How can I turn off Media Center from loading?

[surfer100]

I'm using Vista Home Premium on a Gateway laptop with all updates including
Media Center's most recent ones. I would like to stop Windows Media Center
from loading, since I don't use it at all. I've gone into Media Center's
tasks/settings/general/startup and I unchecked the box which reads "start
windows media center when windows starts." But Media Center keeps on a
loading! Any hints about how I can get it to stop loading? Thanks!

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

There are several ways to start an app on windows startup. I suggest looking
at your Defender settings in the "Software Explorer" area, to check that.
You need to rightclick Windows Defender in All Programs and click 'run as
administrator' to gain access the the top level Software Explorer (see Tools
menu)features.

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Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson

 

[surfer100]

Hi Mark,

Per your suggestion, I went to software explorer and disabled the windows
media center tray applet (ehtray.exe). For good measure I also went to
services and disable four services with media center in the description.
And I confirmed that load at startup was unchecked in media center's
settings/general.

Then I rebooted and media center still booted up!

So, I went back to software explorer. I see that another copy of media
center applet (ehtray.exe) had been somehow created shows as permitted.

I'm guessing that somewhere there is a register or other setting that forces
media center to be loaded. In addition, it is clear that the setting
control in settings/general is not working.

It's a bit of a mystery! Any next step suggestions?

surfer100