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Old January 15th, 2008, 06:30 PM
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Miz Miz is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2003
O/S: Windows 10 Home
Location: Kansas
Age: 78
Posts: 12,125
When you install a program and just click the OK button if it asks where you want it to install, letting it itself however it wants to, it puts its files on the hard drive however it needs them. When you reinstall, it just does exactly the same thing again, putting exactly the same files in exactly the same places, replacing the ones already there with ones exactly like it. That's why reinstalling a program should put a file in that has gone missing. Why files go missing is another book entirely.

Since you're having problems on startup, yes, go back into msconfig and put things back the way they were. Legit programs will pop up a message box during uninstall warning about "shared files," should it encounter any, asking if you want to keep the file. When in doubt, click the button to keep the file.

I can't tell you exactly where every startup program you have keeps its "load on startup" option. Open one of those programs, click on File on the Menu Bar (up at the top) and look for the word Preference or Options or Settings. If it's not there, look under View. If it's not there, look under every other heading on the Menu Bar. Once you find something that looks like Preferences, Settings, Options (or something similar), click it and start poking around to see if you can find a way to disable it from loading on startup.

It rare for a legitimate program to take a needed file with it when it's uninstalled. Software that is not legitmate (spyware, virus, worm, trojan, etc.) will do that.

I'm not sure what a "crippled" program is other than a trial version that doesn't have all its features available until you pay for the full version.

Software developers seem to have decided that their stuff has to load on startup. I don't know why they thing their stuff is so important. Maybe it's ego. The end result is people can get so many different things set to load on startup that their computers struggle to get it all loaded and running. Stopping a program from loading on startup doesn't adversely affect the program in any way. The only effect on the user is those extra two seconds it takes to find it on the Start Menu and click on it. The effect on the computer is relief from having to run unneeded stuff.

Processes and Services and Programs are interrelated but not synonymous. As far as Processes in Task Manager and Services in Adminstrative Tools, disable only those you are absolutely, 100% sure your system doesn't need to do things you want it to do. Programs often start a process that will appear in Task Manager's Processes list and when the program is closed, its Process is also terminated....until next time the program is run.

As far as the Media Center crash, that could have had something to do with the things you've disabled. Something Media Center needed was disabled so it choked...or it could have been due to something else entirely.

Go to the Black Viper site I linked to in my other post in this thread and check your computer's Services settings agains his charge, changing any that need changing to be set the same as what's in the Safe column.
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