Open up Windows Explorer, take a peek in your C: drive's root folder, and look for a pair of files called Autoexec.bat and Config.sys. In order to see these files, you'll need to make them visible by pulling down the Tools menu in Windows Explorer, choosing Folder Options, and clicking the View tab; find the "hidden files" option in the Advanced settings box and click on "show all files" or "Show hidden files and folders" (what you see will depend on which version of Windows you're running).

If you were around in the pre-Win95 days, you know that those files will forever be the Tweedledee and Tweedledum of computing, The success or failure of everything you tried to do with your system hinged on how well you could convince that pair of dunderheads to follow relatively simple instructions.

The good news is, you almost certainly don't need them anymore. Unless you're running really old programs, or if you're dependant on a legacy device that doesn't have a set of 32-bit drivers, they're just taking up space and slowing down the boot process. The safest way to make them go away is to simply rename them (that way, if you discover that a program or device really needs them, you can restore them with ease (until you find a modern update or replacement for that hopelessly antiquated program or device).

Right-click on those puppies, select Rename from the context menu, and slap a dummy file extension on them, rendering them useless to Windows. For example, we chose a new name for our Autoexec.bat file that's both functional and satisfying: "Autoexec.bat.biteme." Our Config.sys file's new moniker is too offensive to print on a friendly and respectable web site.