How to Set Up What Starts on My Computer First

When your computer boots, programs configured to start up automatically launch as Windows opens. You may have set these programs to launch on startup during the installation process or they may have configured themselves to start up automatically. Control the programs that start up automatically using Microsoft Configuration Utility. Choosing which programs start during boot can improve your computer's performance and speed up start times.

Instructions

1. Go to "Start." Click "Run" or click the Search box. Type "msconfig." (Click the "msconfig" entry if you used the Search box.) The Microsoft System Configuration utility window appears.

2. Click "Startup."

3. Scroll down the list of software on this tab. Uncheck any software you do not want loading during startup, and check any which you do. None of the listings in the startup tab are essential for Windows to boot, although you do usually want to leave printer utilities, networking utilities and antivirus software checked. Click "Apply," "Close" and "Exit without Restart."

4. Go to "Start" and type "Startup" into the search box. Open the "Startup" folder and drag programs to this folder to create a shortcut and enable the program to startup when your computer boots. You can also delete items in this folder to prevent them from starting up on boot.

5. Restart your computer to make sure that your startup programs are loading properly.

References

• Net Squirrel: How to use MSCONFIG in Windows Vista
• Smart Computing: How To...Add & Remove Items From Startup