Questions on XP - uninstalling, background tasks....

Hi; I'm new to this list.
Last night I upgraded from WinMe to WinXP and can't seem to find a few things to personalize my settings.

1. MSN messenger opens up on start up - how do I edit the start up or tasks running in the background menu. The old msconfig doesn't seem to have it all there anymore.

2. How do I uninstall MSN messenger - I don't use it and it's not listed in the add/remove programs area. Found it on windows explorer but I do not see a remove or uninstall icon or option.

3. In the winMe I could check my system resources and it would show what % was available. I do not see that anymore - is it hidden somewhere?

4. I'm the only one who uses my computer and I see the program menu for editing is buried under layers of folders like All users and so on - do I need all this? Can any of this be cleaned up or deleted so access is faster and easier?

Sorry I have so many questions - none of them are major - just little things that are driving me nuts.

Thanks for your help;
linda

 

There's some very good info here http://www.blkviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm that should help you set up your system for optimal operation... just be careful about which services you disable, some are absolutely essential for XP to operate at all.

As long as you can use Cont-Alt Del to open Task Manager, you can select File\New Task (Run) type in services-msc to get back to the page that allows you to restart services that were mistakenly shut off.

 

Nice page

Thanks for the web page - I haven't looked it over very well yet but it looks like it has a lot of information on it. Most of my complaints are just little things that bother me, nothing major.

I know some of the tasks running in the background I need but some are just zipping around in there and I have no need of them. Like Messenger for one (until I find where to uninstall it at) and direct cd doesn't need to be running. I have this Works task thing that checks itself to run in the back ground every time I open Window's Word - then I go deselect it to get rid of it. I would like to disable that one but never could find how to. It's for works updates which I don't need to have running all the time.

By the way the services-msc thing didn't work - says windows can't find it check your spelling..blah blah. That's where i used to get into msconfig - which is still there just not all availble for me to get into like it used to be.

Thanks again for your help;
Linda

 

My mistake in typing... should be serices.msc... sorry about that.

 

Oh I see but.....

Oh yes it works now - well it didn't - I copied what you said and you made another typo....
Then I tried services.msc and it worked! Thanks - between that and the web page you sent earlier I can clean up. I feel much better now. linda