I should also state, if you have questions about MSCONFIG, BE SURE TO ASK. Most everything can be unchecked at start up. But there maybe a few things you do actually want to run in the back ground. If you do uncheck something you can always re-check it.
Also, be sure to check what programs you uninstall. There are a few things you should NOT uninstall, Windows related.
If you are unsure what something is in MSCONFIG, do a google search for the name of it. for example "ctfmon". However, you also have to watch what sites tell you to do. Some sites list the wrong info and want you to install their software.
Do a printscreen of you start up items, all of them, and post them here and we can hell you uncheck items. Same could be true for remove programs.