Removing TSR's

How would you go about removing Terminate-and-stay-resident programs at start-up? I suppose in the registry but where and how? Any help is welcomed.
Thanks, Cirk

 

TSR ? Seems like good (???) old days of DOS

msconfig should do the job in XP. Just uncheck the programs that you do not want to run at start, though some programs are harder to find and would not appear here or would restart even after removing them from here (quicktime comes to my mind first).

 

Thanks rsinfo i'll give it a try

 

cirk--You actually need very few programs to start at boot from msconfig when you run WinXP. An AntiVirus program, a firewall, perhaps some wireless peripheral programs, antispyware program, to name a few. Certainly not QuickTime (qttask) as mentioned by rsinfo.
Here is a site to help you determine what programs to allow to start at boot.
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
There are other places (like the Registry or Start|All Programs|Startup) that are the source of programs that start at boot. Usually those programs are needed for operation of the PC.
However, TSR really refers to programs that you tried to close (regardless of whether they started automatically at boot or whether you opened them during a session using the PC), but did not close and continue to run. TSR means "Terminate and Stay Resident ".
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/T/TSR.html
You detect those by running Task Manager. You can close them from Task Manager if you feel they are clogging the operation of your PC or at shut down you get a hang because such and such program needs to close. (AcroRead (Adobe Reader) and rnaap (from dial up days) were famous for this.)
Another list to help you decide
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm
In the case of TSR programs, if they are not bothering the operation of the PC, perhaps just leave them alone.
But do cull your msconfig list to limit what starts at boot. Start|Run|type msconfig|OK|Startup tab. Uncheck the box to the left of any program you do not want to start at boot.
If you have made any changes, then when you next boot you will get a longwinded message from Windows. Read it if you want, but I just check the box in the left hand corner, then X for close.