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I guess this is far away from a new subject but I am writting this article since most of the articles focused on this subject are incomplete and needs some improvements. So, you want to know if you can disable or remove a program from your startup. With other words, when you're starting Windows, some applications starts right away even if you don't intend to use them. It's pretty annoying and it slows down your computer. I am going to show you how to stop a program from launching itself when Windows will start. This should work for both Windows XP and Vista. First thing to do is to open the "Run" window, to do so you need to click on the "Start" button.
Make sure to click on the "Run" window and you should see a new small window that asks you to type something in it. If anything else is written there, make sure to delete it and type "msconfig" without quotes and press "OK" button. Type the same thing that you're seeing in the following picture :
You should now see another window called "System Configuration Utility". By default this new window should open under the "General" tab but you will need to click on "Startup" tab and you should see a similar picture with this one:
In this window we need to look at "Startup Item", and we need to identify the program that we want to disable it. For example, I found very annoying the Veoh Web Player that starts each time I start my Windows, asking me for my username and password. So I want to start it manually since I am not using it each time I am starting my computer. Now, if I want to disable Veoh Web Player from starting automatically, all I need to do is to uncheck the corresponding white box. After this all we need to do is to click on "Apply" button. If it's unchecked it should look like in the following picture :
Now, after you clicked on the "Apply" button, you must click on the "Close" button. Look at the following picture :
Here comes a part that will become very annoying and will make you think that using System Configuration Utility was useless. After you will click on "Close" button, a new small window will appear asking you to "Restart" or "Exit Without Restart". I am recommending you to use "Restart" ( make sure to read the entire article first ).
Supposing that your computer has been restarted ( make sure to save your work ), the application that you unchecked should no longer appear and it should start only if you want it, by opening manually. Now you should see a System Configuration Utility window saying that : "You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts" and you will need to MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE LITTLE BOX THAT SAYS "Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows start". So, your window should look like the one in the following picture, just make sure to click on "OK" button and the window will close and it won't appear next time when you will start Windows.
And that's it, if you want to disable another program from Windows startup, you need to repeat this procedure. Remember that I disabled only one program, but you can disable more of them. Also make sure to disable only the programs that you don't need them to start automatically, do not disable programs that are being used by your system. If you suspect that a program might be a malware, you should scan your system with your antivirus or a free anti-spyware application like Ad-Aware or Spybot Search & Destroy. Also, if you cannot remove a program from your startup list and you know for sure that is a malware you can use Hijack This. This program will show you everything that runs on your computer and also hidden startups allowing you to stop them. However, you need to understand security issues when using this software.
Make sure to click on the "Run" window and you should see a new small window that asks you to type something in it. If anything else is written there, make sure to delete it and type "msconfig" without quotes and press "OK" button. Type the same thing that you're seeing in the following picture :
You should now see another window called "System Configuration Utility". By default this new window should open under the "General" tab but you will need to click on "Startup" tab and you should see a similar picture with this one:
In this window we need to look at "Startup Item", and we need to identify the program that we want to disable it. For example, I found very annoying the Veoh Web Player that starts each time I start my Windows, asking me for my username and password. So I want to start it manually since I am not using it each time I am starting my computer. Now, if I want to disable Veoh Web Player from starting automatically, all I need to do is to uncheck the corresponding white box. After this all we need to do is to click on "Apply" button. If it's unchecked it should look like in the following picture :
Now, after you clicked on the "Apply" button, you must click on the "Close" button. Look at the following picture :
Here comes a part that will become very annoying and will make you think that using System Configuration Utility was useless. After you will click on "Close" button, a new small window will appear asking you to "Restart" or "Exit Without Restart". I am recommending you to use "Restart" ( make sure to read the entire article first ).
Supposing that your computer has been restarted ( make sure to save your work ), the application that you unchecked should no longer appear and it should start only if you want it, by opening manually. Now you should see a System Configuration Utility window saying that : "You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts" and you will need to MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE LITTLE BOX THAT SAYS "Don't show this message or launch the System Configuration Utility when Windows start". So, your window should look like the one in the following picture, just make sure to click on "OK" button and the window will close and it won't appear next time when you will start Windows.
And that's it, if you want to disable another program from Windows startup, you need to repeat this procedure. Remember that I disabled only one program, but you can disable more of them. Also make sure to disable only the programs that you don't need them to start automatically, do not disable programs that are being used by your system. If you suspect that a program might be a malware, you should scan your system with your antivirus or a free anti-spyware application like Ad-Aware or Spybot Search & Destroy. Also, if you cannot remove a program from your startup list and you know for sure that is a malware you can use Hijack This. This program will show you everything that runs on your computer and also hidden startups allowing you to stop them. However, you need to understand security issues when using this software.
