Need a computer literate person for help

I'm sick of having all of these stupid-@ss programs on my computer. I want to get rid of everything I don't need/use. Basically, have my computer use ONLY the programs for itunes, internet, and videos (youtube type). Someone please give me some info.

*we rollin up them paper planes*

...bottom left of your screen, click, "Start", "Control Panel", "Programs/uninstall programs"....you'll see a list of everything, delete what you don't want.....

windows xp? vista? 32 bit or 64 bit?

basically what you want to do is reformat your computer and install an unattended "lite" version of what ever operating system you use.

they work especially good for slower, older computers.

you can also just go into msconfig and disable your startup programs

"CCleaner" is a good program to use if you have alot of junk on your computer (and it's free)

I understand that, and have done that. Not everything shows up though. Are there Windows programs that are not needed?

My bad, I'm running Windows XP I think 64bit

trichlone fiend said:

...bottom left of your screen, click, "Start", "Control Panel", "Programs/uninstall programs"....you'll see a list of everything, delete what you don't want.....

Click to expand...

If using xp.. click on the start button, then control panel, then double click on add or remove programs.. windows will generate what programs you have on your computer.

click on the program you wish to remove, in other words highlight it with your mouse and click on the remove button under the programs name.

trichlone fiend said:

...bottom left of your screen, click, "Start", "Control Panel", "Programs/uninstall programs"....you'll see a list of everything, delete what you don't want.....

Click to expand...

alot of programs tend not to show up in Add/Remove Programs, just FYI

jwop said:

alot of programs tend not to show up in Add/Remove Programs, just FYI

Click to expand...

In that case, go to c:/program files, and manually remove the folder.

you kind of need to have an intuition for what needs to be there and what does't . . . . .

I typically go through the task manager looking for any suspicious exes . . . . .

I also go into msconfig to get rid of any startup items that are causing any slowdowns etc.

CLOSETGROWTH said:

In that case, go to c:/program files, and manually remove the folder.

Click to expand...

if the program is running, it won't let you delete the files or folder

he will have to manually about the process by going into task manager

OP: press ctrl+alt+del ... and in task manager, see how many processes you have running in the bottom left of the window

you shouldn't have any more than like 25 MAYBE 30 total processes

Yeah I've got 51 processes running.

yeah I"m sure atleast 12-18 of them are unnecessary. . . .

blizzie420 said:

Yeah I've got 51 processes running.

Click to expand...

i attached a screenshot of my task manager. i don't have antivirus or anything running so this is really all that is needed.

nvm,

taskmgr.exe
firefox.exe
wdfmgr.exe
jqs.exe
svchost.exe
explorer.exe
spoolsv.exe
svchost.exe
alg.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
svchost.exe
wscntfy.exe
svchost.exe
lsass.exe
services.exe
winlogon.exe
csrss.exe
smss.exe
wuauclt.exe
system
system idle process

if you've got 51 going, go to start, go to run, type msconfig and press enter,
click on the startup tab, click on disable all, click on apply, and restart your computer

when your computer boots back up, click on the check box of the window that automatically pops up or it will keep popping up.

see how many processes you have running now

this may be a slow process for me (as in slow comp) so bear with me

also if you have winxp
start>run
type: msconfig

then go to the part that says startup.
these are basicly the programs that show up in the bottom right of your desktop.
they slow the startup and suck resources without actualy doing anything.
uncheck what you dont want starting up.
before you do this use google to learn how start your PC in safe mode so
if you whoopsie and shut something off that was needed, you can go back in in safe mode and undo that thing.
also: don't uncheck everything thing at once if you don't know what it is. this way you know what to undo if you make a mistake.
if you aren't sure what something does, just copy and past it into the google search bar and you should find out what it is.

I've got 36 processes after doing what you said jwop.

blizzie420 said:

I've got 36 processes after doing what you said jwop.

Click to expand...

that's much better, and i bet your computer seems a little more crisp.

you should get a program called "CCleaner", it's free and you should really use all of the programs functions. it's pretty easy to navigate but if you need help, i'm sure i can help

after you run that (make sure you go through the add/remove programs part of the program and get rid of anything you don't want), you will want to defragment your hard drive(s)

then, as long as you have plenty of hard drive space, we can increase your virtual memory a little (or a lot) and see if that makes things run a little quicker.

should I keep everything disabled in the startup tab than?