There are some programs that you want to have start each time Windows starts. They may be utilities that you use all the time and you want to have them already loaded up and ready to go. At the same time, however, some programs will sneak their way into your Startup folder. These applications can rob you of precious memory and slow things down. These

startup managers

will help you to see what's running when Windows starts and let you take control back.

You're probably aware that a number of programs automatically load each time you start Windows. Many of these load because you want them to, but some have been slipped into your startup group by the programs that installed them. If you have too many items loading it can slow down startup and rob you of valuable RAM. In fact, being selective in which programs start with Windows is one of the first things you should do to

speed up a slow PC

.