Pesky Startup Applications

There are a number of ways to stop a program from loading at startup. The best method is to open the application itself, dig inside of it, find the options or settings, and disable the start with Windows option from there. Some application developers simply don't include this option though. Perhaps they feel that nobody in their right mind would want to start their computer without their code being loaded, bogging things down, and generally causing hate and discontent? Perhaps they constantly want to nag you or offer you features you really haven't much use for? I truly have no idea.

Those of us who are familiar with the 9x Operating Systems are also probably familiar with the System Configuration Utility (MSCONFIG - for more info, view MSCONFIG - Stopping Startup Programs). That has been the place to go if you want to disable things manually unless you felt like editing the registry. That's all well and good but it's not as effective as it should be. MSCONFIG should be used as a diagnostic tool and not as a resolution, not to mention that you will likely get prompts saying you're in diagnostic mode if you try this in XP.

Of all the tools I carry around on CD with me this would be one that I've been taking with me for a rather long time.

- Startup Control Panel

This handy piece of software is not only free but very effective. You can not only disable stuff but you can delete stuff as well. You can use the stand-alone version or you can get the entire installation which will happily add a new icon to your control panel.

So, when you haven't time to figure out the proper way to prevent an application from loading at startup, or the author of the program is ignorant and has not provided a way to do so, then the above tool is for you and highly recommended by us. I should also mention that it's one of the smallest tools for this sort of task online these days.

OS: All Platforms > General
Date: 06/07/05

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