A visitor asked:

Do you have an updated info on these XP running on Services or the STARTUP TAB?

FYI, you get to the MSCONFIG interface by clicking on Start, going to the command screen and typing MSCONFIG. Then you hit enter and start up the MSCONFIG interface.

Microsoft's website suggests much the same thing I would.

• On the *General* tab, click *Selective Startup*.
• Clear the *Process SYSTEM.INI File*, *Process WIN.INI File*, and *Load System Services* check boxes. You will not be able to clear the *Use Original BOOT.INI*check box.
• To test the software loading process, make sure the *Load Startup Items* check box is selected, and then click *OK*.
• Restart the computer as prompted.

Now, obviously there's some risk here. If you have done this before and disabled the automated reset where msconfig goes back to its original configuration if you fail to tell it otherwise. Some of these services may be quite necessary for your setup. If that's not the case, this is virtually pain free and may expose a heavy bit of software you don't need to turn on or could delay until it's actually used.

Currently my friend has these runnign on startup: IntelMEM, tfswctrl, igfxtray, hkcnd, igxpers

I wonder why or if you actually require IntelMEM. A quick google indicates it's used primarily for modems. tfswctrl appears to relate to HP's CD burning tools, igfxtray graphics card, hkcnd appears to also be an Intel graphics related file. There's an interesting bit of info on this site: http://www.file.net/process/hkcmd.exe.html.

What does this all mean? Windows is an awful big pain to run cleanly, virtually impossible to know whether it is clean or infected and I'm very glad my servers run Unix for this very reason.

But, what about practical advice?

• Run Malwarebytes. Most good modern trojans actually disable it or refuse to allow you to install it. It's known to catch many bugs and ruin their day. I like that.
• Run Glary Utilities. It'll clean your registry which is most likely a mess, unless you're more knowledgeable than most, including me.
• Get comfortable with the idea of doing an occasional reinstallation of the Windows operating system. It is time consuming and does require some research to ensure you have the latest drivers before you get started. If your reason for reinstallation is infection, this complicates things because you need to insure you download good, late drivers that aren't tainted. But, a reinstall, update and defrag will provide you a much improved Windows experience if you're willing to set aside the 3-4 hours it will no doubt require. Windows gets messy as you use it. That's its nature. And, as you use it, it will eventually require a rebuild to perform properly. I see no evidence that any version of Windows is immune.

I'd add one more thing, and that's a warning that often a hardware failure can cause sluggishness in Windows and the OS makes it hard to detect if you don't know what you're looking for. Windows, unlike some robust server platforms, is particularly forgiving when it comes to memory and drive failure. It just tries to route around it and move on. That's a good thing for many of us because Windows is a consumer operating system on consumer equipment in most cases. Consumer grade equipment is designed to be failure tolerant as well. So, that occasional memory glitch or drive bit disappearance isn't that big a deal, unless peak performance is your aim. There are utilities that will tell you if your memory or drives are dropping data or failing. This can wreak havoc on your computing experience if it becomes chronic.