disabling startup programs

[TheAntipop]

does anyone know the registry key that has the windows 2000 startup programs? if you could please post it here, i would very much appreciate it.

eh, i'll procrastinate later...

 

[Spdy_Gonzales]

Try doing a search ("find"?) within regedit.

I wonder...what is the speed of gravity?

 

[TheAntipop]

cool, thanks. in case anybody else is wondering it is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run

eh, i'll procrastinate later...

 

[ejsmith2]

You might go to <A HREF="http://www.download.com" target="_new">http://www.download.com</A> and pick up x-teq xsetup. It's got a bunch of other registry tweaks to it for Nes98/ME/win2k, along with the 4 or 6 startup registry areas.

 

[TheAntipop]

is it a program or a text file? i hate running extra programs. they really start to slow down you system.

eh, i'll procrastinate later...

 

[ejsmith2]

It's a program. It's not particularly large (~4meg), and it's not memory resident. I've got mine setup so I can access it from the control panel. You can mess around with startup programs, number of open ports in internet explorer, start menu delay time, explorer memory use, win2k i/o cache, and a lot of other stuff. It's just one big tweak program, in the end.

 

[Toejam31]

Then how about a tiny program to manage your start up files? It's basically just an editing program for the RUN keys, and won't stay resident in memory.

<A HREF="http://mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml" target="_new">http://mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml</A>

P.S. Of course... neither will X-Setup stay resident in memory, which is an excellent tweaker. But if that's more than you want or need, Startup works very well.

By the way ... You can get Xteq X-Setup here:

<A HREF="http://www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com/utilities.htm" target="_new">http://www.the-ctrl-alt-del.com/utilities.htm</A>

Toejam31



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[Mavicator]

Does deleting an item from your start menu actually keep it from loading during Windows booting?

-- I don't see a dotted line... --

 

[Toejam31]

No, sir. The Start Menu doesn't function that way. The Start Menu is a collection of shortcuts (in most cases) to the .exe files of your installed programs. The programs don't actually run until you start them manually, either with the .exe file, or with the shortcut to that file.

But ... often, a third-party program when installed as default will add a key to the Registry, or in your Start Menu's Startup folder, which will allow a portion, or even the entire program to run automatically when the computer boots up. Real Player is a prime example of this kind of program.

In many cases, this kind of feature is more of an irritant than anything else, because there are very, very few programs that need to run when the computer first starts. This can cause your computer to boot slowly, use up system resources and memory, and occasionally, cause startup problems due to conflicts with other programs or drivers. This can also happen in reverse when the computer shuts down, because all running programs need to be ended so that the Registry can be unloaded ... and then the computer can shut down cleanly.

Note1: Just in case you were referring to the Startup folder, specifically ... and not the Menu, if you remove an item from the Startup folder, yes ... it will not load during the boot. The programs mentioned in this thread will allow you to either delete, (or if you are unsure) just disable these unnecessary items.

Note2: Removing a program's reference in the RUN Registry key(s) is permanent, and if you want it back, will often require reinstalling the program.

I hope this answers your question, and please write again if you need more information.

Toejam31

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[Mavicator]

Actually I was referring to the folder, not the menu (my bad, sorry!). But what interests me now is whether or not deleting an item from the start folder also deletes the registry key associated with it. I've always deleted items from the start folder to keep them from running at startup. Hopefully the extra garbage in the registry isn't bogging me down.

-- I don't see a dotted line... --

 

[Toejam31]

Straight from Microsoft TechNet:

Windows 2000 runs a number of applications and services at startup. Applications are those programs that you may have installed. Some services launch automatically at system startup, such as your virus protection, others when they're needed, others when you manually start them, and some run just once. The Registry keeps track of those applications that need to be run just one time and notes when an application has been run so it doesn't run again. The same rules are in place for services. Services are programs that provide system support for Windows 2000. Examples of Windows 2000 services include the Network browser, which makes it possible for the workstation to see other computers on the network, and the Task Scheduler. A handful of Registry entries control the applications and services that run at startup. It's useful to know where to find this list should you need to debug some problem at startup. The following list of keys show you where the run information is stored:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \SOFTWARE \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \RunOnce
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \Software \Microsoft \Windows \CurrentVersion \Runonce

Deleting an item from the Startup folder <i>should</i> cause the Registry key to be deleted, also. But you can use these Registry keys to check.

In my experience, there's usually a surprising amount of unnecessary junk from the Registry that is running ... far more than shows up in the Startup folder. This is why MSCONFIG in Win98 was so useful ... and why people who have upgraded to Win2k are looking for an equivalent program for the same purpose.

Toejam31



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[Mavicator]

Quite the useful post. Thank you.

-- I don't see a dotted line... --