Over time as you install more and more software you may start to notice that it takes longer and longer for your computer to startup. More likely than not, this is probably because many applications these days hook into your Windows Startup process and automatically load up each time you start your computer. For some applications, that’s a good thing (Anti-Virus, Firewall, etc…) and I’m OK with it, however for the majority of apps out there it’s just a resource SUCK which are doing nothing more than taking up memory, cpu and extending my startup times. BAD MONKEY!
As always, we have a solution for our groovyReaders out there! By using the Microsoft Configuration tool (msconfig.exe) we can quickly and easily audit what’s running at startup and disable the things we would prefer to just start manually after boot.
“What is the MSConfig Utility?”
MsConfig.exe has been around for awhile. It’s a Microsoft built utility so you can trust it as well. Essentially it’s used to reconfigure your startup items within all Windows 7, Vista, or XP as well as several other things so you need to be careful (I thought of the spiderman reference here “With great power comes great responsibility”) as you play around with it. If you stick to the Step-by-Step How-To below, you should be fine.
How To Disable Startup Applications In Windows
Step 1
Click the Start Menu Orb then in the search box Type msconfig and Press Enter or Click the msconfig.exe program link.
Step 2
From within the System Configuration tool, Click Startup tab and then Uncheck the program boxes that you would like to prevent from starting when Windows starts. Click OK to save changes when you are done.
Step 3
Now that you’ve saved changes Restart Windows and the selected programs should no longer automatically start up.
That’s all there is to it! If you’re still confused, drop a comment below and if this How-To raised another question in your head, feel free to drop your question in our new Q&A Community site.
I am not 100% sure about this, but if you do Run > msconfig.exe in Windows XP you might be able to do this in XP as well. Anyway, great article – this is one of the most recommended things to do to speed up your start up time…
I think MSConfig.exe was available after Windows XP SP2. Anyone else? I actually don’t have XP running anywhere to test this anymore…
yep, always available to XP users. And that’s alot of start up items lol. I am so picky on my start ups, I only have 4 start up items and only two of them appear in msconfig. Seems Malwarebyte’s and Tune up utilities 2011 are automatic; but I wouldn’t shut them off anyway…much needed. great post though for those that don’t know about it!
“If ‘your’ still confused?” You’re.
And if I’m not still confused? What if I never was? What if your attitude proves that you’re an a hole? My bad Ur atTITtude proves UR an a hole!!
You’re a dick!
What about the Microsoft tool “autoruns”, available from the ms sysinternals site? It displays everything related to a system startup.
Forget about the nasty MSConfig and switch over to Soluto ( http://www.soluto.com ). You will be amazed by the result.
Great reminder Robert – We talked about Soluto back when it was beta – http://gpo.st/15n. Might need to do a refresher!
You’re right. I remember it now as it was my start using it. I still think it’s a great tool to keep your startup items under control. What I very much like about it is the short explanation (when available) given for each separate item, including a pie chart showing what other users decided.
hey
For those who do not know which items to delete you can look them up easily at Sysinfo.org. Just type in the program name. My rule of thumb is no more than 10 items in Startup.
@Xhi – Great tip Xhi. You do need to be careful so getting educated before you start blowing things away is a great idea.
For some reason it appears thousands and thousands of people download CCleaner and never try out any of the other functions other than cleaning crap. If you click on the “Tools” button you will not only find a very fast way to access the programmes installed so you can uninstall any you no longer want, which is miles faster than the Windows programme manager, but also a “Startup” manager that will enable you to disable or even remove startup items. You can obviously view this in full screen mode rather that that pathetic little box that you get in XP. CCleaner appears to work on anything Windows, is free and works fantastic.
@Johnl – Agreed! CCleaner is a great tool and the price is RIGHT! Honestly, all the tools over at piriform.com are great. If you’ve not taken a look at Recurva, take a look at our review and give it a shot. That’s another great tool for file recovery.
@MrGroove – I fully agree. I have used Recuva for several years and install that along with CCleaner on every computer I work on. Unbeatable products at an unbeatable price. Download.com states nearly 19 million downloads for CCleaner alone and there must be a similar number on Filehippo.com. That many people can’t be wrong.
