Not on my WXP-PC. All it says is they're in WINDOWS/current version. There
is no "current version" under windows. Also, that's no help since there are
loads of things in Windows, but no programs that I can see. And there is
nothing in the START-UP folder.
I just looked again. There are no PROGRAMS under Windows in WE.
I would think programs would be under "programs"... not under Windows where
msconfig says they are.
MSCONFIG shows you a registry path. It starts with letters such as HKLM
(HKEY_Local Machine) or HKCU (HKey Current User). Unfortunately, MSCONFIG
is not a resizable window and tends to truncate these paths. You'll see
"..." at the end. That's an indicator that there is more than what is
visible.
If you use Start> All Programs> Accessories> System Tools> System
Information, there is a section in this tool titled Software Environment.
Click next to those words to expand that section. Click on "Startup
Programs" and wait a few seconds as the list builds. When that's done,
you'll see a list in the right hand pane of this program that has better
descriptions of your startup programs. Plus the paths are more likely to be
displayed in full. If they are not, at least this window is resizable.
Paths you are likely to find will be:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
When I disable startup programs, I start with the application itself: Open
the program and go through its menus looking for the preference and option
settings that control the startup behavior.
If those menus are not to be found, I would have to find a different way to
disable the program. If there is no shortcut in the startup folder, than it
is likely there is a RUN key in the registry that starts the program.
When it gets down to this point, I usually uncheck the box in MSCONFIG
instead of editing the registry. Reason: I may change my mind down the road
and decide that I actually want that program to run at startup. It's easy
and convenient to add a check to a box in MSCONFIG.
There are times when a program is uninstalled but it fails to clean up a
RUN key in the registry. Or there may be a program that does a check at
startup and re-enters itself in MSCONFIG after it's been disabled. Or an
item that I don't use or want that loads as a service. In these cases, I
prune the registry.
NOTE: Rude programs that re-enter themselves in startup after I've gone to
great lengths to disable them, don't stay installed on my system for long.