How To Properly Tweak Msconfig To Speed Up Windows

If you’ve ever had to research a major Windows error, you’ve probably run across msconfig, the handy Windows utility. Msconfig provides insight into what your computer is doing behind the scenes, and lets you take control of processes that you’d normally never encounter directly. If you haven’t used this valuable diagnostic asset yet, it’s time to give it a try. Learn to use msconfig well, and you’ll have a powerful new item in your mental tech toolbox.

Let’s take a look at msconfig, and how you can employ it to get more from your machine.

Before you start wrangling background processes, take a moment to find out which ones are causing the biggest hardware drain. Press Windows key+R to bring up the Run dialog box, then type in “taskmgr” and click OK. When Windows Task Manager opens, click on its Processes tab. You’ll probably see a dauntingly long list of .exe files running, and that may leave you wondering how to make heads or tails of it all. But you can quickly find which processes might need your attention by using the column listings along the top. Click the CPU category until it’s sorting from highest to lowest —the items demanding the most from your processor will jump to the top. Don’t worry about the item labeled System Idle Process —it’s just showing how often the CPU is idle, and should be the number one item when your computer isn’t doing much.

Now sort the list by memory, and see which processes are using up your RAM. Svchost, dwm, explorer, are csrss are a few of the normal windows exe files that you’ll see (so is taskmgr, of course), but keep in mind that viruses sometimes hide under those names, so any item that’s consistently taking up a lot of system resources is worth your suspicion. If you’re curious, a web search of any given file name will provide plenty of information on what it is and what it does. If you have reason to believe that a process is malware, it’s best to let an anti-virus program take a crack at it before attempting to shut it down yourself. But what you can do is prevent benign-but-useless items from running in the first place.

To start using msconfig, open the Run dialog box again, type in “msconfig,” and press “OK.” The System Configuration window that appears will have several tabs full of options and information, but for our purposes we’ll be using the one labeled “Startup.” This section contains a list of all the executables that fire up when Windows loads. By simply unchecking the boxes along the left side of the list field, you can disable anything from quietly launching and eating up your computer’s precious resources.

So which processes should you kill, and which should get the green light? That’s a somewhat tricky question, and we advise you to proceed with caution. Some of the things that load at startup are very important to making your OS run normally, so go at this list with a scalpel, not a sledge hammer. A good way to get started is to use column labels again, and sort the list by “Command.” (Also, drag that field open a little wider so you can read each item’s full entry.) Now you can see where each startup executable is located on your hard drive, and that’s valuable info. The ones in your Windows directory are more likely to be vital system processes, while the ones in Program Files or your login directory are more likely to be unnecessary. Keep an eye out for any “Updater” processes, which usually do nothing but hum along, waiting for updates that you could easily install yourself. If you don’t need automated help keeping your programs current, a lot of those items can be safely turned off.


Once you have (very carefully, and without saying we didn’t warn you) unchecked the processes you don’t want running, click Apply and then OK. You’ll be prompted to restart your computer, after which your system will be running much more efficiently.