes you made to WIN.INI. If not, revert the WIN.INI file back to its original state. (Phone me at 603-666-6644 if you need any help reverting.)

Empty MSCONFIG A program called MicroSoft CONFIGuration (MSCONFIG) helps you configure Windows. That program is missing from Windows 95 but included in later versions of Windows.

If you’re not using Windows 95, do this.…

Click “Start” then “Run”. Type “msconfig” and press ENTER.

You see the System Configuration Utility window. Click “Startup” (which is near that window’s top right corner). You see a list of programs.

For Windows 98 & Me, maximize the window (by clicking its maximize button, which is next to the X button). For Windows Me & XP, you can widen any column (by looking at the column’s heading, looking at the vertical line to the right of the heading, and dragging that line farther to the right).

Every time you turn the computer on, the computer automatically runs all the programs in the list — unless you deactivate a program by removing the check mark from its box. (To add or remove a check mark, click the box.)

Programs get into that list because they were mentioned in the StartUp folder or the Registry or a file called WIN.INI. On a typical computer, you can deactivate most programs from the list, and the computer will still work fine.

Which programs should you keep, and which should you deactivate?

For Windows 98 & Me, here are comments about what’s in the list:

I recommend keeping ScanRegistry (which protects against errors in the registry), StateMgr (which helps Windows Me protect further against errors in the registry), and SystemTray (which makes the volume icon appear at the screen’s bottom right corner). You might also wish to keep TaskMonitor (which keeps track of which programs you use the most, so defragging will put those programs where you can access them faster).

LoadPowerProfile (which is in the list twice) makes the computer go into sleep mode if you walk away from the computer for a while. Although sleep mode is supposed to be a good thing that saves electricity, it confuses the human and the computer and causes errors. I usually recommend deactivating it; instead, whenever you’re going to walk away from the computer for awhile, shut down the computer properly and turn it off; but if you have a notebook computer and use the battery frequently, keep this active to make the battery last longer.

Deactivate SchedulingAgent and PCHealth. They force the computer to do some software cleaning at certain times of the day and month automatically, but I recommend you do software cleaning manually when you wish, to avoid interrupting your work.

You can deactivate these:

PowerReg Scheduler reminds you to register your software. Billminder, from Quicken, reminds you to pay bills today. Works Calendar Reminder (wkcalrem), from Microsoft Works, reminds you of your appointments today. Money Express reminds you to try using the Microsoft Money program, which can balance your checkbook and compete against Quicken. You don’t need those reminders, unless you want the computer to act as your tormentor and mother.

Several programs put extra buttons at the screen’s bottom right corner, in an area called the tray, next to the time You don’t need those buttons: they’re redundant, since similar buttons already populate your screen’s desktop (or in the programs menu or control panel). Although having a redundant button can occasionally be convenient (I admit liking the System Tray program, which puts the volume-control button into the tray), but I recommend you deactivate most such programs, to avoid cluttering your screen with useless buttons. Examples of redundant-button programs (which you should deactivate) are AtiKey (for ATI’s video cards), Aoltray (for America Online and its Internet hookup), and Igfxtray (for Intel’s video-chip graphics special effects).

Microsoft has invented several programs that are supposed to make Microsoft Office run faster but actually make the Microsoft Office be slower. Deactivate them! These counterproductive devils are called Microsoft Office StartUp Application (osa.exe) and Microsoft Find Fast (findfast.exe).

Over a thousand startup programs have been invented — and most should be deactivated! Info about 1000 startup programs is at www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm.

AtiCwd is useful just if you have a TV attached to your video card.

You can experiment by deactivating most of the listed programs: just get rid of their check marks. (In Windows XP, you can see an even longer list of automatically run programs by clicking “Services”.)

Then click “OK”.

If you made changes, here’s what happens next:

The computer says “You must restart your computer”. Press ENTER.

The computer automatically reboots.

For Windows Me & XP, the computer says “System Configuration Utility”; to react, click the tiny square (at the window’s bottom left corner) then click “OK”.

If you don’t like the results of your efforts, run msconfig again and put the check marks back in.

Final steps Click “Start”.

For Windows XP, click “Turn Off Computer” then “Turn Off”.

For other Windows, click “Shut Down” then press ENTER.

Then turn the power off.

Test your computer When the computer has quieted down, turn it back on and watch what happens.

Probably Windows will start fine (faster and better!) because of the software cleaning you did.

Probably your DOS programs will work fine (even your DOS games!) if you start them the way Microsoft recommends: click “Start” then “Programs” then “MS-DOS Prompt”; then if you see just a small black window, enlarge it by pressing Alt with ENTER. If you start DOS that way, the mouse & CD-ROM will work even while you’re running DOS software.

For Windows 95 & 98, consider this:

Though stripping CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT improves the performance of most computers, your computer might have “special needs”. (In the old days, computers having “special needs” were called “handicapped”, but I guess that’s not politically correct anymore.) For example, some Compaq computers have “special needs”. Such computers require some “special needs” lines in CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.

If Windows refuses to start properly after you’ve fiddled with CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, change them back. Here’s how.…

Shut down the computer. (If possible, shut it down gracefully by using the Shut Down menu. If you can’t get to the Shut Down menu or it doesn’t react properly, just turn the power off.)

Turn the computer’s power back on, then immediately hold down the F8 key. Keep holding it down, until the computer says “Microsoft Windows Startup Menu”. Near the menu’s bottom, you’ll see a choice called “Safe mode command prompt only”. Choose that (by pressing that choice’s number, which is usually 6 or 7, and then pressing the ENTER key).

The computer will say “C:\>”. Then you can restore your original CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files by saying:

C:\>copy config.a *.sys

C:\>copy autoexec.a *.bat

Finally, turn the power off, wait for the computer to quiet down, turn the computer back on, and you should be back where you were before you tried this experiment.