Your brand new laptop or computer boots up (starts up) like a blaze but over time, it slows down like an aging human being. It is a common problem faced by all of us. But have we ever wondered what goes wrong? After all, the computer is a machine and it should behave in the same manner all the time.

Well, yes. Your expectation is correct and it should always maintain the same speed as it did in its early day.

What is the problem?

It certainly can speed up if you carefully think about what actaully deterioted its performance.

The most common reason is the installation of new softwares, games and other small utiltities. When you install a software, it creates a footmark in the computer registry. Also, the software might include itself in the windows 'Start Up' list meaning that whenever you re-start or re-boot your system, the program will also start itself. So, you keep installing softwares and this list keeps increasing over time.

This 'Start Up' List is the biggest culprit in slowing down your system's start up or boot time. So, an effective resolutiion is to remove any programs/softwares from this list if you really don't use them often. This will certainly improve your system's performance.

Autoruns - A utility from Microsoft

Autoruns is a small utility from Microsoft which helps you find the list of programs which are working behind teh scenes. You can enable and disable the softwares which are included in the 'Start up' list.



The program does not need an install. It comes in the form of an executable i.e. ".exe" file which can be run immediately after download.

Msconfig - Built in utitlity in windows OS

Msconfig is another utility from Microsoft which comes pre-loaded in all window versions. You can simply launch it by typing msconfig in the run command.



This utility also allows you to manage the 'Start up' list.

Which one to use?

Both utiltites are good enough to manage the 'start up' list of programs to speed up your system's performance. But Autoruns gives you much more insight and options into what is happening in your system. If you are a system administrator and understand the technical aspects, you would certainly like to play with Autoruns.
If you are a normal user, i would suggest you to use Msconfig to clean up the non- sense that is slowing your system.