I proudly present my startup configuration, as seen in msconfig.exe 
Note: those two SynTP programs are related to the touchpad’s extra buttons, quite useful.
/LA
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I had to search for msconfig.exe as I can’t just type msconfig in the run menu anymore after PCHealth was recently uninstalled ;D.
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Oh, very, very impressing! Also a nice visual style 
I thought I was the only one who has got rid of ctfmon.exe…
LA
I have no idea what the fourth entry is! So I dint mess with it! 
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Nice list!
I had two of those, ran a couple of registry cleaners and now they’re gone.
Again I’m surprised concerning ctfmon.exe, you really have to delete the program - if just disabled it will come back, in true Microsoft style!
WindowsBlinds on VistaPerfection theme. The background is just my current wallpaper. ctfmon.exe,seems familiar. I’m certain that’s not the only thing I disabled from startup over the years ;D
ctfmon is a pernicious little ■■■■■■. A part of MS Office; it will keep coming back (as noted previously) as long as it exists on the machine. At least as far as I can tell. If you use OpenOffice, you don’t have to worry about ctfmon… Of Course, if you need/want Outlook, then you’re stuck with MS Office to some degree, and would have to get nasty to get rid of the thing.
LM
Office? Not present. Outlook? I trashed that long ago, except for “essential” files that XP requires. I found ctfmon.exe in C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386, which is Windows’ backup directory.
Same here - no Office, no Outlook (no IE, Messenger, NetMeeting, …, …)
I think ctfmon.exe by default is located in Windows\system32. I deleted it in safe mode, as well as registry entries. Now it’s gone forever.
LM, always nice to hear someone else who uses OpenOffice
Soya, did you actually get rid of the folders for those programs, as well? That would really make you a professional Windows tweaker ;D
I’ve deleted every single MS program in the Program Files folder, except for the stuff in “Windows NT”. But unfortunately the folders are still there.
By the way, I may have deleted IE completely, but it is still possible to configure the bloody thing from the Control Panel >:(
I don’t think it’s a good idea to delete the directories, and certainly not IE because there could be other “important files” Windows requires like when updating vulnerability patches or whatever. When it comes to tracking the culprit, that’s when it’s annoying for something not obvious like IE. It happened to me long ago when I deleted some files in the Outlook directory. A true Windows tweaker would install from scratch their own CD with Nlite or equivalent program. Anyway, let’s try to not get out of hand with that topic here :D.