charliebcc
asked on
Removing Startup Items
I am having trouble when windows first boots. Items I do not want are being placed on my taskbar and other programs are being loaded at startup that I do not want loaded at startup. I did a search for some of these offenders and found the
C:\Windows\Startmenu\Short
directory and found some of the items there and removed the shortcuts of the offending program to no avail. They are still being loaded. Please help.
C:\Windows\Startmenu\Short
directory and found some of the items there and removed the shortcuts of the offending program to no avail. They are still being loaded. Please help.
Just some more info. As stated above, msconfig is the easiest way.
Glenn
STARTUP PROGRAM LOADING
Where do things load from?
How to you stop them?
A program can be loaded at startup from various places. By knowing where these are located, you have more direct control over them. How to edit and control startup program launching is different in Windows 95 than in Windows 98 and Millennium, primarily due to the innovation in Win98 of MSCONFIG.EXE. In the instructions below, the programs MSCONFIG, SYSEDIT, and REGEDIT each can be launched by clicking Start, then Run, typing in the program name, and clicking OK. (MSCONFIG does not come with Win95. SYSEDIT does not come with Windows Millennium. Either may be copied over from a version of Windows that has it. Consult your operating system licensing agreement to determining whether you may do this legally.)
Locations that control startup loading of programs include the following:
THE STARTUP FOLDER
This is usually located at C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, but may be at a different location on your computer. You can view it by clicking Start | Programs | StartUp. You can also view it in Windows Explorer. In Win98 or Millennium, or if Internet Explorer 4 or later is installed, you can edit this directly in the Start Menu, by right clicking on the item you want modify or remove. In Win95, the most efficient way to edit it is with Windows Explorer. In Win98 or Millennium, you also can suspend their action by launching MSCONFIG, clicking the Startup tab, and unchecking the box of any startup items you want to suspend.
You can freely delete any items in this folder without risking modifying or damaging any existing programs, because everything in this folder is a shortcut. The actual program is somewhere else. (You must, of course, know how to create a new shortcut, if you want to restore it in the future.) You may also want to remove them to a different (storage) folder. (Disabling them with MSCONFIG actually moves them to a separate folder titled Diabled Startup Items.)
NOTE: There may be an additional Startup folder on your computer, if multiple users were implemented. This is usually located at C:\Windows\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. Don?t forget to check this one! (Credit to MS-MVP Alan Edwards for this tip.)
THE WIN.INI FILE
Launch SYSEDIT and examine the WIN.INI file. In the first section (titled [windows]), look for any files beginning with LOAD= or RUN=. These are executed at startup. (Empty LOAD= or RUN= lines do not launch anything.) You can temporarily suspend these by placing a semi-colon in front of the line.
In Win98, you have the additional option of launching MSCONFIG, clicking on the Win.ini tab, finding these lines, and unchecking the box in front of them. In Windows Millennium Edition, the MSCONFIG method, or editing WIN.INI with Notepad, are your only options unless you migrate SYSEDIT.EXE to your system.
REGISTRY KEYS
The following Registry keys may contain items to execute at launch. WARNING: Do not edit the Registry directly without first backing it up.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
Please note that in Win98 and Millennium, these items will appear on the Startup tab of MSCONFIG along with items in the StartUp folder. You can most safely and most easily disable them by unchecking the box in front of them. Also, please note that some items may appear twice in these Registry keys, and thus twice on MSCONFIG?s Startup tab. For some items ? such as power management and TweakUI ? this is normal, and both are needed for normal functioning (they do different jobs, at different stages of system startup). Some other duplicates may, in fact, be unnecessary duplicates. It is not possible to give a complete list, in advance, of all possible examples. If there are duplicates that are truly unnecessary, the simplest way to get rid of them is to be sure that both are checked, click OK to close MSCONFIG, and reboot the computer.
Glenn
STARTUP PROGRAM LOADING
Where do things load from?
How to you stop them?
A program can be loaded at startup from various places. By knowing where these are located, you have more direct control over them. How to edit and control startup program launching is different in Windows 95 than in Windows 98 and Millennium, primarily due to the innovation in Win98 of MSCONFIG.EXE. In the instructions below, the programs MSCONFIG, SYSEDIT, and REGEDIT each can be launched by clicking Start, then Run, typing in the program name, and clicking OK. (MSCONFIG does not come with Win95. SYSEDIT does not come with Windows Millennium. Either may be copied over from a version of Windows that has it. Consult your operating system licensing agreement to determining whether you may do this legally.)
Locations that control startup loading of programs include the following:
THE STARTUP FOLDER
This is usually located at C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, but may be at a different location on your computer. You can view it by clicking Start | Programs | StartUp. You can also view it in Windows Explorer. In Win98 or Millennium, or if Internet Explorer 4 or later is installed, you can edit this directly in the Start Menu, by right clicking on the item you want modify or remove. In Win95, the most efficient way to edit it is with Windows Explorer. In Win98 or Millennium, you also can suspend their action by launching MSCONFIG, clicking the Startup tab, and unchecking the box of any startup items you want to suspend.
