Removing start up stuff

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Seymore Porn
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Removing start up stuff

Postby Seymore Porn » 15 Oct 2014, 22:40

I've only just noticed that CCleaner lets me clear a load of stuff which runs when my laptop starts up. Is there anything I should know before I start a clear out? My laptop now takes a few minutes to boot up.
Thanks in advance.
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JQW
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Re: Removing start up stuff

Postby JQW » 16 Oct 2014, 00:09

Without knowing what precisely is installed on your PC it's difficult to tell.

Some of this startup software will be update agents, whose only purpose is to check for pending updates for various bits of installed software. Disabling them should be fine as long as you remember to periodically check for updates.

Some software will have an option to load itself up automatically at startup, whether you want to run it or not. Turning this off should also not be a problem.

Then there's what is often called 'crapware' - i.e. the junk bundled by most PC manufacturers. The PC can usually function fine without this installed.

With the rest it's difficult to tell. Some of these things may be critical for correct operation of installed hardware. Others may be a necessary background process that other software binds into.
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Re: Removing start up stuff

Postby Seymore Porn » 16 Oct 2014, 16:41

Thanks, it's a Toshiba laptop and there is loads of Toshiba stuff in the start up list. It's running Windows 7 home premium.
I uninstalled some stuff I don't use, one of which was Winamp, after the uninstall there were a few related things still there, and they don't want to go :(
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Watching the London leaders and their proxies unite against a simple democratic measure tells me all I need to know about the UK in any form. Their interests are not Scotland's interests.

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Re: Removing start up stuff

Postby JQW » 16 Oct 2014, 22:08

They should uninstall from within the Programs and Features bit of Control Panel (at least I think it's called that, not got Windows 7 here to check). All of the Toshiba stuff can go, although you may want to keep their updater. Toshiba usually also bundle a huge media player/burner in demo mode which can also be dumped.
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Re: Removing start up stuff

Postby Seymore Porn » 25 Apr 2015, 14:54

Thanks Paul, I'll give those things a go. I managed to speed things up, but it's now getting slow again. I'll ditch the media player/burner
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