Hence, the first part of this series will help you get and stay out of trouble. Most of the information in this particular article is NOT Microsoft Office specific. The Startup folder holds shortcuts to programs that start up when you start up Windows. Some of these programs run needlessly, absorbing memory usage, and affecting the speed of your startup and operation. However, if you constantly check your email, or only use Microsoft Word because you're a writer, or you want to hook up to the Internet immediately every time you boot up, then shortcuts to those program executables should be in your Startup folder.
Shortcuts are safe to delete because they can easily be recreated.
Right-click your Start button. Some of these may require registry edits to keep them from starting up with Windows, but that's another story that we won't be able to cover here. Move the shortcuts in your Startup folder to the Startup Holding folder. You can reboot your PC and try it for a few hours or days to see what differences have occurred. You should be able to determine which items you might want to move back into your Startup folder, if any.