From the above link.
So what happens them? Start up............then what? What really critical things must start up?
Sorry to take a bit to reply, failed to realise that was meant for me.
Your antivirus (and other resident security, if installed) programs. I've got about 7 of them, so it didn't make a big difference, but getting rid of things like the catalyst control centre, java updates, sound system config, HP auto update and a couple of others, it's cut it down by maybe half a minute.
If you connect to the internet at startup, security programs are important. If most of your time is spent
not online,
and you can remember to turn the watchdogs on b4 connecting, maybe not. Up to you.
I've found a disabled-at-startup program (ATI catalyst control; graphics) that won't start when comanded unless I go into the start menu and restart it's runtime. Since I don't access it much, that's not a problem. There may be others like that. And you might need to remember to update certain disabled items from time to time,too, eg java. So how you configure it depends a bit on how hands-on you want to be, and how much you know to
be hands on at certain times.
I don't actually know that much, and at times have had to go hunting for answers when something "broke", that later turned out to be self-inflicted but unremembered. The OS is a complex and dark place at times!