is what programs are running at startup. Installed programs take up little space compared to pictures, videos and other media so removing programs won't add more space. Drive space affects system speed more on system with lower amounts of memory. Your system caches programs when multi-tasking and uses virtual memory which is on the hard drive. So adding memory and/or adding a SSD drive can affect performance on a 64 bit OS more then any other addition. A 32 bit OS will only read a little over 3 gb and the rest is wasted.
My PC (Windows 7) has a long list of programs that I don't think I need. Examples: Microsoft Visual C+++ (several variations listed), Windows LIVE (several), Visual Studio, Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe AIR, QuickTime, Microsoft NET Framework, and many more that I've never heard of.
Which ones can I safely remove without messing up other software programs? I don't even know if I use any of the ones I've listed. There are many others, too. How can I tell whether or not I can remove them? I think my PC is running slower because of all these programs. (I have virus protection, adware protection, malware protection that I keep up to date and run regularly, so I really think it's a software overload.)
As always I will greatly appreciate any advice, caveats, or other assistance my Forum friends can offer. Thank you. - Ellie

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