You want to come down to about 13 or 14 so your comp will run quick here are the instructions.
Go to www.BlackViper.com and hit the XP services. It will tell you step by step instructions on how to do it.

These are all the ones I disable.

...

ok I assume you mean this page
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

i cant really figure out how this helps me...

So how exactly do I find what exactly are these programs that start running every time I start...

QUOTE:FISH Well I can see 21 non system processes on the task manager.

When you use CONTROL+ALT+DELETE and you see processes XPservices are related to them so the more you disable services the more that will not show up.

QUOTE:FISH So how exactly do I find what exactly are these programs that start running every time I start

Are you just wanting to know which ones to turn off with the program starter that I gave you the link to?

QUOTE: FISH i cant really figure out how this helps me...

Ummmm.....Well the link to blkviper I gave you tells about almost all of them in your TASK MANAGER.

hm, one of the things on startup is MSBlast, I have no idea, but someone told me that this was a virus, and that it was this

http://securityresponse.symantec.com...ster.worm.html

is that true?

It helps because many of those processes you are seeing are tied to a service. Learning which ones to shut off will help you in reducing the amount of processes running.

I'll just share with you the registry entry I created over at blackviper (excellent resource by the way).

Ok:

This is the one I use, to use it just open up note pad and paste in it there and then save it as a .reg file. Then simply merge it into your registry or double click it.

That particular one may not be for everyone, but it's a damn good one.

I also do a couple of registry tweaks to fine tune what I'm shooting for, I think you'll like them. Especially since what I'm showing you in this thread will effectively shut down every single port from being open on an XP machine. Pending you don't need any special things like ftp, telnet, etc..

Ok here are the other tweaks I do after a fresh install:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-->Software--> Microsoft--> Ole--> Enable DCOM Set it's value to a N instead of the Y thats shown.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-->Software--> Microsoft--> Rpc Once there, take a look over at the right hand panel and you'll see "DCOM protocols", double click it. Do not modify the entire value, but instead only remove ncacn_ip_tcp from the DCOM Protocols value, and leave everything else untouched.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-->SYSTEM-->CurrentControlSet-->Services-->NetBT-->Paramaters now look in the right hand panel at TransportBindName and double click it. It should have a value set of "/device/" just remove it and your good to go.

Now reboot and then go to the run prompt and type in cmd--> then netstat -an and tell me what you see. I think you'll be pleased with what you find.

~|The|Snowman

[edit] I've removed that huge quote and attached as a txt file. Please attach rather than post huge lists in future. Thanks. peterska2

hmm, ok

snowman, you totaly lost me there

What? Just read it again bro, I'm sure when you do, you will see the gold in it. Someone back me up here would ya? :!:

Just take what I posted up there inside the quotes and paste it inside notepad. Then simply save it as "myservices.reg" or whatever you want to call it and then double click it as an admin. You can do the other reg tweaks in regedit if you'd like. Have fun makeing your computer much faster and safer.

~|The|Snowman

That was a good one |SNOW| Now thats a reg tweak if Ive ever seen one.
Fish did you not get the removal tool from symantec to get rid of blaster?

what removal tool...