Miscellaneous Tweaks - Disabling Startup Programs

Disabling startup programs within Windows XP isn't nearly as simple as it is in Windows 9x/Me, where you can manage that task from within the System Information program. The only way to disable startup items that aren't in your Startup folder is to open up Regedit.

To disable Startup Programs, follow the next steps:

  1. Open the Registry Editor click on the Start button on your taskbar, then click on Run and type "regedit" and click on OK to start the regedit utility.
     
  2. Expand HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run (see picture 1).

    Picture 1
  3. From there, you can manually delete the values, which are starting the unwanted applications. We would recommend that you export the values that you intend to delete, however, just in case you make an error.
     
  4. The modifications you made will be in effect after you reboot your PC.

 


Author:

Lex van der Horst

Date Added:

06-11-2004

Last Reviewed:

06-11-2004