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Copyright © 1997-2008 Elizabeth Boston, The Computer Lady

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Dear Computer Lady,

 

I was wondering how to check what is running in the background of my computer.  It has a tendency to run a little slow at times, even in explorer (and I have road runner)

 

It also seems to hesitate a tad on some games...any suggestions? (Jeopardy 2nd Edition)

 

Thanks for the help.... Jamie

Dear Jamie,

 

The quickest way to see what you have running in the background is to look at the icons in your system tray. That is the area in the bottom right hand side of your screen that has the clock.

 

Each icon in your system tray represents a program that is running in the background on your computer. You can temporarily turn those programs off by right clicking on each icon and closing the program. Don't turn off your anti-virus program though!

If you find that one of the programs is slowing down your computer and you don't really need to have it running constantly, you can stop it from loading automatically using MSCONFIG. Here is how:

 

Click on "Start" and then "Run". Type MSCONFIG in the run box and click "OK".

 

In the MSCONFIG window, click the "Startup" tab. You will see a list of all the programs that are loading when windows starts. To stop a program from loading, just click to remove the check mark in front of that entry. When you have finished, click "OK" and you will be prompted to restart your computer.

 

You can always go back and turn on any of those programs if you find you really do need them, and again, make sure that you do not turn off your antivirus program.

 

Elizabeth