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If you usually put the kettle on after switching on your PC, because you have time to make (and perhaps even drink) a cup of tea before Windows is ready to use, your startup is too slow. It’s almost certainly caused by too many programs and processes launching automatically at the same time as Windows. You can clear unwanted startup items using free tool Autoruns (bit.ly/1DW3Awz), whose detailed program window lets you investigate and manage all your PC’s startup processes. It’s great, but you don’t have to use it. In fact, if you’re really serious about wanting a faster PC, you should dispense with all third-party downloads like Autoruns, and use the tools you’ve already got.

First, find your Startup tab. In Windows 7 it’s part of the System Configuration tool, better known as MSConfig (type msconfig into Start and press Enter). In Windows 8/8.1, it’s in Task Manager. Browse the list and in Windows 7 untick any items you don’t need (see screenshot above right), or in Windows 8/8.1 right-click and select Disable, then restart your PC.

How do you decide what to remove and what to leave? Windows 8/8.1 includes an Autoruns-style ‘Search online’ option in the right-click menu for any startup item. Windows 7 doesn’t, but there are free online tools that will help you. Should I Block It? (www.shouldiblockit.com ) has a searchable database of 167,796 (at the time of writing) processes and files, with details of what they do and how important they are. To find out what Autoruns says about any process without having to download Autoruns, search the startup database at Pacman’s Portal (bit.ly/1E6Pure).

As a general rule, don’t disable any startup items associated with your antivirus or processor (usually listed as Intel or AMD). Also leave hardware processes for trackpads, audio and so on. The likes of Google Music Manager, iTunes Helper and Adobe Reader can go straight away  there’s no good reason for them to start with your PC. If you use Chrome you’ll notice lots of Google Chrome entries in the startup list. Some are useful, such as Google Update, but none of them need to run at startup. Remove them all.

If a program keeps adding itself to your startup list (we’ve often find this happens after trying to disable it using Autoruns), turn to Registry Editor (Regedit), the ultimate built-in tool for deep control of your PC. Create a system restore point first, then type regedit into Start, press Enter and click Yes. Navigate to MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, then click the Run folder to see certain startup items in the right-hand pane. To prevent a program running at startup, right-click it then click Delete. This doesn’t remove the program from your PC; it just stops it running at startup.