Hi Gadget.
If your pc starts to perform badly, it may be because of the programs that run at startup, you can check the stuff that starts when you turn on your pc by clicking "Start" then click "Run" then type "msconfig" without the "
Next click the tab at the top named "Startup", that will display all the programs that are running at startup, you can untick the programs that you dont want to run.
To find out what you need and what you dont at startup go here ...
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/svchost/On this site it will tell you if the program is essential to running windows, also it give info like this...
Fix svchost.exe Errors: Free Scan
Remove svchost.exe: Use WinTasks
Boost svchost.exe Performance: Free Scan
Security Risk (0-5): 0
Spyware: No ( Free Spyware Scan )
Virus: No ( Remove svchost.exe )
Trojan: No ( Remove svchost.exe )
You might have progams running like NeroCheck.exe, iTunesHelper.exe, igfxtray.exe, qttask.exe, SC_Acrobat.exe ... ect, you dont really need any of these running so its safe to untick these from your startup list.
Hope this helps.
Colin.