I have 20 or more things that load on start up, I am sure most of them I don't use, how can I get rid of them as they make booting up very slow and I can't use the computer until they are all loaded. How can I know whether they are any use or not?
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General discussion
Removing icons from start up task bar
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17 Posts
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the systray down by the clock.
Click start and in the RUN box type msconfig
Put the dot in Selective startup
Click the startup tab
write down or which ever is easiest for you all the items listed. you can look up each one at the link below and un-check any that is not required.
http://www.lafn.org/webconnect/mentor/startup/PENINDEX.HTM
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Thank you so much for this information which I followed, and deleted many of them however when I rebooted I found a lot of them put back again and found one that was not there before i.e. CTFMON.EXE-OE179698.pf. Have again deleted them and this one, but the web site you recommended me only lists CTFMON.EXE on its own, as there is a ctfmon in system32 as it says, I thought the other one could be a trojan. A message comes up wanting me to load all the stuff again, but it boots up faster and I have more room on the bottom now. Hope I have done the right thing with that file.
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Here is info on CTFMON.EXE
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/ctfmon/
If you have something listed that is not on the web site just do a search using GOOGLE and you will most likely find it.
As for the ones that come back, did you put the dot in selective startup? You will get a notice when you restart the computer as to such but just leave the dot there and OK the notice. You may have icons in the systray that are not listed in msconfig, if so, hover the mouse pointer over them and see if you can identify them, post back on that.
Here is a neat little utility you can use to control what is starting up.
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
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I checked google for that name, but it couldn't find anything.
I have copied and kept all your advice for future reference! Thanks very much
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Following this procedure, I found 3 viruses. I'm surprised AVG 8.0 didn't find these (normally pretty effective) although AVG moved a couple to the virus vault on start up. Don't know if they're related.
I seem to be healed - praise the Lord.
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When I go to Run>msconfig I get an error message that says cannot find the file or path. When I do it thru Spy Bit and unclick or uncheck those programs they come back in as soon as I drop them.
What should I do?
John Farrell
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maybe it will help. http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=129874&messageID=1465991
Good luck
Eddie
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elmer3, Which icons and which location (desktop, Taskbar, Notification area aside of the clock, etc.) are you trying to remove and why?
Tufenuf
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Whenever I start up XP on my laptop, a window opens automatically, displaying mouse properties, etc. How do I stop this from happening?
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I have an icon in my task bar that looks like a system alert. A balloon pops up and says I have spyware on my machine. If I click the balloon it opens IE 7.0 and opens a web site selling spy removal software called Spy Dawn. I have run Spy Begone! but can remove or find the origin of the program / spyware / malware. Can anyone help?
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hello everybody,
I'm facing the same problem,how can I remove it? I want to know if somebody has the answer to this, please do post it.
thanks for your time and concern in advance.
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Post (#2 of 4)and you'll get clear of SpyDawn as well as most anything it brought in since it arrived. After CCleaner has cleaned your files
(which may take awhile on first run, after which it takes only seconds
on further daily runs) & then running MBAM & SAS,you'll get much better performance.
Mbam updates everyday & SAS usually 5 days a week (Mon-Fri). These are only scanner/removers not background guards in their FREE versions.
Let us know your results please. 
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Just to add to 'Retired's' comment on StartupCPL, I have been using it for 5 or 6 years on WIN98 up to XP/SP2 and have had no problems whatsoever. It is very easy to use and works great.
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