Reducing startup procedures?

Lately my laptop has been unreasonably slow (The CPU is almost constantly at 100%, even with only Media Player and Firefox running, which is unreasonable for a 2.0 GHz CPU), so I'm trying everything to increase the performance.

Could I uncheck any of my startup procedures?

AzMixerSel
ntiMui
empty space
ePresentation
IMJPMIG
ImScInst
TINTSETP
TINTSETP
SkyTel
ePower_DMC
Boot
SvnTPEnh
LManager
CLIStart
eRAgent
CPG
avgnt
FirstStart
jusched
LVCOMSX
ISStart
LogiTray
RTHDCPL
ALCMTR
dumprep 0 -k
Monitor
GoogleToolbarNotifier
AdobeUpdateManager
ctfmon
Acer Empowering Technology
Adober Reader Speed Launch
Last.fm Helper
Spyware Guard


Thanks in advance!

 

Well, have you looked in Task Manager to see exactly which processes are causing the CPU usage? How much memory do you have installed?

You do have a rather long startup list. You should spend some time researching them to determine which ones you might disable from starting when you start your computer. I know MG generally frowns on suggesting someone use a search engine and do some research on their own, but in this case, info on most or all of the startup processes in your list is readily available via an Internet search. And, I think you'll find it enlightening to know more about those processes running in your system.

 

Thank you for your quick answers!

I've already worked my way through the Basic computer maintenance everyone should do.


"jusched" is apparetly a Java Update scheduler. Turned that one off.
"AdobeUpdateManager" deleted using CCleaner.
"Adober Reader Speed Launch" deleted using CCleaner.
Spywareguard removed. (I already have SpywareBlaster as well)

Okey, I will try to have a look on the other ones as well!



So, currently I have the following set installed:

- AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic
- COMODO Firewall Pro
- SpywareBlaster (however, I'm not sure if this is included in the start-up?)
- Spybot - Search & Destroy (however, I'm not sure if this is included in the start-up?)
- CounterSpy (however, I'm not sure if this is included in the start-up?)

Is that a sufficient quintet? Should I change / get rid of something?


I just installed WinPatrol, but what exactly does it offer in addition to CCleaner?


Edit: I just noticed this: "And unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background.", so I guess that's okey then. Still not sure about 'Spybot - Search & Destroy' and 'CounterSpy'?

 

Most of the time it seems to be Firefox.

Currently the CPU usage is only at ~10%. However, the "Processes" -sheet indicates that 'System Idle Process' uses 98% CPU, if I understand it correctly.


Okey, I'll have a look myself and return with eventual questions.

 

"SBCSSvc.exe" is apparently running CounterSpy, at a cost of 18,928K.


I missed a question earlier: I have 896MB RAM (not including 128MB allocated for the graphics).

 

"CLI.EXE" seems to be safe to turn off, right? Do I want to "disable" it or "remove" it with Winpatrol?

http://www.lafn.org/webconnect/mentor/startup/0JF.HTM

 

'System Idle Process' being a high percentage is a good thing. It's just a mathematical entry in the Task Manager list to show the difference between 100% and the summation of any other items in Task Manager's Processes list that are causing some CPU usage. 'System Idle Process' is not included in the CPU usage percentage you see at the bottom of Task Manager; that figure is the sum the CPU usage of all other/regular processes.

 

I did a Google search on ntiMui (second item on your list) and found some disturbing info. See http://spywarefiles.prevx.com/RRIEDH2621933/NTIMUI.EXE.html Note that a company called Prevx offers a downloadable tool to detect ntiMui; I've never used this Prevx tool. So, I don't know whether it will find AND remove ntiMui or just find it and then require you to pay for the full version of Prevx before you can remove ntiMui. To download the Prevx tool, click on the link for "Click here to check your PC with Prevx CSI Now."

 

You show an item called "empty space" in your list. Does that title actually appear in your Task Manager list, or are you saying your Task Manager list has a blank line, i.e., empty space, in it? I believe the presence of a blank line is not normal; neither is an item called "empty space".

 

Ah, sorry, my bad. But when the usage really is 98-100%, the pointer can barely be moved and that occurs from time to time as well.

 

Hmm, that sounds really strange, since it's associated to NTI CD & DVD-Maker 7, which is one the programs included with Acer laptops.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ntiMUI-17134.html

However, I decided to run the Prevx tool anyway and it claims that my computer is clean, so I guess it's okey..

Anyway I don't see any reason to have it runing in the background, so I disabled it with WinPatrol

 

No, the title does not appear, i.e. my Task Manager list has a blank line. Or more specifik: "Startup Item" is blank, "Command" is blank but "Location" has the same information as (almost) all the other items; HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

However, there's no blank line listed in WinPatrol's "Startup Programs".

What do you suggest? Simply unchecking the item in msconfig?

 

My trial period is about to run out, so I'll uncheck SBCSSvc.exe! Btw, I'm still able to use for normal scans, after the trial period, right?