Various questions

razz

razz

Member
Hi, I am not a complete novice, as some of you may assume by some of these questions. Your response to any or all of these questions will be greatly appreciated. My OS is XP Home.

(1) When you click the "Start" button and then click "All Programs", a long list of programs are shown. It seems to me that some articles refer to this menu of programs as programs in your Start Menu. Is this correct, or is your "Start Menu" only programs that start when you turn your PC on?

(2) Is it necessary to have most of these programs within this menu (the menu that pops up when you click "All Programs", after clicking "Start"), or is it best to delete most of them from this menu?

(3) Does it matter... i.e. does not having alot of programs listed in this menu help towards better performance?

(4) I use System Mechanic 6 along with CCleaner and Lavasoft Adware to aid with general PC health. They all seem like good tools, do you agree? Naturally I have a firewall (ZoneAlarm) and virus protection (Hauri ViRobot).

Thank you so much for your time!
 
(1) Actually, start menu means the thing that pops up when you click the windows-logo on the lower-left corner, but may do refer the start menu and all its submenus (including the programs list) simply as start menu.

(2)No. All icons in this menu are simply shortcuts to the actual programs; it IS safe to delete these, as you're not deleting the actual programs, but it's more convenient to have the shortcuts there than having to browse through Program Files or somewhere else for the actual executable. I would recommend leaving them there,

(3)No. The amount of shortcuts in the menu has insignificant impact on performance; don't worry about it.

(4)Yep, your protection/cleanup software setup seems good, though I've never heard of the A/V program you have...
 
1. When you click Start then All Programs, thats just a list of programs that are installed on your computer. But not all programs installers choose to put it on the list under All Programs. So you could have programs installed that are not listed. You can put them on your desktop/quick launch on your task bar, doesnt really matter, where ever you want them.

2. Its not necessary, but really no reason to delete them.

3. No

4. Never used System Mechanic 6 or Hauri ViRobot but the others are ok.
 
(1) I'll be dam what the diffirence is. (start menu and msconfig). I do know if i don't need something to start up i goto run : type in msconfig / startup tab.
i uncheck everything i don't want. in fact its not uncommon to delete all or some in all programs / startup menu.

(2) some of these in the start menu i just delete because i do not need them starting in the 1st place. i put often used shortcuts on the desktop and seldom used on the toolbar / quicklaunch. (this is just for easy access).

(3) i can only say if i don't use it much or often i take it out. i click it when i want it. (thats just how i keep housekeeping)

(4) ya gotta have something. a little bit of everything. thats a good thing.

i do uninstall proggys at the control panel im dont use. i keep this sheet moving. and then again the remove function is often because i try several proggys that do the same thing and this one does it all. all the rest goes.
 
between regseeker and CCleaner these two i have used for a few years now. System Mechanic years ago seemed to dig to deep and shut me down at one time.

as far start/programs/statup
i have used a lot of freeware that was being used. i could drag a shortcut and force it to start. just depends on what im doing at the time.

cheers.......
 
tremmor said:
(1) I'll be dam what the diffirence is. (start menu and msconfig).
Click to expand...

Has nothing to do with each other. Under Start, All Programs are just installed programs on your computer that the installer decided to put a short cut there. Startup in msconfig is a list of programs that start up (with) windows when booting.
 
hackapelite said:
Yep, your protection/cleanup software setup seems good, though I've never heard of the A/V program you have...
Click to expand...

Hauri ViRobot was highly recomended to me a few years ago and I have been very happy with it. It costs about the same as (or a little less) than the more well known A/V programs. Hauri ViRobot is also (as far as I know) the only A/V program that can repair any file that has been infected with a virus.

Thank you and thanks to all for your prompt response to my questions.
 
start, programs and startup.
i was interested and makes me wonder why they have the start up folder in the 1st place. i can turn off in msconfig / startup then load a shortcut into the startup folder and starts fine. im just curious why it was created in the 1st place.
 
Well msconfig is really a trouble shooting utility, not really meant for just disabling startup programs. People just use it for that. Most programs have in there setting a place to check or uncheck startup with windows. I,ve had programs that were set in their setting to startup with windows and were unchecked in msconfig not to startup with windows, and when booting the program would try to start and windows would shut it down. It always better to set the program not to start with windows instead of using msconfig.
 
Is there an easy way to delete these programs?

Is there an easy way to delete these programs listed in the menu I was discussing (i.e.when you click "Start" button and then click "All Programs")?
 
To delete the program itself, you go to add and remove programs in the control panel. If you just want to delete the shortcut on the All programs list just right click whatever one you dont want there and click delete.
 
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