How do I remove programs from starting up in Windows XP?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sandi
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Sandi

Hi,

How can I remove items from starting up when Windows XP starts. There are
so many programs loading into windows that I don't think I need to start up
as the computer starts. A lot are programs related to AOL.....how can I
remove those too?


Thanks.
 
Hi

From Start>Run type

msconfig

then click on the startup tab. Uncheck any programs in there that you don't
want starting up with Windows and then reboot your system.
 
If you go to Start>Run and type msconfig then hit OK and then go to the
Startup tab you will see what is running at startup. You can stop them
there if you want. But be careful, you can cause problems if you stop
something you actually need. As for the AOL stuff, it will be incredibly
difficult to remove all that crap from your system. There should be an
uninstall option on the Start menu or in Add/Remove Programs. There may be
a removal tool on the AOL website. This is one of the reasons that anyone
who knows what happens when you install the AOL software, doesn't install
it. Yet, somehow, they managed to con over 20 million people into doing
just that.
 
Sandi said:
Hi,

How can I remove items from starting up when Windows XP starts. There are
so many programs loading into windows that I don't think I need to start up
as the computer starts. A lot are programs related to AOL.....how can I
remove those too?


Thanks.
Click to expand...

In most cases, with "well-mannered" applications, it's usually as
simple as opening the undesired program and deselecting the option to
"display icon in the system tray" or to "start when Windows starts."

Additionally, Look in the C:\Documents and Settings\All
Users\Start Menu\Programs\Start Up and C:\Documents and
Settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\Start Up folders, and in the
system registry, primarily in the
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run keys.

How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;310560


--

Bruce Chambers

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You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH
 
In
Sandi said:
How can I remove items from starting up when Windows XP starts.
There are so many programs loading into windows that I don't
think I
need to start up as the computer starts. A lot are programs
related
to AOL.....how can I remove those too?
Click to expand...


On each program you don't want to start automatically, check its
Options to see if it has the choice not to start. 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 with 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.
 
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