controlling win98 processes

Hello all, I've been playing with sysinternals' ( www.sysinternals.com ) process explorer on my Win98 comp for some time and have noted that I have some extra processes running I could well do without. I think I've managed to improve the computers performance and stability(on windows, LOL), but because I have to reboot every time I change something(ie. network settings or install something) it's starting to get annoying to manually kill the extra processes every time I've booted.

So... how do I control what processes do run automatically on Win98? C++ or assembler is ok by me, if that's what it takes.

What processes are loaded at boot time is largely a function of the software that you have installed on your computer and the settings you use for them. For example, if you have an IM installed on your computer and you have allowed it to 'start at bootup' that will be one more process you would have to kill. I would start off with looking at what you have installed and see if you can't tell the software to not load at boot. If you can't do that, consider removing it.

After you have done that look in two places: Windows\Desktop\Start Menu\Startup
Many things that are loaded at bootup are placed here...

Then (you better be careful here, a mistake can make your computer no longer work)

Open Regedit,

H_KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\
Look under:
Run Services and Run for things that are loaded at boot. Once again, be VERY careful, backup the registry before you change anything, any change made is saved automagically, and that includes screwups..

Hope this helps,

nebulus

Thanks for the quick and informative response! As expected, after I removed the extra processes with regedit everything runs more smooth than before. BTW, for anyone interested in Windows processes this is an invaluable link: www.answersthatwork.com and go to task list programs.

-:- carbonlifeform -:-