Resident programs have been mention before. But besides being dead weight, unneeded, for games, resident programs can steal resources to the point where multi-media drivers may not get loaded when starting a game. Even one resident program can steal all the resources. After turning off most of the resident programs, I have muti-media. Instead of dull and flat, the graphics are bright and shiny. Got 3-D special effects and even sound effects.
So if the game world looks dark, dull and flat with tinny sound effects, getting rid of deadwood might improve the gaming experience.
oh, it pays to start games after booting up, before running other things.
