How to stop programs from loading at at start up

[Guest]

I have Windows XP. I have waaaaaay too many programs that automatically load
when I turn on my computer. How can I turn off what automatically loads? I
realized some things do need to load, however, I do not need programs to load
that I rarely use. I did try run: msconfig but I do not think this is where
I should be picking and choosing what opens when I power up. Thanks for any
help.

 

[RJK]

sounds a bit like you'll have to wade through each app. and manually switch
off the part that loads at startup.

regards, Richard

 

[Malke]

I have Windows XP. I have waaaaaay too many programs that
automatically load
when I turn on my computer. How can I turn off what automatically
loads? I realized some things do need to load, however, I do not need
programs to load
that I rarely use. I did try run: msconfig but I do not think this
is where
I should be picking and choosing what opens when I power up. Thanks
for any help.

The first thing to do is to go into each program that is starting with
Windows and look for its Options/Preferences and change the startup
option.

If a rare program does not give you the option of disabling startup with
Windows, use the System Configuration Utility (msconfig) to control the
startup.

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Here are some sites where you can look up items you find on the Startup
tab by using msconfig:

http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm
http://www.blackviper.com/
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/
http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/search.php

And here are some other links to help optimize your computer:

Slow or Sluggish Computer:
http://www3.telus.net/dandemar/slowcom.htm
http://aumha.org/a/health.htm - Take Out the Trash (section 4)

Malke

 

[Rock]

I have Windows XP. I have waaaaaay too many programs that automatically load
when I turn on my computer. How can I turn off what automatically loads? I
realized some things do need to load, however, I do not need programs to load
that I rarely use. I did try run: msconfig but I do not think this is where
I should be picking and choosing what opens when I power up. Thanks for any
help.

First step should be to check in the options for the program you don't
want to start and see if there is a setting to tell it not to run at
startup. The next step is to remove any entries you don't want from the
two startup folders:

C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

For anything else uncheck their entries in the startup tab of msconfig:
Start | Run | Msconfig | Ok


Another option is to remove the reference to them from one of these keys
in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Make sure you have a backup of the registry using a program like ERUNT
before making any changes to the registry.

http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt

Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

 

[Jim Byrd]

Hi Blkdmd - There are several approaches you can use to make controlling the
Startup process easier. In addition to using msconfig:


Go here: http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml and get Mike Lin's Startup
Control Panel applet. Recommended. A somewhat more difficult to use but
more extensive program to do the same thing is StartupList from here:
http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/index.html, or even better, Autoruns from
here: http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/autoruns.shtml. This one
shows many additional useful/critical Registry entries. Recommended.

Changes made with StartUpCPL are less likely to cause problems, and are
usually a matter of just re-enabling the particular program.

Another program of this type that I can recommend is StartMan, free. You'll
have to get it here: http://www.pt.lu/comnet/files/utils/startman10396.exe,
as the pcforest site is, sadly, no longer in business.

Another such free program that I can highly recommend is StartupRun, here:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/strun.html, particularly if you suspect malware
problems - it has a lot of useful info including file creation dates.

And finally, StartupCop, here is excellent and allows you to set up multiple
"startup profiles": http://www.pchelp911.com/files/startcop.zip.

If you have problems with suspected hijackers, you can look up and
investigate suspect programs in your StartUp lists here:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm (Recommended)
http://www.3feetunder.com/krick/startup/list.html (Recommended)
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Tasklist_pages/tasklist.htm (Recommended)


All work fine for controlling startups, however, I would recommend using
both msconfig and one of the others; each has some advantages. For example,
the XP msconfig also gives you some visibility/control over services, while
Mike's applet offers much better startup control.

Be very careful about doing any Registry modifications directly unless
you're comfortable with this, and be sure that you BACKUP your Registry
before making any changes, so that you can recover if something goes wrong.
Get Erunt here for all NT-based computers including XP:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/ I've set it up to take a
scheduled backup each night at 12:01AM on a weekly round-robin basis, and a
Monthly on the 1st of each month. See here for how to set that up:
http://home.t-online.de/home/lars.hederer/erunt/erunt.txt, and for some
useful information about this subject. The following tutorials are useful:

Installing & Using ERUNT
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html

To see an illustrated registry restore procedure
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_erdntuse.html


Also, you should read and print out/save for future reference mskb article
Q179365 here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q179365 which will
tell you the order in which things get loaded.

