Stop Programs from Autostarting

Many of us have experienced problems that crop up when

programs auto-start as soon as we boot our PC. The system slows down during

start-up and at times we even get error messages. These programs usually get

into the system during installation or might be remnants from incomplete

uninstallations. New systems also can come preloaded with programs configured to

autostart. The Windows startup manager (or MSConfig) may not be able to show all

of them and these might also be hidden from the task manager.

Sysinternals has a tool called Autoruns for managing such

items. With this, you can get a comprehensive list of all the programs loaded

during start up and their locations in the registry, as well as other locations,

so that you can either disable or delete them. It also warns you before deleting

any registry key. The steps to start using Autoruns are as given below.

After downloading and running Autoruns, you will get this window that tells you what programs and DLLs are being loaded automatically. Uncheck an item to disable it Right click on an item and select Delete if you are sure that it is not to be autorun at all. This will permanently remove it from the startup list Click on the Services tab to see all the running services. Uncheck to disable a service or right click and delete it Use the Verify option to validate the digital image signature of a program by Microsoft or other listed vendors

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