A slow booting computer is a major pain in the neck. You simply do not have a lot of time to waste, sitting around and waiting for Windows to get around to booting up completely. If you notice that your computer is taking a longer and longer amount of time to get up and moving completely, then it is time to take some measures to correct the problem before it gets worse...or you pull all of your hair out. And

fortunately, you do not need to expensive computer training courses or to run out to the local computer repair shop to get the problem taken care of!

One of the most common culprits for a really slow Windows boot time is too many programs and applications trying to run at start up. You really do not need to have more than the core Windows programs and components running on start up to get your computer up and running. Programs and applications like instant messengers, word processors, gadgets like Weather Bug, toolbars, Java updaters, Adobe updaters and more do not need to run automatically on start up – that is just more resources that are taken up during your booting process, and it slows things way down.

To correct the problem, you just need to get into the Windows System Configuration utility and turn them off. To do this, go to the Start button, and then Run. Type “msconfig” without the quotation marks into the Run field and then click on the “OK” button. Then your Windows System Configuration utility will pop up. Go straight to the Start Up tab, and do not mess with any of the other tabs – they have nothing to do with this (yes, even the tab labeled “BOOT”) and changes made to them could make your computer unstable if you do not know what you are doing.

Under the Start Up tab, you will see a list of everything that is running on Start Up with little check boxes next to each. If the box is checked, then that application or program is set to start automatically when you boot your computer up. Go through the list and uncheck any boxes next to items that you do not absolutely need to have going as soon as you turn your computer on. Once you are done, click on Apply and reboot your computer to have the new settings take effect. You should notice that your boot time is considerably faster, and whenever you need to use one of those programs you turned off, then you can just start it up manually.