Two additional resources which have useful information relating to startup
issues are:

How to Delay Loading of Specific Services
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;193888

HOWTO: Control Device Driver Load Order
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q115/4/86.asp


One last thing - if you want to use msconfig in order to help deal with
"malware" issues, be aware that you can use it to do a "Clean Boot" from
which to better run anti-spyware cleanup tools or to avoid possible
interference with installs by programs such as Norton/Symantec's stuff:

#########IMPORTANT#########
Show hidden files and run all of the following removal tools from Safe mode
or a "Clean Boot" when possible. Reboot and test if the malware is fixed
after using each tool.

HOW TO Enable Hidden Files
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/tsgeninfo.nsf/docid/2002092715262339

Clean Boot - General Win2k/XP procedure, but see below for links for other
OS's (This for Win2k w/msconfig - you can obtain msconfig for Win2k here:
http://www.3feetunder.com/files/win2K_msconfig_setup.exe ):

1. StartRun enter msconfig.

2. On the General tab, click Selective Startup, and then clear the 'Process
System.ini File', 'Process Win.ini File', and 'Load Startup Items' check
boxes. Leave the 'boot.ini' boxes however they are currently set.

3. In the Services tab, check the "Hide All Microsoft Services" checkbox,
and then click the "Disable All" button. If you use a third party firewall
then re-check (enable) it. For example, if you use Zone Alarm, re-check the
True Vector Internet Monitor service (and you may also want to re-check
(enable) the zlclient on the Startup tab.) Equivalent services exist for
other third party firewalls. An alternative to this for XP users is to
enable at this time the XP native firewall (Internet Connection Firewall -
ICF). Be sure to turn it back off when you re-enable your non-MS services
and Startup tab programs and restore your normal msconfig configuration
after cleaning your machine.

4. Click OK and then reboot.

For additional information about how to clean boot your operating system,
click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:
310353 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353
281770 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 2000
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281770/EN-US/
267288 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows Millennium Edition
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/267288/EN-US/
192926 How to Perform Clean-Boot Troubleshooting for Windows 98
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/192926/EN-US/
243039 How to Perform a Clean Boot in Windows 95
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/243039/EN-US/
#########IMPORTANT#########

Perhaps this will help.

 

[Talahasee]

x-no-archive: yes

sounds a bit like you'll have to wade through each app. and manually switch
off the part that loads at startup.

regards, Richard

I've found that un checking the apps I don't want to start up at start
up in my msconfig

(and having a special folder on my desktop for ALL my apps shortcuts)

has always worked just fine.

One item I install (don't remember which) actually loads a routine
into my msconfig that opens my \windows\system32\ folder.

I'd do my "unchecking" in msconfig, then I'd reboot to be sure
everything was working correctly.

after I'd installed "?????", I'd reboot, and half way into my reboot,
my Desktop would "settle", and then my \windows\sys32\ folder would
open.

??????

There was no "label" for this in my msconfig, but I DID notice a
"blank" item that was checked.

I simply turned off such things as
MSMessenger (which I NEVER use, as I never instant message ANYONE)
Nero6, and other apps that I only want open long enough to run them.

I find my 1 (one) desktop folder that contains ALL the shortcuts to
ALL my apps, and my Quick Launch bar at the bottom serve all my needs.

"It works".

As I said in an earlier post,

I "dragged" up my Quick Launch bar so it's two lines high, and now I
have some 30 apps I use a LOT on the top bar, and my bottom bar is all
my open windows. My "Xtra" desktop folder contains probably another 30
shortcuts to apps that don't fit on my Quick Launch bar.

I believe that each user's machine should be programmed for ease of
use for that user. What works for you may not work for me.

But-- back to your issue -- I have always found that deleting items
from msconfig has solved my issues.

Good luck!

And Happy New Year!

Tallahassee

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I have Windows XP. I have waaaaaay too many programs that
automatically load when I turn on my computer. How can I turn off
what automatically loads? I realized some things do need to load,
however, I do not need programs to load that I rarely use. I did try
run: msconfig but I do not think this is where I should be picking
and choosing what opens when I power up. Thanks for any help.

On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its Options to
see if it has the choice not to start (make sure you actually choose the
option not to run it, not just a "don't show icon" option). Many can easily
and best be stopped that way. If that doesn't work, run MSCONFIG from the
Start | Run line, and on the Startup tab, uncheck the programs you don't
want to start automatically.

However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of running
the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell you, you
should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs you run, but
*which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others have no
effect on performance.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do is
determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what the cost
in performance is of its running all the time. You can get more information
about these at http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it
there, try google searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed
decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.