Computers

Your computer is probably clogged up by a plethora of spamming software that starts every time you turn it on. So-called startup programs can really slow down your computer and you likely don’t even realise they exist. When you install software it will often set itself to run when your computer starts, which isn’t always necessary. Removing unwanted startup programs is easy. The first two steps are for Windows Vista and 7, while Step 3 talks about Windows 8 only.

1. START THE SYSTEM CONFIGURATION TOOL

Press Windows+R to open the Run window, type msconfig and hit Enter. The System Configuration window that opens lets you change which programs run at startup. Click the Startup tab and you’ll see a long list of everything that runs when Windows starts. This list includes applications that are currently in the Start Menu’s Startup folder. Before we get started, it’s important not to mess around with this list too much as some programs do need to run as Windows starts – your antivirus software, for example. msconfig

2. DEACTIVATE APPLICATIONS YOU DON’T NEED

Scroll through the list and remove any programs that aren’t necessary or needed. Common candidates may include BBC iPlayer or iTunes. Select the tick-box to deselect them and then click OK. You’ll then see a window asking you to restart your computer. If it is convenient to do so now click Restart or select ‘Exit without restart’ to do this later. System Configuration in Windows 7 - restart computer dialog box

3. DEACTIVATE PROGRAMS IN WINDOWS 8

In Windows 8 and 8.1 right-click on the Taskbar and open Task Manager (you can also press CTRL-SHIFT-ESC). Click Startup to view a list of applications that start with your computer. Windows 8 will also list the Start-up impact of each application, so you can sort the list and look for the High impact (the slowest to load) applications. Select a startup program you want to remove and click Disable. You can also right-click on each program you want to remove and click Disable this way. As we said before do not disable any startup programs unless you sure they’re not important. Windows 8 Task Manager - startup items

4. DISABLE SERVICES

If your computer is still struggling you can also disable services that run when it starts. You’ll need to open System Configuration in all versions of Windows (Windows+R, type msconfig, press Enter) but this time click the Services tab. You should never disable any services where the Manufacturer is listed as Microsoft Corporation. Be wary of any services that have your virus software’s name, too. In general you should be wary of disabling any startup services, but there are some that can switched off. We recommend ticking ‘Hide all Microsoft services’ and then looking through the list and deselecting anything you think isn’t essential. Click OK to make the changes. msconfig services

STEP 5 – RE-ENABLE STARTUP ITEMS OR SERVICES

Any changes you make in Startup or Services can be reversed easily enough. Go to the relevant tab, scroll down to the bottom and you’ll see a list of all disabled items and when they were disabled. Select the tick-box next to any that you want to reenable. You’ll need to restart your computer to save the changes. Windows Vista Ultimate Windows Vista Enterprise Windows Vista Business Windows Vista Home Premium Windows Vista Home Basic Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition More…Less

Summary

This article describes how to modify a list of programs that run when you start Windows XP Home Edition or Windows Vista. You can create and modify the list of programs that start automatically when you start or log on to your computer. Some of these programs can be set up to automatically configure themselves to run when you log on to your computer.

More Information

To modify the list of programs that run when you start Windows, choose one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use Windows Defender to modify the list of programs that run when a Windows XP Home Edition-based or a Windows Vista-based computer starts

Use Windows Defender to find out what programs are running when you start Windows XP Home Edition or Windows Vista..

Windows XP Home Edition

To use Windows Defender to disable programs in Windows XP Home Edition, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Windows Defender.
  2. Click Tools, and then click Software Explorer.
  3. Click the application name in the Name column that you want to disable, and then click Disable.

Windows Vista

By default, Windows Defender is installed as part of the Windows Vista installation. How to use Defender to disable programs in Windows Vista For more information about how to use Software Explorer in Windows Defender, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/Help/d360ec81-0dd6-480f-a180-746dc6a12f001033.mspx
For more information about how to stop a program from running automatically when Windows Vista starts, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/Help/b38d44d3-c61f-411f-a069-8f189d2f914e1033.mspx
You can also use Windows Defender to scan for spyware or for other potentially unwanted software. For more information about how to use Windows Defender to scan for spyware and for other potentially unwanted software, visit the following Microsoft Web site: http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-us/Help/85aba529-d717-49e9-ba01-cf892cdfff2e1033.mspx

Method 2: Use a registry key to modify the list of programs that run when a Windows XP Home Edition-based computer starts

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows
If you want to modify only the list of legacy programs that run at Startup, use Registry Editor. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Start Registry Editor, and then locate one of the following registry keys:
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
  2. If you do not want a program to run at Startup, find that particular program, and then delete its entry from one of these registry keys.You can add entries here also. But we recommend that you use the Windows Run at Startup policy setting to add programs that you want to run at Startup.

References

For more information about how to modify the startup programs for Windows XP Professional, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 314488 How to modify the Group Policy for programs that run at user logon on a computer that is running Windows XP For more information about other startup issues with Windows XP, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 147381 How to use system policies on a stand-alone computer 179365 Run, RunOnce, RunServices, RunServicesOnce and Startup

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