Windows Vista start up

[JohnL]

I've reinstalled Win Vista on my Toshiba laptop and have processed all the necessary updates over the past few days....no other updates are available right now....with that said, when I boot up my laptop, the hard drive light seems to be blinking a lot longer than what I have observed with other comptuers.....I do not know how to access the startup menu to see what is loading up, perhaps I can remove some of them that is not needed.....can someone tell me how to access the start up menu and stop some programs that are not needed. many thanks, John

[Medico]

Try a little app I use called What's In Startup to see all the apps starting with Windows. Get rid of the un-necessary junk. Autoruns for Windows will also work well.

[JohnL]

Ted a big thank you...I downloaded it and it really told me what I was looking for...now to make a few decisions on what to disable...thanks again..have a good week. John

[Medico]

No problem John, glad I could help.

[Just Plain Fred]

can someone tell me how to access the start up menu and stop some programs that are not needed. many thanks, John

John,
Hello... One other thing that is often overlooked is "Administrative Tools"> "Services".. There are many features that are set to Automatic that can be set to manual or disabled altogether.... Here is a portion of my Vista OS's settings

[robplum]

For months I've been having problems with start-up files mostly Kaspersky icon not loading, few days ago i tried a fix found online which seems to sort incorrect registry entries, think Sp1 or Sp2 changed some thing. Whatever the following seems to have corrected (lost the URL) so will copy here in case assists others.

You copy following into txt file, save as to your desktop then rename the txt file to fix.reg and click on it.
"
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\msiserver]
"DisplayName"="@%SystemRoot%\\system32\\msimsg.dll ,-27"
"ImagePath"=hex(2):25,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,6 5,00,6d,00,72,00,6f,00,6f,00,\
74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d ,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,\
00,73,00,69,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,63,00,20,00,2f,00 ,56,00,00,00
"Description"="@%SystemRoot%\\system32\\msimsg.dll ,-32"
"ObjectName"="LocalSystem"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000003
"Type"=dword:00000010
"DependOnService"=hex(7):72,00,70,00,63,00,73,00,7 3,00,00,00,00,00
"ServiceSidType"=dword:00000001
"RequiredPrivileges"=hex(7):53,00,65,00,54,00,63,0 0,62,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00 ,43,00,72,00,65,00,61,00,\
74,00,65,00,50,00,61,00,67,00,65,00,66,00,69,00,6c ,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,\
00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00 ,65,00,4c,00,6f,00,63,00,\
6b,00,4d,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,72,00,79,00,50,00,72 ,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,\
00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,49,00,6e,00 ,63,00,72,00,65,00,61,00,\
73,00,65,00,42,00,61,00,73,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69 ,00,6f,00,72,00,69,00,74,\
00,79,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00 ,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,\
65,00,43,00,72,00,65,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,50,00,65 ,00,72,00,6d,00,61,00,6e,\
00,65,00,6e,00,74,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00 ,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,\
00,00,53,00,65,00,41,00,75,00,64,00,69,00,74,00,50 ,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,\
00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,53,00 ,65,00,63,00,75,00,72,00,\
69,00,74,00,79,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c ,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,\
00,53,00,65,00,43,00,68,00,61,00,6e,00,67,00,65,00 ,4e,00,6f,00,74,00,69,00,\
66,00,79,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65 ,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,\
00,65,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,66,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00 ,53,00,69,00,6e,00,67,00,\
6c,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,6f,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,73 ,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76,\
00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00 ,49,00,6d,00,70,00,65,00,\
72,00,73,00,6f,00,6e,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,50,00,72 ,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,\
00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,43,00,72,00 ,65,00,61,00,74,00,65,00,\
47,00,6c,00,6f,00,62,00,61,00,6c,00,50,00,72,00,69 ,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,\
00,67,00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,41,00,73,00,73,00 ,69,00,67,00,6e,00,50,00,\
72,00,69,00,6d,00,61,00,72,00,79,00,54,00,6f,00,6b ,00,65,00,6e,00,50,00,72,\
00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00 ,53,00,65,00,52,00,65,00,\
73,00,74,00,6f,00,72,00,65,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76 ,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,\
00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,49,00,6e,00,63,00,72,00 ,65,00,61,00,73,00,65,00,\
51,00,75,00,6f,00,74,00,61,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,76 ,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,\
00,65,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,53,00,68,00,75,00,74,00 ,64,00,6f,00,77,00,6e,00,\
50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65 ,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,54,\
00,61,00,6b,00,65,00,4f,00,77,00,6e,00,65,00,72,00 ,73,00,68,00,69,00,70,00,\
50,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65 ,00,00,00,53,00,65,00,4c,\
00,6f,00,61,00,64,00,44,00,72,00,69,00,76,00,65,00 ,72,00,50,00,72,00,69,00,\
76,00,69,00,6c,00,65,00,67,00,65,00,00,00,00,00
"FailureActions"=hex:84,03,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 ,00,00,03,00,00,00,14,00,00,\
00,01,00,00,00,c0,d4,01,00,01,00,00,00,e0,93,04,00 ,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\msiserver\Enum]
"0"="Root\\LEGACY_MSISERVER\\0000"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001

" copy all of that including Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00