Startup Group

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Jeff Stanton

How do I prevent a program from loading at startup, i.e. remove it from the
Startup Group?
Jeff
 
How do I prevent a program from loading at startup, i.e. remove it from the
Startup Group?
Click to expand...



Here's my standard message on the subject:

First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that
start automatically, not just with those that go into the system tray.
Not all autostarting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the
tray.

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 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.
 
Jeff Stanton said:
How do I prevent a program from loading at startup, i.e. remove it from
the Startup Group?
Jeff


--
"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by
stupidity"
Richard Feynman
Nobel Prize Physicist
Click to expand...

Program initiation on startup is controlled by various locations in Windows.

Using an administrator account start Windows Explorer then go to
1. Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup to find the
program that is starting.

2. Perform the same for all available ... Settings\username\ .

If you still haven't found the program click Start, Run, type Regedit and
hit enter. Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/Current version/Run and see if
the program is there.

Some programs are also started in HKEY_CURRENT_USER/..... as continued as
above.

of course if you just want to disable it for one time (and also an easier
way of finding where the program is starting from) you can click Start, Run,
type in MSCONFIG and hit enter. Click the startup tab, find the program and
undo it's check box. This should be used for a one time boot only and not a
fix for the startup program.

To find out where it is started from find the program and then drag the
sizing lines for the location heading to the right. You can repeatedly drag
the sizing line if more space is needed then a scroll bar at the bottom will
appear.

Hope this helps, let us know.
 
You haven't answered the OP's question, but you have gone off on a
tangent again, spouting little of value w/r to the question that was
posed.
Here's my standard message on the subject:
Click to expand...

Your boilerplate, in other words, which might or might not fit the
situations you use it for.
First, note that you should be concerned with *all* programs that
start automatically, not just with those that go into the system tray.
Not all autostarting programs manifest themselves by an icon in the
tray.
Click to expand...

SOME programs that load at startup are very useful and a few are
mandatory. It really needs to be addressed with logic and consideration
for how you use your computer.
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.
Click to expand...

MSConfig is a TOOL, NOT a way to stop things from loading. Once
MSConfig has been used to determine which things loading are causing the
issues one is troubleshooting, then it is necessary to go to the source
of the load and disable or stop it there.
Using MSConfig as a permanent bandaid, rather than fixing the
problems the correct way, very often will lead to further confusion down
the road when other things go wrong or don't seem to work and the user
or person doing the repair doesn't know that MSConfig is the actual
culprit. Microsoft specifically warns against using MSConfig for
anything but a TOOL.
....

HTH,

Twayne`
 
How do I prevent a program from loading at startup, i.e. remove it from the
Startup Group?
Jeff
Click to expand...

If it is not a privacy intrusion, specify the program.

First you have to find where it is enabled.

The Startup tab in MSCONFIG is the first place to figure out what and
where it is. Click Start, Run, msconfig and click the Startup tab,
find the item and where it is located.

The MSCONFIG Startup tab will show you things in the Startup folder,
the HKLM (Local Machine) and HKCU (Current User) registry settings.
These are most of the places where installed applications are set up
to run when the machine starts and the user logs in.

One way to prevent things from running at startup is to uncheck the
item(s) in the MSCONFIG and reboot. That is probably the most popular
method because it is easy, but it is not the best method. It is
better to do it right.

MSCONFIG is designed to be a troubleshooting tool, not a fixing the
problem tool.

Report back what you find.
 
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