I have found another way to cut down on the startup icons in my tray by making a folder on my desktop entitled "Shortcuts" where I put all the shortcuts to my most used items. Then I go to Start>Run>msconfig - click on the Startup tab and eliminate all but the most necessary checkmarks, such as the ones for your system icons, anti-virus, firewall and spyware hunters. This gains a little speed, I think. And, I always have my shortcuts right at hand, even tho they are not in the tray. Hope this works for you too.  

This is an xlnt suggestion, thank you!

A related tip:

I create a folder on my Desktop labeled Desktop Items and drap icons created by software installations, even if such programs do not startup automatically with Windows. Because I dislike Desktop clutter (too many icons), I appreciate installers which give me the option to place an icon on the DT or not (same with shortcuts on Quick Launch and more). But if they don't, off to my folder they go! This way they are handy should I ever want to Run any of the programs contained therein, or delete the shortcuts as extraneous stuff.

Another thought about startup items:

Some programs don't place an icon in the systray. Check such programs for options to load with Windows and UNcheck.

Also a startup manager (many are free) can aid in taming those programs which start with Windows.

hth,

shana

Can anyone tell me how to put items on the startup list?  For some reason my firewall and virus scanner disappeared.  Win 2000 help says to right-click on a blank area of the taskbar to get a menu.  Well, not on my computer!!!

The first time I put folders on the "desktop" I somehow put the programmes in it rather than a shortcut.  When I deleted the folder I deleted the programmes!  Be sure that you don't drag the *.exe file onto the folder but make a shortcut and drag that.

   The Startup folder is actually located in several locations on your harddrive (they are all called Startup).  They are located in different places depending on the user account and which Windows version you are using.  If you find the right place on your drive, you can put a shortcut in it and it will appear in the Startup folder in Start and anything that is there will be run at startup.