# Quick Windows XP Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257 "2004-03-14T19:03:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/1 "2004-03-14T19:03:17Z")
How do I choose what I want to open (start up) when I turn on my computer? I can’t seem to find the place where you can do that? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/2 "2004-03-14T19:06:47Z")
Put it in your startup folder. (it’s in the programs menu of the start menu) There are probably more ‘technical’ ways but that is the easiest. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/3 "2004-03-14T19:09:09Z")
If you mean you want to enable/disable barious startup options, you can do that from Start \> Run and type MSCONFIG. Click the Startup tab, and you can uncheck things you don’t want to run on startup. If you want to add a program to the startup (such as IE, for instance), you can copy and paste the shortcut into the Start \> Programs \> Startup folder, just as in previous versions of Windows. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/4 "2004-03-14T19:09:19Z")
Actually I completely misunderstood your post… You want to choose what what _not_ to load. start-\>run. type ‘msconfig’ without the quotes. one of the tabs will let you uncheck the startup items. be careful with it though. Don’t unchech anything you are unsure what is. I’d be more specific but I am on a work compute which is windows 2000, and no access to msconfig ---
**Author:** ![gluteus\_maximus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f17d59/32.png) [@gluteus\_maximus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gluteus_maximus)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/5 "2004-03-14T19:11:34Z")
Go [here](http://netsquirrel.com/msconfig/). ---
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/6 "2004-03-14T19:22:07Z")
Ahhh yes. msconfig - that’s it. Thank You. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/7 "2004-03-14T19:24:54Z")
I’ve heard/seen advice that it’s better/safer to use the ‘sevices’ applet in control panel for the same task. If you use msconfig it will bug you with a message that you ‘are using microsoft configuration utility to start windows in selective startup mode’ or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/8 "2004-03-14T19:28:28Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > I’ve heard/seen advice that it’s better/safer to use the ‘sevices’ applet in control panel for the same task. If you use msconfig it will bug you with a message that you ‘are using microsoft configuration utility to start windows in selective startup mode’ or something like that. You can make that message shut up and go away. I forget the exact wording, but there’s a checkbox on that dialog that says somethin to the effect of “Don’t remind me about selective startup again, go away and leave me alone.” Ok, I made that last bit up. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/9 "2004-03-14T19:41:01Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > You can make that message shut up and go away. I forget the exact wording, but there’s a checkbox on that dialog that says somethin to the effect of “Don’t remind me about selective startup again, go away and leave me alone.” Yes but, the way it’s worded implies that it will stop doing the selective startup, not just stop showing you the message. It says something like “check here if you don’t want to see this message and not start in selective startup mode” ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/10 "2004-03-14T19:45:09Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Yes but, the way it’s worded implies that it will stop doing the selective startup, not just stop showing you the message. It says something like “check here if you don’t want to see this message and not start in selective startup mode” Right, your version is closer than mine 😃 I still can’t recal the exact wording, but you’re in the ballpark, there. However, despite the wording, it _will_ continue to do the selective startup, but won’t issue the warning dialog anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quick-windows-xp-question/234257/11 "2004-03-14T19:49:37Z")
That’s good to know because I assumed it wasn’t. I used it once to get rid of some rubbish that was loading (and the creative jukebox discdetector thing) before I found out about adaware and spybot. I saw the message and decided I prefered it when the unwanted things were loading. I’m learning windows XP (or ‘advanced’ windows as xp is based on the NT ‘version’ of the OP) fast (especially since I upgraded my mobo and cpu.