msconfig startup [disabled item blocking dial-up?]

In the msconfig startup tab, is there anything that could be disabled and prevent you from being able to use a dialup connection?

i've disabled everything in my startup tab thru msconfig. when i click on start/ connect to, my dialup connections are gone

when i enable everything in my startup i can connect no problem

any ideas?

 

Hello xyzon,

IE tools > Internet options > connections tab > in Dialup and virtual network settings, you should see the ISP default. If you want to eliminate dialup altogether, remove it. Important, before doing this, create a manual System Restore point, if the results aren't to your liking, System Restore will restore the settings.

As to which startup it is, not going to be able to tell you which startup it is w/o a list of those startups. Enable the startups and use tasklist to list what's running in the Task Manager.

You can use tasklist to do that, but tasklist.exe is only on XP-pro, so if running Home you'll need to download it from here: http://www.computerhope.com/download/winxp.htm then move it to Windows\System32

Then: Open a cmd box: start > run > type cmd > ok and type:
tasklist /svc > c:tasklist.txt

That will create a notepad file on the C drive tasklist.text. Copy/paste into your next post.

Regards - Charles

 

Yes, there are several things. Most probably it is your modems monitoring software.
There were a series of HSP modems which used a port monitor called PTSNOOP.exe and folks kept disabling it or removing it thinking it was a surveilance program and then complained that their dial up connection would not work.

You really should not disable things in msconfig, not only for this reason, but because it only removes one registry entry, and often this can lead to severe problems.

The correct manner to disable an application from starting with windows is to use the programs own controls as provided by the author (generally tools/ options or something like that) . This way you disable all its entries (memory reservation, services, memory management ,dlls added to the system file ,. entry points are corrected etc) not just the one startup entry calling the program executable (which leaves the other entries all active ).

If you must disable using a startup manager, use a real startup manager such as startup cop or codestuff starter. These can analyze dependencies and and more properly correct them. In addition, code stuff starter will tell you more about what an entry is if you just double click it.
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/starter.html
Note how if you go to the process tab and click a running process it also shows you all the dependencies of that process.

 

oshwyn5--

I may be all wet, but I think this advice comes from a misconception about what was said here
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
I think there is nothing wrong with disabling most things in MSCONFIG|Startup tab, but not Services. Most of what is in Startup tab are not Services, anyway, but usually third party programs.

xyzon--Charlesvar's suggestion to use tasklist should of course be done immediately after startup so only the programs starting at boot will show. And oshwyn5's suggestion about Starter is good, too.
Depending on how long the Start up list in MSCONFIG is, the old fashioned way to find the problem as you describe it, would be to disable the items in Startup one by one until you find the one that is causing dialup not to work.

P.S. Many programs start from places other than MSCONFIG. But as you describe the problem, it would, indeed, seem to be something in MSCONFIG.