Thats great to know but I have an ASUS computer with norton anti virus …. And I have no idea which start up programs to disable and which ones I don’t need
Hi Justin – If that’s the case — you should probably just leave things as they are. The performance gain you get from it isn’t worth screwing something up on your computer long-term…..
Okay thanks for the Info
@Justin see my post above on how to find out which to delete.
“For those who do not know which items to delete you can look them up easily at Sysinfo.org. Just type in the program name. My rule of thumb is no more than 10 items in Startup.”
thanks. i knew it but forgotten. The microsoft website really annoying with difficult steps and yours really helpful.
Thanks pal for this simple steps. the MS website is so confusing and annoying
Thanks 4 this! helpful!
For. Capital “H” on helpful. You’re welcome.
Seriously? Who is this troll Kelly? What a moron. Or to make sure he reads this, what a more on. Get a life you tool. These are informal posts, not job applications. People write these comments in two seconds and don’t proof-read. It’s not like a single person in this universe is going to read your idiotic posts and think “wow, there’s a contraction you’re that is used for ‘you are?’ I never knew that!!”
+1
You idiot kellyjdrummer. Hang on, that username is grammatically incorrect. Ur a complete tosser. My bad, YOU ARE (I could have also used “You’re” but not “your”), but do ya know what… neither I nor the rest of the world cares! I bet you live alone.
Wow…we have a grammar Nazi in here.
If u want to disable startup program which some program that require startup by the system u cant disable in “msconfig”
program like “Ad Aware” U can disativate the service itself….in “Services.msc” type it at Startup tab
thank you so much
I tried as suggested. Got No items match your search. Have windows 7 home premium. computer is HP i3 processor
Thank you for the tips (from all of you that helped). I have Windows 7 Home premium and it went much faster than I expected. I also have CCleaner and forgot about that tip. Great site.
Wow, its a great “madar chod” article !
All the best and keep writing such harami stuff…….
LOL
Good, succinct and up to the point.
Am storing your site in my favourites…
Thanks Buddy , it was so helpful I was looking for it for a long time!
Quick follow up question – what if the program you are trying to stop from starting automatically isn’t listed? I’m trying to disable Spotify from starting automatically and sure can’t seem to figure out how to do it! Thanks!
Maybe you should go into spotify settings from the app and uncheck the option from there.
Exactly what programs should be turned off w/ out any serious change to my comp
Well… that really differs from person to person…
If you want to post a screenshot of your list of apps or write them out here, I can help ya identify the ones that won’t nuke your system.
Most however should be fine to disable (usually)….
I can’t copy and paste the list , was wondering if I can delete any of these…I have C windows XP I am a tech challenged Grandma so please be kind
hkcmd
p_981116
Adobe Arm
ctfmon
Under Startup, definitely MicroUpdate, a virus, and iufdvw dosk yyblgv, an anooying program. (If you have them, like I did. You probably don’t though… )
I can’t believe I didn’t know about this! Adobe Reader was hacked and lagging my computer so bad, and luckily this program could start in Safe Mode and I could get my computer working
It was epic 
I’m glad it helped you TimTech! Welcome to groovy!
I hve tried it bt in my pc I didn’t got msconfig.exe , I got only msconfig and when I opened it then some notepad coding opened….. what to do????????
Thanks
Thanks It worked
Hello. When I click the startup tab in the above msconfig program, the list is empty. Just blank, no programs listed. So I opened the startup manager in my anti-virus software just to see, and sure enough, that’s blank as well. Do you have any insights? Thank you, Joe.
Kellyjdrummer is a stupid little small minded faggot
I am not sure that by unclicking the box will stop a program from restarting. I did that to a program and it rechecked itself when I restarted the computer. By the way, I am using Vista.
Thanks the post. It is useful. It saves me time.
Thanks – good post. Now can let my 86 year old Mum loose on her laptop without her worrying about what turns up when she switches it on
Haha, good one Paul. You know, that’s actually why I suggest people buying Chromebooks for their elderly parents – but if she already has a Windows laptop then this is perfect! I never thought of using it for 86 year old mothers.