Computer running slow, can I fix the taskbar?

Question

I recently bought my first laptop used from a friend of mine who really tricked it out. He is very knowledgable but we use the computer for different things.The computer is so slow to load, and it is mostly due to our wireless internet service. I get it free so I'm not complaining. But I want to boost my performance with what is in my control.

My taskbar (down by the clock) shows 10 icons all the time. I have been told that this bogs up the computer. Trouble is, I don't know what I need, and what I can shut off, perhaps even remove from the computer. I figured out how to hide them when they are inactive, but I'm not sure that hiding makes any difference in the processing speed if they are all working in the background. After I figure out which ones I want to come on automatically, and which to activate as needed myself, I would like to change the settings so they don't keep coming back on and slowing things down. What should I do? Thanks for your help!

Southernbelle, you are my geek in shining armor. I appreciate your quick and thorough answer, I did what you said and things are much speedier. For the other techies in the house, I'm sure I will have other questions about the unchecks and reactivating certain ones. For now, however, the question is closed and southernbelle will get 10 well deserved points. Thanks again!

Southernbelle, you are my geek in shining armor. I appreciate your quick and thorough answer, I did what you said and things are much speedier. For the other techies in the house, I'm sure I will have other questions about the unchecks and reactivating certain ones. For now, however, the question is closed and southernbelle will get 10 well deserved points. Thanks again!

Answer 1

You're correct in your assumption that simply hiding inactive icons doesn't do anything to stop them from running. Those are the ones I suspect you MAY want to decide if you want to keep on the puter at all or not.

You DO want to keep all the anti-malware progs that give you real-time protection and any others you just want to come on when you boot up your computer (like WeatherBug, etc). Microsoft suggests only six to run in the back ground. That is why this puter is so slow. It has too much going on in its background.

To turn off those progs go to Start>Run>type msconfig in the prompt box and click OK>select the STARTUP Tab> UNcheck EVERYTHING in there except what I mentioned above. Click on the OKs until you're out and let the computer re-boot. Now, just because those are not running in the background doesn't mean you can't use them from the All Programs list. It just means they won't be running in the background eating up precious resources.

Then, Defrag the thing (preferable in Safe Mode). When was the last time THAT was done? After Defragging the set it to run ScanDisk (no safe mode needed for this one). Re-boot and let SD run.

You should see improvement with these steps provided that the machine isn't laden with mal-ware which you should scan for and get rid of FIRST!

Hope this helps. Good Luck!