How to check startup programs and finding service tag

Question

I am posting for my daughter whom has Windows 98.  I have worked with XP for so long that I have forgotten how to check startup programs in 98.  Is there also not a  way to find your service tag # ?   This system is about six years old  and they have been having spyware problems which I have taken care of  but they never delete things and I am trying to figure what I can remove from the startup list, if I could just remember how to do that.

Majestic · Answer

Press the START button then click RUN.  Type in MSCONFIG and click OK.  Then select the START UP tab to see what programs are loaded at Windows Startup.  From that listing you can uncheck the applications that you don't want to run at boot up.     You can find the Service Tag number listed in the BIOS Setup.  It will be shown on the top of the BIOS Setup page. Message Edited by Majestic on 03-20-2005 06:23 AM

jimmymac_4 · Answer

Hi,

In addition to Majestic's post, the following information should prove useful in determining just what to remove from startup and how to go about doing just that.

To premanently remove msconfig startup entries that reside in the registry ... from the Start Menu, click "Run", enter "regedit" and click "OK". You will find the startup entries in one of the following registry keys:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx (key undocumented by Microsoft)

Note: Any of the above keys that are followed by a "-" (minus sign) represent startup entries that are disabled (unchecked in msconfig).

I realize that some people are not comfortable with editing the registry. If you happen to be one of them, then I think you will find the freeware applications Startup Control Panel and Startup Manager more to your liking. They can be downloaded from here:

mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml
f2.org/archive/software/startupmgr.html

For assistance in determining which startup applications to disable or delete, you'll find explanations for most of them here...

www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm
www.3feetunder.com/krick/startup/list.html
www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/startup

In addition...

From within Windows Explorer, delete any uneeded shortcuts in your startup folder (C:\WINDOWS\START MENU\PROGRAMS\STARTUP). From the Start menu, click "Run", enter "sysedit", click "OK", edit the WIN.INI file (C:\WINDOWS\WIN.INI) and delete any uneeded applications following the "=" for the "load=" and/or "run=" entries. From the Start menu, click "Run", enter "sysedit", click "OK" and edit the autoexec.bat and config.sys files and either delete uneeded entries (applications, device drivers, etc.) or comment them out by inserting "REM" and a space preceding the entry to be "remarked" out.

Jim McNamara

Message Edited by jimmymac_4 on 03-22-2005 07:23 PM

Windows General

How to check startup programs and finding service tag

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