While modern versions of Windows accept largely overcome the functioning rot problem that was one time the bane of users, it's notwithstanding possible for applications to silently add together auto-run utilities that slow down your PC'southward boot time and overall performance. Here'due south how y'all can manage which applications and services run when Windows x starts up and, more important, effigy out which are necessary or useful.
The primal is Job Manager, which was nicely overhauled in Windows 8. You volition occasionally be prompted by Activeness Center—the Windows utility which puts a flag icon in your organization tray—to examine your startup programs. But you lot tin can run Task Manager at any time by using Starting time Search (search for
job managing director) or by right-clicking the Start push or taskbar and choosing Chore Manager from the pop-up menu that appears. When Task Manager starts, click "More Details" if needed and and so navigate to the Startup tab.
Over fourth dimension, Task Manager'south Startup interface will provide data well-nigh which startup programs impact boot time the most. But that'due south not necessarily helpful. For instance, Google Chrome may actually impact boot time a lot, but if you use it daily, yous all the same won't want to disable this program. And you're probably not actually booting your PC all that often anyhow. (More of import, I think, is the impact these programs tin have on overall system performance. And that's not measured here anyway.)
The other issue is determining which programs should or should not startup when your PC boots.
For instance, what the heck is "Btmshellex" in the listing on my ain laptop? I don't recognize that name, and in that location's Publisher listed, which is suspicious. Fortunately, Task Director lets y'all find out what each program is: Just right-click it in the listing and choose "Search online" from the popular-up carte du jour.
When you do, your default web browser will launch and display search results for the program you selected. In general, I find the results from Should I Block It? to exist particularly helpful.
In this example, it turns out that Btmshellex—actually Btmshellex.dll—is a procedure used by my laptop's Intel PROSet\Wireless Bluetooth chipset, and information technology'due south related to the Bluetooth Shell Extension, that little blue Bluetooth icon that appears in the organisation tray. And then information technology's safety, which is good. But it's all the same non super-clear if I need that running. Do I even use Bluetooth on this PC? In my case, the reply is no, so I tin safely disable information technology: Right-click it in Task Director and cull Disable.
Equally problematic are the entries "Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manger" and "Adobe Updater Startup Utility." On the one manus, it's advisable to let Adobe automatically update its applications on your PC, since these applications are such a mutual set on vector for hackers. But on the other manus, you may not appreciate—equally I do non—Adobe putting an car-run application in your startup sequence so that its applications run a bit faster afterwards. So if yous're going to consider disabling one of these, you improve empathize what they are.
A piddling spider web research using the aforementioned "Search online" choice reveals that Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manger—or AdobeARM for you Adobe fans—is necessary. This is the utility that automatically keeps Adobe Reader (in my instance) up to date. So that one stays.
"Adobe Updater Startup Utility," meanwhile, performs exactly the aforementioned office, but it does then for other Adobe applications, such as Photoshop Elements, which I also use. Frankly, this 1 is less essential, but I'm going to go along it running so that Elements is updated equally needed likewise.
The Task Manager shown above is from a very clean version of Windows—heck, I just install the Windows Technical Preview on that particular PC, so that's not surprising—merely this interface will get crowded with entries as y'all go along using Windows and install more than and more than applications. Be sure to check in from time to time, and of course Action Center will occasionally pipe up to remind you too.