You can freely delete any items in this folder without risking modifying or damaging any existing programs, because everything in this folder is a shortcut. The actual program is somewhere else. (You must, of course, know how to create a new shortcut, if you want to restore it in the future.) You may also want to remove them to a different (storage) folder. (Disabling them with MSCONFIG actually moves them to a separate folder titled Diabled Startup Items.)
NOTE: There may be an additional Startup folder on your computer, if multiple users were implemented. This is usually located at C:\Windows\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. Don?t forget to check this one! (Credit to MS-MVP Alan Edwards for this tip.)
THE WIN.INI FILE
Launch SYSEDIT and examine the WIN.INI file. In the first section (titled [windows]), look for any files beginning with LOAD= or RUN=. These are executed at startup. (Empty LOAD= or RUN= lines do not launch anything.) You can temporarily suspend these by placing a semi-colon in front of the line.
In Win98, you have the additional option of launching MSCONFIG, clicking on the Win.ini tab, finding these lines, and unchecking the box in front of them. In Windows Millennium Edition, the MSCONFIG method, or editing WIN.INI with Notepad, are your only options unless you migrate SYSEDIT.EXE to your system.
REGISTRY KEYS
The following Registry keys may contain items to execute at launch. WARNING: Do not edit the Registry directly without first backing it up.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
Please note that in Win98 and Millennium, these items will appear on the Startup tab of MSCONFIG along with items in the StartUp folder. You can most safely and most easily disable them by unchecking the box in front of them. Also, please note that some items may appear twice in these Registry keys, and thus twice on MSCONFIG?s Startup tab. For some items ? such as power management and TweakUI ? this is normal, and both are needed for normal functioning (they do different jobs, at different stages of system startup). Some other duplicates may, in fact, be unnecessary duplicates. It is not possible to give a complete list, in advance, of all possible examples. If there are duplicates that are truly unnecessary, the simplest way to get rid of them is to be sure that both are checked, click OK to close MSCONFIG, and reboot the computer.
You may also want to do a Start-Run-SYSEDIT and look at the
load=
run=
lines in WIN.INI
load=
run=
lines in WIN.INI
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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go to start run and then type in "msconfig" and then click on the start up tab and remove the programs that you do not want to start when you start windows.
Do I see claws bared? Go for it Cokane!!
willulri, pleas read before using the Answer butto again, thanks,
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Community Support
Advice for Experts on Providing Solutions Through Comments or Answers
Experts may post solutions to your question in the form of a comment or answer, so be sure to check every email notification as soon as it arrives. Often, an Expert posts the solution to your problem as a comment because it is early in the collaboration process and other issues may be involved. In addition, it is common etiquette in some topics areas to always post comments and not answers. There are several reasons behind this thinking:
Questions do not become prematurely locked and the collaboration process is not inhibited when the question is indexed as open for proposed solutions.
The question-asker has the power to select the best solution rather than one that is simply suggested as an answer.
Watch out for unclear or multiple-part questions. You can send a comment to the member requesting that they rephrase or break up the question before you submit an answer.
If you don't know the answer, leave the question for someone else.
If you are unsure of your solution, post it as a comment rather than an answer. Members can accept comments as solutions and award points for them.
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willuiri,
I was cruising and noticed that you proposed an answer. The problem is, the answer you proposed is repeated above. For that reason, I am rejecting it.
In this topic area, experts do not propose an answer unless they are 300% sure and the information is not provided in previous comments. I see you are nbew here, and this is just a little info for you.
Proposed answer rejected.
Thank you
Computer101
Community Support Moderator
I was cruising and noticed that you proposed an answer. The problem is, the answer you proposed is repeated above. For that reason, I am rejecting it.
In this topic area, experts do not propose an answer unless they are 300% sure and the information is not provided in previous comments. I see you are nbew here, and this is just a little info for you.
Proposed answer rejected.
Thank you
Computer101
Community Support Moderator
... and they both jump on that one, and at the EXACT same time, even. This is the way things are supposed to work.
Way to go team. A double mod response. hehehe
Just wanted to add that the System.ini file can also have the load= & run= option.
Also the config.sys, autoexec.bat, & winstart.bat (if you have one) can load programs before windows is loaded.
Regards
Also the config.sys, autoexec.bat, & winstart.bat (if you have one) can load programs before windows is loaded.
Regards
Hay, Ajnin, that was my suggestion, although I didn't include config, autoexec, and winstart since I don't believe they can load anything on the taskbar. Oh well, at least you didn't post it as an answer ...
ASKER
Thanks everyone for your help.
And we were all beaten out by Startup Cop.
Sorry slink I must of missed that. I must of missed it.
And I usually don't post answers.
And I usually don't post answers.
Not a problem. It didn't matter much, anyway.
go to the starup tab...
remove the ticks form the programs that you do not wish to run on startup...
Click ok and restart
Good Luck