Preventing Programs from Starting Automatically When You Start Up Your Computer

November 10th, 2005

Some programs automatically turn on an option during installation to open the program every time you turn on your computer. This annoying and arrogant feature can usually be disabled, sometimes by changing the Preferences within the program. If you can’t find this option within the program, you can usually prevent the program from starting automatically by changing your Windows configuration settings. (This is not as intimidating as it might sound, even for the novice user.)

Try the Easy Way First

The first thing to try is to open the program and look under Options or Preferences, etc. Most programs that start up automatically have a checkbox that says something like Start Automatically when Windows starts.

These instructions use Yahoo Messenger as an example:

  1. Log in and then select Messenger | Preferences.
  2. Select General from the category list.
  3. The first item says: When I start up my computer | Automatically start Yahoo Messenger. Uncheck the check box.
  4. Close Messenger and reboot your computer.
The Slightly More Complicated Way

These instructions assume you are running Windows XP:

  1. Click the Start button, and then select Run…

    2. Start...Run dialog

  2. Type msconfig in the Open text field.
  3. The System Configuration Utility will appear. Select the Startup tab at the top, which will show a list of the programs that start automatically every time you boot up your computer.

    4. System Configuration Utility

  4. Remove the checks from any programs you do not want to start automatically.
    Be sure not to uncheck an item unless you are absolutely sure what it does.

    In the example above, I have turned off the iTunes Helper, Windows Messenger, the Nokia cell phone utility, QuickTime movies, and the Yahoo Messenger Pager.

  5. If you make changes, Windows will prompt you to restart your computer.

    6. System Restart Prompt

  6. Restart your computer.
  7. When you computer restarts, the following message will appear:

    8. System Configuration Change

  8. Check the box that says “Don’t show this message…” Otherwise, the System Configuration Utility will open every time you boot up your computer to remind you that you have changed your startup options.

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One Response to “Preventing Programs from Starting Automatically When You Start Up Your Computer”

  1. Pioneer Training » Blog Archives » Index Says:
    June 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 am

    […] Preventing Programs from Starting Automatically when You Start Up Your Computer […]

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