What is MSCONFIG? MSCONFIG is a special tool built into the Windows operating system (not included with Windows 95 and 2000 - although you can download MSCONFIG here) called “Microsoft System Configuration Utility” or “MSCONFIG”. MSCONFIG is designed to help you troubleshoot problems with your computer such it being slow, frequent crashes, as well as to remove spyware and viruses. As you may already know, running many programs at once will cause your computer performance to slow down. Don't forget, Windows also runs many programs in the background that you never see, you can use MSCONFIG to prevent some of programs from loading at startup which can greatly increase the speed at which your computer runs.

How Can I Access MSCONFIG?

To start MSCONFIG:

Click Start, then click Run and type “MSCONFIG” or "msconfig" (without the quotes), in the window that opens.

Once MSCONFIG opens you will see 6 to 8 tabs (depending on which operating system you are using) which provide access to various parts and processes that Windows uses. The tab you are interested in is on the far right, it s called “Startup”. It controls which processes start automatically when Windows loads.

If this is the first time you are running MSCONFIG you may notice that the list of start up items is quite long. You will see four columns: the first is a column of check boxes, the second is the name of start up item, the third is where the item is located on the hard drive and the fourth is the registry location.


How Do I use MSCONFIG?

To remove an item from the start up menu remove the check mark from the corisponding check box. To instruct a process to run on start up put a check mark in the box.

By now you might be asking, "Which processes are safe to remove?" This is where it gets tricky. An easy way to determine whether a startup item is needed or not you can download Autoruns. Autoruns lists every program that will start when Windows loads. It allows you to quickly delete the link to the program. Many autostart entries are crucial part of Windows XP, for example: Userinit.exe and Explorer.exe, so don't remove these. I recommend entering the process name in the text entry box on this page, which tells you if you can safely remove the item from the start up menu.

Process Name Command or Data Do I Need It? TaskMonitor taskmon.exe Yes - this is a Windows process! WinCheck services.exe No! this is added by the SOBER-S worm! CheckScan32 regload16.exe No! added by the AEBOT.K worm! CamMonitor hpqcmon.exe No - From HP and related to digital imaging - but still not needed.

After you have finished selecting or de-selecting which processes you want to load on startup click Apply and then Close. The next window that pops up will ask you if you would like to Restart or Exit Without Restart. If you choose Restart the computer will reboot using the startup menu you specified. Then you will see the System Configuration Utility window open. It will tell you that you have switched off some programs that load at startup, if your happy with you changes you can click the checkbox to not show the message again. If Exit Without Restart is selected the change made will not take affect until the computer is rebooted (restarted). Upon reboot you will get a visit from the System Configuration Utility window as mentioned previously.

MSCONFIG can be very helpful in removing spyware/adware and viruses. MSCONFIG will run in safe mode. Therefore, if you have found that the anti-virus or anti-spyware software has not successfully removed the malicious software from your PC, you can boot into safe mode, take a look at the startup menu and remove any processes that do not belong there.

There are other areas of MSCONFIG which go beyond the scope of this artice. A search on Microsoft.com should bring you to the information you need.

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