disable startup items

If you still have access to a W98 box, you can copy over the files for msconfig and it will work just fine.

Otherwise, try some of the startup utilities posted at www.nonags.com

Or, you can edit the registry manually.

Look in the following key for programs that run at startup:

hkey_current_user\software\Microsoft\currentversion\run

Don't ignore the runonce and other run keys nearby.

Chas

You can get a copy of msconfig.exe here:

http://tinyurl.com/1htt

If you download SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY you not only get a great free anti-SPYWARE program, it also has a set of tools that comes with it and one of them lets you set your startup options.

This is where you can get SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY.
http://www.net-integration

I highly recommend this program to keep you free of spyware.

BTW, there are a number of other SPYBOT programs out there and you must be careful which one you get because some of them do remove spyware but they also install their own spyware.

if you type 'msinfo32' in the run box, this will bring up all of your systems information.

Under - Software Environment - Startup Programs. You will see a list of all programs that are executed on startup. Unfortunately this does not offer a method of switching them off, but by using the filename/path you can move or rename them.

Also, if you search the registry you will find the filenames listed in a 'run' directory, (you might find several instances of the same program) You could remove these entries. Remember to back up the registry before making changes and when removing keys, export them first so you can restore them easily.