MSCONFIG: Controlling the Programs that Start with Windows

 

Have you taken a look at the System Tray, in the lower right corner of your screen, down by the clock? Are there a lot of icons there? Do you know what they all are?

These are some of the programs that are running on your system. You probably didn't start them by hand, but they are items that are running in the background. Many of these are valid, like your Anti-Virus or CD burning software. Some of these are also advisories from Windows for example, Windows Update may be running in the background.

A lot of the time, however, these programs are unnecessary, and are using up system resources that could be better used by programs that you want to run. Who's in charge here, anyway? Many programs assume that you want them running all the time, so it will be faster to come up when you need it. But in this day of faster computers, you won't see much of a difference if you just start a program by hand.

On this page we will look at how to control what programs will start at boot-up (when Windows starts).

With your computer up and running, do the following. Note that if you are performing other tasks, you will need to save your work, since this process will eventually require a reboot.

1. Go to Start>Run.

 

2. In the command line type msconfig, then OK

 

3. Click the Startup tab.

 

4. You will see a list of items with checkboxes. These are the items that start when Windows starts. Uncheck what you want to disable, then click Apply and OK. It is important to note that these can be somewhat cryptic (this is Microsoft: what else is new). None of these are essential programs. In other words, you can uncheck anything in this list, and it won't keep Windows from safely starting. However, software like your anti-virus is listed in here, so if you disable something, a desired program may not work. If that happens, you can always come back to this point and re-enable the software.

 

5. After you click OK, you will get a box asking you to restart. You can click Restart to do so right away, or you can click Exit Without Restart if you want to do so later.

 

6. After the computer restarts, the System Configuration Utility window will come up. Check the checkbox and click OK. Until you make another change, you won't see this message again. This is just a confirmation that you are making changes to the startup routine.