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Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

penneck
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Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

My wife's laptop pc is incredibly slow at going through the startup process. I think it may be that she has added loads of programs that start to work every time she boots up her pc, even if she has no intention of using that program in that session.
Is there, somewhere on the pc, a list of software that starts at bootup, that I can take a look at? I want to remove the unnecessary startups if I can - or is that a bad idea?
Thanks for your help
Grumpyxch
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Oldjim
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

type msconfig in the run box and you will see something like this
pierre_pierre
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

there are others in the Registry, that have entries like run or run once, but that needs a lot of care or you will screw your machine
paulh
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

penneck
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Thanks Oldjim and pierre-pierre. I wont touch the registry - that is too dangerous for my limited expertese. However, I have just tried running msconfig. I went into the Startup tab, and unticked any box on lines that had things like Nero on them, but then everytime I booted up the system says I am in System Configuration. That then took me back into where msconfig had taken me.
The only way I have found to stop that happening is to retick the boxes and reboot, so in the end I haven't made any progress. I did notice that between unticking and reticking those boxes on the Startup tab, it had also changed the setting on the left-hand tab (General(?)), so maybe I need to do something there, though I dont know what.
More guidance would be gratefully received.
Thanks
Grumpyxch
hulls
Grafter
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Spybot Search and destroy has a startup tuner, which has notes about many of the entries, with tips on which could possibly be disabled.
John
penneck
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Hi Hulls, thanks for your post. I have Spybot 1.6.2 on my pc, so I took a look at that. I cannot find anything that suggests it tunes startup. Have I got an old version, or have I misunderstood what Spybot is telling me?
ReedRichards
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Chances are it's your security software!  You have probably got Norton and just kept renewing and updating it each year.  Contemporary versions work well on contemporary computer but can have a debilitating effect on older ones, particularly if you haven't got much RAM memory.
alanf
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Quote from: penneck
I have Spybot 1.6.2 on my pc, so I took a look at that. I cannot find anything that suggests it tunes startup.

You need to select Mode / Advanced Mode to see all of the available options.  Settings and Tools are not displayed in Simple Mode which is the default..
See System Startup under Tools to choose processes to run at start up.
hulls
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

alanf beat me to it  Huh 
penneck
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Thanks Hulls and Alanf, I have found what you mean, and have been playing on my pc to try it out. Just for experiment, I unticked the box on the BBC iPlayer entry on this list. I thought this entry would stay in the list but just not start at bootup. I rebooted and then tried using iPlayer, iPlayer worked okay, but has now gone comletely from this startup list. After reboot, Winpatrol did say that a new startup was trying to work and did I want it, but I answered No - is that why it has disappearred from the list? What is the difference between unticking the box on a line, and selecting that line and deleting it?
Incidentally, can anyone tell me the significance of the background colours on the Spybot Startup list - why are some green, some white, and some yellow?
Thanks
alanf
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Deletion makes a permanent change. Unticking makes a change that can be undone by reticking.
The colours are explained in S&D's Help.
penneck
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

alanf - the bit of your reply "Deletion makes a permanent change. Unticking makes a change that can be undone by reticking" is what I expected from the notes in Spybot, but unticking actually appears to have deleted the BBC iPlayer line in the Startup List. Its not showing in the list even now. I certainly didn't select it and delete it.
There is only one thing I can think of that may have removed it from the list. After unticking the box, Spybot wanted me to reboot the pc. During the reboot. WinPatrol said BBC iPlayer wanted to start, did I want to allow that. I replied No. I then tried running iPlayer from the BBC website, and it worked okay. However, when I went back to Spybot and recreated the Startup list, the iPlayer line was missing.
As for the colours, I haven't checked with Spybot yet, so I will do that in a few minutes.
Thanks
penneck
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Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

alanf - an update on my previous reply - according to Spybot, the colours are Red, Yellow and Green - no mention of White. I have one Green, several Yellow, no Red, and many White.
Denzil
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Re: Is it possible to find a list of programs which start up whenever you boot up?

Quote from: penneck
However, I have just tried running msconfig. I went into the Startup tab, and unticked any box on lines that had things like Nero on them, but then everytime I booted up the system says I am in System Configuration. That then took me back into where msconfig had taken me.

To make changes to msconfig stick, when you reboot you get a message which says that you are running the startup utility (or something along those lines - I don't remember the exact wording). Before you click OK, tick the box in the bottom left corner which says something like, "do not run at startup". It won't keep going back into msconfig then, and it will remember your changes.