Datasheet

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PART I
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INSTALLATION, CONFIGURATION, AND CUSTOMIZATION
easy to determine if a particular service or application is needed, and lets
you undo any changes if you find your system is less stable or less functional
without the applets.
You can also control these services and applets using the Services Manager
and RegEdit (see Chapter 11 for more information on these applications).
However, if you are experimenting with the boot time and application
startup, MSCONFIG is easier to use than the other applications.
Click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and then click OK. Click the
Startup tab (see Figure 3.32). You will see a list of the applets that are loaded
at boot time: the name of the applet, the applet’s location and any com-
mand-line options, and the registry key that contains the information.
Figure 3.32. MSCONFIG lets you select which applets to load at boot time.
From this dialog box you can select and deselect which applets you want
loaded at boot time. This is a great way to determine which applets are
needed and which are just consuming CPU cycles. For example, I never used
my video card’s control panel, which was so generously installed into the
notification area for me. Using MSCONFIG, I determined that my system
worked just fine without it, so I launched Regedit and removed the registry
key that loaded the applet.
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