Tip: Shut Down Unwanted Apps

Is your computer taking longer to boot up then you remember it taking back when it was new? One reason may be due to unneeded applications opening up automatically every time you power on your PC. These extra apps can also slow down the overall performance of your PC. We will show you how to disable these speed bumps.

If this is the first time that you have been alerted to this issue, and you regularly add new programs to your computer, then you may unknowingly have several of these programs automatically open upon startup. These programs will definitely slow down the performance of your PC. One basic working principle for PC performance, states that using more open programs will take up more resources on your RAM; and the less unwanted clutter you have taking up RAM resources, the better your PC will perform.

The major applications that you currently have open can be tracked in the system tray, this is found on the right hand side of your Windows menu bar. The system tray will not give you a comprehensive list of everything that is running on your PC, but it will give you a workable overview.

You may not recognize some of the applications in your system tray, to investigate what they are then simply click on them to find out more details. If you do not recognize an app, then there is a chance that it somehow weaseled its way to the system tray during installation. If you determine that you do not need this app open, then you can delete it from the system tray and even uninstall it altogether.

To disable these useless apps from your system tray, go to Windows Start Menu > Startup, you will then right click on the app icon and select delete. This will not uninstall the program; deleting the app from the startup menu will only disable it from automatically starting up when you power on your PC.

To uninstall the program completely from your hard drive, you will want to do this from the control panel. Go to Windows Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program, and then select the program that you wish to delete from the list. This route is the most thorough way to remove a program because it takes care of all of the program's extensions, add-ons, and plugins. If you are wanting to uninstall programs on a computer at work, then be sure to first check with your company's IT department to make sure that you do not uninstall a critical application.

With a system tray cleaned out and unneeded programs uninstalled, your computer will have freed up resources to dedicate to the applications that are important to you. If your computer is still running slow, there are dozens of different procedures that can be done to boost performance. Call Computerware at (703) 821-8200 and we will share with you more suggestions and tips on how you can get the most performance out of your PC.