Programs that start at reboot

[Guest]

I just installed a new program (specifically Kodak EasyShare for my new
digital camera). Now, when I reboot my computer, that program automatically
starts up and runs in the background. I can shut it down and then start it
when I need it, but I'd rather it didn't start up in the first place. How do
you handle this. PS: I think this is computering 101, but I can't figure it
out, and I've tried many different things

 

[Rich Barry]

Jim, go to Start>Run type: msconfig click Ok and select Startup
Tab. Uncheck the Kodak Easyshare entry.
Click Apply, Ok. When you restart you will get a message saying you just
messed with the msconfig. Just check the
box in the lower left corner that says Don't show this message again.

 

[Nightowl]

I just installed a new program (specifically Kodak EasyShare for my new
digital camera). Now, when I reboot my computer, that program automatically
starts up and runs in the background. I can shut it down and then start it
when I need it, but I'd rather it didn't start up in the first place. How do
you handle this. PS: I think this is computering 101, but I can't figure it
out, and I've tried many different things

Hi Jim

First thing is to see whether the EasyShare program has an option to
stop it running at startup. Have a look in the menus for items such as
options, preferences, settings, etc. and see if there is any setting
such as "Start when Windows starts" that you can uncheck.

If not, there are a couple of ways it can be disabled; with the msconfig
tool (not good practice, though, as it's really a troubleshooting tool)
or by editing the registry (not recommended if you don't know what
you're doing Instead I'd suggest you download a nifty little free
program by Mike Lin called Startup Control Panel:
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Get the first, larger version and it will install into Control Panel
under "Startup". This shows all the items that start from the most
common registry locations and the website picture shows how to use it --
just right-click on the offending item

If you choose to disable an item, it will be unchecked and its startup
entry removed from the registry, but if you change your mind you can
simply check it again, or right-click and enable. If you delete an item,
it will be stored on Startup Control Panel's "Deleted" tab (unless you
delete it from there too!) so you can still restore it if you make a
mistake.

Hope this helps -- let us know how you get on

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I just installed a new program (specifically Kodak EasyShare for my new
digital camera). Now, when I reboot my computer, that program automatically
starts up and runs in the background. I can shut it down and then start it
when I need it, but I'd rather it didn't start up in the first place. How do
you handle this. PS: I think this is computering 101, but I can't figure it
out, and I've tried many different things

Here's my standard reply on autostarting programs. It may contain more
info than you want, because you're interested in a single autostarting
program, but it's here anyway, for your reference.

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.