XP Smoker's Startup Manager is designed to help you clean out all the junk that programs enter in the system registry to start themselves when the computer is started up.

You will be able to sift through 14 different areas of the registry without having to get your "hands dirty" delving deep into the registry manually.

You will be able to remove programs, viruses, spyware, etc from the system startup so they don't cause problems, consume resources needlessly, or just clutter up your system tray.

Why Do I Want To Remove a Program From Startup?

Well, some programs you might not want to remove and shouldn't remove such as your AntiVirus software. Others you may want to remove because there is no reason for it to be there. For example if you have a fax program starting everytime you start your computer. Do you need it to be started everytime the computer starts? Probably not. If you aren't using it, it is just sitting there wasting resources and slowing down how long it takes for your computer to boot.

What If I Don't Know What Programs To Remove?

Nobody knows all the programs that should stay or be removed. However, there are resources on the internet that can help you make an informed decision about what you would want to have removed. I will give you one here:

The Bleeping Computer

This site keeps a large database of programs that you should remove or shouldn't remove from your system startup.

What do HKLM and HKCU mean?

HKLM stands for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. It is the "hive" key in the registry for the entire computer. If a startup entry is in the HKLM area of the registry it will start up for all users using the computer.

HKCU stands for HKEY_CURRENT_USER. It is the "hive" key in the registry for the currently logged in user. If a startup entry is in the HKCU area then it will start up only for the currently logged in user, which is you.

Most registry startup entries will be found in the HKLM\Run and the HKCU\Run areas of the registry.