Now that you have your system all patched up, the next thing to do is tune your startup applications.  Over time your system will get bogged down with applications that start up when you first log into the PC.  Each one may only use a small amount of resources, but as more and more of them are added to the login, it begins to slow things down.  The built in tool for managing the start up apps is msconfig.exe.

msconfig.exe is located in c:\windows\system32 so browse to that folder and run it.  Then click on the ‘startup’ tab at the top.

My recommendation for tweaking start up apps is to disable everything *except* items that list your printer, wireless, or security services.  So, if you have an HP printer, don’t disable any of the HP programs.  If your PC/Notebook has WIFI, don’t disable any of the WIFI programs.  Don’t disable anything with your Antivirus software (you do have antivirus software right?).

Once you disabled everything that is safe, apply your changes and you’ll be prompted to reboot.  Go ahead and reboot and then see how login performance is.  Test your favorite apps/tools to make sure nothing was disabled that you use (google desktop search, etc.).  If you need something enabled, simply re-run msconfig.exe and then enable the corresponding program.