Stop an Application from Running at Startup in Windows Vista
Back in the old days, there were a lot of places an application could hook itself to run at startup. You had to check the registry in more than one place, as well as your start menu. With Windows Vista, there's a built-in panel that handles all that for you.
To quickly get to this panel, you can open Control Panel, and then type "startup" into the search box. The link for "Stop a program from running at startup" shows up immediately. You could have also opened Windows Defender and fooled around with the menus until you find the right spot, but this seems quicker to me.
Now you can see the Windows Defender screen that lets you manage the startup programs.
You can choose to Remove or just Disable any startup item using this panel, as well as lots of other useful information so that you can see what each item is.
Vista looks pretty good, can't wait to get my hands on it. There is a menu like that forr win XP. run>MSCONFIG. You get the same kind of menu, but without the descriptions for each process.
Same functions exist in Vista, except they are more accessible via GUI.
to access or change startup programs, you can just type in startup in the "start" search, or in msconfig. it easier than going into control panel
umm it seems when i try to stop disable or remove a program its lightened out meaning i cant click it any suggestions?
Note I tried to stop Symantec security from loading at startup but the bit defender would not allow the change, most of the other programs could be controled with bit defender.
I want to install a different Security Suite but I cannot until I can find out how to keep Symantec security from loading at startup
Randy, the reason that you're not able to remove or disable the startup programs is because you need to press show all users as these programs start when any user starts the computer and so has to be changed for everyone.
It's much less complicated than changing startup on Windows XP once that is out of the way!
dude you should put how to compress all of the files on your c:\ drive not for me but if i did not know how i would want to know, if you already have it than that was my bad, but it like doubles the amount of free space on your drive but all applications run properly, it does not delete anything. but i take like 6 hours if u have had yout computer for a while and this is the first time u are doing it. i have a video on youtube of how to do u can also post this on the site
this is the url:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=glERHCPYyGw
consider it
;)
I knew this, but somehow it never worked, as the programs i actually want to disable usually have their remove and disable buttons disabled(they werent only system apps, even 3rd party stuff)
now i have to rely on an app called vista manager to do it…
@neil
Mandy is correct, just click on "Show all users" in BitDefender and then you can control all the apps in there..
Thanks for this nice tut
The tip re stopping programs from running at startup in Vista does not work with my VAIO vista laptop.
First, if control panel is in "classic view" typing "startup" in the search box returns nothing. Switching to "home view" for vista, and typing "startup" does exactly as you describe. However, when I start defender and find the program I want to stop/delete from startup - none of the options "remove", "disable" or "enable" are active!!!!!!
So I can do nothing -and I am logged on as the administrator!
I am trying to disable Google Desktop from startup on my Vista machine. When I go the the windows defender and highlight Google Desktop the buttons on the right hand side of the screen are greyed out… (Remove/Disable/Enable)… is there another way to disable this?
Steph just click on "Show all users" in BitDefender and then you can control all the apps there you can disable, remove or enable.
shortcut for windows defender is to double click the buttom of the notification area…..
For months I have been trying to find a list of those programs (mostly system programs) that are safe to disable because if you catch the wrong one, you may be in deep yogurt. For some, especially the applications, it is usually obvious. But then there are many that "hide" their identity and one has to reseach them individually. And the right pane does not give a lot of useful info. If anybody can point us to such a list, please post it on the Forum. I am certain that would be useful for many of us.
Yes! I'm with whs. I too am confused as to which programs to disable on my startup. HP has told me to manage my "startup" but how. Don
Hey is there anyway to disable dell quickset from running at start up or just remove the icon in try? also what does quickset even do???thanks
trevor
Can anyone help me, I am having windows vista, I want to disble start up program I disable it using msconfig feature, it disabled at the moment but when I start the program again it tick the entry in msconfig and that program start again. example initially ymessenger is runnig at start up, i have disabled it using msconfig, then i restart my computer so it doesnt running at start up. Now I use ymessenger and then when I restart the computer it runs at start up and I have seen it is automatically enabled in msconfig. I dont know what to do?
Can anyone help me, I am having windows vista, I want to disble start up program I disable it using msconfig feature, it disabled at the moment but when I start the program again it tick the entry in msconfig and that program start again. example initially ymessenger is runnig at start up, i have disabled it using msconfig, then i restart my computer so it doesnt running at start up. Now I use ymessenger and then when I restart the computer it runs at start up and I have seen it is automatically enabled in msconfig. I dont know what to do?
Mandy,
Thank you so much for your tip about clicking all users. That's been driving me nuts since I got this system!
I have no clue what programs I am able to disable (safe ones) on start up. When I am on the internet (dial-up) pages take longer to load, after about a half hour of surfing, I when I go to change the page the internet says CANNOT DISPLAY THIS PAGE. Then I have reset my default settings and restart my computer..This I am told is because I have too many programs starting at start-up..That is why I am trying to disable some…PLEASE HELP
If you remove an item from this list how can you get it back in the list?