A clean boot is a troubleshooting technique that allows you to get the computer up and running so that you can perform diagnostic tests to determine which elements of the normal boot process are causing problems. However it can also be used to speed up a slow computer. If your computer is consistently running slow and you have tried the normal maintenance methods to clean your computer up, you may want to try a clean boot. You can do this yourself manually or you can use a little software program that Microsoft provides free, to do it for you. Even if you choose to run the Microsoft program, I would still read how to do a clean boot manually so you can better understand what it does.

Basically what it does, is shut down every program that is running on your computer and gives a you a clean start. It does not erase any programs, but with any proceedure like this, you should make sure you have backed up anything you do not want to lose. When I ran it on my computer and Bobbi's computer, the only thing it did was stop those programs that usually start when you start your computer. You can still use these programs by going to your All Programs menu and starting them yourself. The clean boot solved our problems we were having with a slow running computer. If you are really interested to find out which of your programs was slowing your computer, you can start each one all by itself until you find the bad guy.

Here is a look at what the program from Microsft is going to do. Go to Start, Run, type in msconfig and click OK. Now click the Startup tab and look at the list of items that have a check mark next to them. The program is going to shut all of these down, as well as a few other items that do not need to be running. Click on the link I am providing here and it will take you to the Microsoft help page that further explains the Clean Boot. If you scroll down the page about half way, you will see a box that says Download Guided Help, click there to download the program to your computer. To run the program just follow the directions. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

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