On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 08:57:46 -0500, Mike Hall (MS-MVP) wrote:

The same applies in msconfig - start-up.. the uninitiated will often stop
stuff that really should be running.. in the past, taking things out of
start-up was seen as a panacea that would make a computer faster.. that it
does, but the fact that removing items does that only goes to show that the
computer in question simply doesn't have the resources to run decently..

When running an operating system with limited resources (win9x), keeping an
eye on startup items was a vital part of system maintenance. While it
doesn't hurt to keep startup trimmed in XP (and doing so can still catch
some malware that has been installed that a user wasn't aware of), it is
not a critical mission. Seems to me that most of the people that ask this
question have just made the jump from Win9x to XP. A case of "old habits
die hard"?

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User