Removing Unnecessary Programs from starting up with boot.

[Blazer9131]

Many programs add portions of themselves starting automatically on every login.
This can be either in the Startup Folder or the Registry.

One easy way to tell is by looking at how many icons are in your system tray. If you have a large number, perhaps unnecessary resources are being allocated them as well as increasing your boot time.

Typical examples are Microsoft Office, Office FindFast, Real Player, ATI Video setting etc.

You can remove them in one of three main ways:

1.

In the Start / Programs / Startup Folder
2.

In the Registry under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Run
3.

If you have Win98, WinME or Windows2000 you can use MSCONFIG to easily remove programs. This is my preference since it allows you to toggle them back on again in case you make a mistake


ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS Backup the registry before editing it.

 

[alexandgruntz]

Windows 2000 lacks the msconfig utility. Otherwise 98 and later have it.

 

[DefecTalisman]

I use a tiny program called "Startup Control Panel".

It breaks all the startup groups up into tabs and then lists each item in the registry to start up.
The most nifty part is it allows you to deactivate each item and delete. So if you make a boo boo you can always reactivate it. Lovely to fiond those little programs that try and pretend to be something you might have installed.

 

[Blazer9131]

Some programs add to start up that can't normally be taken out. Only way is via registry.

 

[VHF101]

One of the easiest ways to get rid of SOME of your startup apps is to go to Start > All Programs/Programs > Startup... This folder contains shortcuts to some of these startup apps (or should I say startup craps). Just delete the shortcuts to the programs you don't want, and then restart. Or, instead of deleting them, you can cut and paste them into a little temporary folder on your desktop or my documents, just in case canning these apps screw something up.

There is another app that I like to use called Startup Inspector. You can download it from the Maximum PC magazine website. It's very simple, and you can even save different startup profiles for different configurations.

 

[chefan]

If you are about to switch off unnescessary programs, why not just switch off unnescessary Windows Services and components too?

I usually use a handy tool for that which makes it easier to do so safely. You can find it:

http://www.ntsvcfg.de/ntsvcfg_eng.html <-here

Don't worry, though the domain is german, the page is in english.

Cheers, Stefan

 

[naresh]

use ccleaner program its freeware and you can it by searching in google and use its features to disable startup programs.

 

[DJHolliday]

IMHO the best tool for the job is called "Autoruns".
It shows you everything. The Startup folder, the registry for you and for all users, etc.
It is made by a company called "Sysinternals", which was recently bought by Microsoft.
They still have a great set of tools and they are still free.
Go to here and check out "Autoruns", "ProcessExplorer" or other tools, you might be interested.

 

[netjobs]

THanx very much for this useful tip.