Gaming Need help in Administrator

[GeekyGuy]

I'm getting so frustrated with my PC.

I've used Process Explorer, which seems like a really good piece of software for certain things, but I still have things loading up upon Windows (XP) start-up. I just tried restarting in Safe Mode and entering into Administrator. Then, when going into System Config, I try to un-check things under Startup, but it still gives me an error message related to logging in as Administrator.

I really want to trim the fat from my computer and optimize its performance any way I can. Please help me to deal with all this crap running in the background, loading during Windows start-up. I know what I want to get rid of; I just don't know how to get rid of it properly.

Thanks!

 

[FAST6191]

I assume this is for windows XP but it should apply to most windows OS give or take.
First if you do not know then be very careful and do some reading, you appear to have this down already but it is still worth saying. A few tools like spybot search and destroy do have an explanation of certain things so be sure to look at them.

To start: while the Administrator user does have certain advantages (I forget what specifically) over regular admins (most users are admin by default or can soon be made as such from the users/accounts part of control panel) it does not matter for this kind of thing.

My first instinct would be to make a new install of XP but use nlite ( http://www.nliteos.com/ ) to make a nice custom OS from the ground up but if that is not an option:

While windows comes with everything you need to config it some tools make life easier, personally I like a squared hijack free (note the download page links to all the software, make sure if is a squared hijack free you are grabbing)
http://www.hijackfree.com/en/hijackfree/

Once that is done it is time to customise properly.
XP antispy is a good start
http://www.xp-antispy.org/index.php/lang-en
From here basic windows tweaking tools come into play, http://www.tweakxp.com/ is my choice here if I have not nlited a system.

 

[GeekyGuy]

Hmm...so, are you saying that it's likely some form of malware that's causing this issue?

 

[FAST6191]

While the tools/techniques above are good for malware removal they are also good for system optimisation: a squared hijack free is great for fiddling with startup entries (there are about 4 main ways for things to start with the system and it covers them all, it also means that stupid things like webcams, scanners, printers, wifi cards and the like that all want to install unoptimised and pointless code along with the drivers* can be told to get lost) and the other tools do things like disabling caching of thumbnails and other nice tweaks that either make things look better or run faster (or both).

*this sort of thing is the usual reasons I see for slow systems on otherwise acceptable hardware. Note most will provide you with a "tick box" that you can use to test things out before you nuke them properly (if indeed you want to nuke them properly).

 

[GeekyGuy]

Thanks, man.