Re: Autostart programmes

Tech-Archive recommends: Speed Up your PC by fixing your registry

From: Ken Blake (kblake_at_this.is.an.invalid.domain)
Date: 12/26/04 

Date: Sun, 26 Dec 2004 08:16:59 -0700

In news:2D1F78F2-EBB8-4B0F-9D8F-F5AB54469FF4@microsoft.com,
David C <David C@discussions.microsoft.com> typed:

> Thank you very much for this, which I appreciate, and which has
> helped.

You're welcome. Glad to help.

> The problem for me, though, is twofold: first, that I do not
> recognise many of the elements there (I just don't know enough
> about
> it); and secondly that neither CastleCops nor BlackViper have
> them
> all. Example this Autostart entry:
>
> C:\WINDOWS\system32\expolerdata.exe %srun%
>
> No trace of expolerdata as a search string on either of those
> two
> sites, and none either on Microsoft.com ...

I can't find a reference to exactly that file name, but if I go
to Symantec's Virus search site http://www.symantec.com/search/
and search on expoler, it finds a couple of things.

So I suspect that you're infected. Do you run an antivirus
program, and update its virus definitions regularly? Do you run a
firewall? Do you run several anti-spyware programs, such as
Adaware, Spyware Blaster, and Spybot Search and Destroy? 

-- 
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
Please reply to the newsgroup
> and yes, I have got the
> spelling right! Any advice gratefully received!
>
> Many thanks,
>
> David C
>
> "Ken Blake" wrote:
>
>> In news:EE3DEF69-5691-4800-A19F-ACC2B040F861@microsoft.com,
>> David C <David C@discussions.microsoft.com> typed:
>>
>> >I seem to have 53 programme starting automatically when I 
>> >launch
>> >XP
>> > Home. How can I find out which have to run, and which can be
>> > stopped?
>>
>> On each program you don't want to start automatically, check 
>> its
>> Options to see if it has the choice not to start. Many can 
>> easily
>> and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't work, run 
>> MSCONFIG
>> from the Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab, uncheck the
>> programs you don't want to start automatically.
>>
>> However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the 
>> purpose
>> of running the minimum number of programs. Despite what many
>> people tell you, you should be concerned, not with how many of
>> these programs you run, but which. Some of them can hurt
>> performance severely, but others have no effect on 
>> performance.
>>
>> Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you
>> should do is determine what each program is, what its value is 
>> to
>> you, and what the cost in performance is of its running all 
>> the
>> time. You can get more information about these with at
>> http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it
>> there, try google searches and ask about specifics here.
>>
>> Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent
>> informed decision about what you want to keep and what you 
>> want
>> to get rid of.
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP Windows: Shell/User
>> Please reply to the newsgroup

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