I am almost too embarrassed to ask this question (I really should know the answer), but I’m getting more and more frustrated. Anyhow, here goes:
How do I prevent certain programs from automatically opening during the start-up of my computer. I am referring to the ones that open and then have a little icon displayed in the lower right of my task bar (where the speaker volume control icon is located), eg. NetZip, RealPlayer, SETI, Norton Program Scheduler, Morpheus, etc.
This is important to me since all these self-opening programs use up my RAM at start-up, so I’m forced to close some of them immediately.
Please note that I am NOT referring to programs in the Start menu.
Most programs have settings to turn them off on start-up. Real Player, if you right-click on the icon in the task tray, settings/start center, and turn that off. Most reputable software will give you an option to turn it off on Windows startup. Another thing you might want to take a look at is the tool, MSCONFIG. Do a Start/Run/msconfig, and take a look in the startup tab to see other things that are set to start up that you can turn on or off. If you are knowledgable of registry modifications, there are 4 or 5 keys that can be setup to start a program.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
And some others elsewhere that I cannot easily remember.
Oh yea. Silly me. Check the StartUp folder in the start menu. Easiest one is the one I almost forget.
Haven’t used the others you mention, so I cannot comment on those specifically. I’m doing my reg lookups on WinXP, but they should be in the same place.
OK. I tried the msconfig thing and it didn’t work. Apparently, there is no file on my computer that even contains that string.
I’m not a registry type of guy, so scratch that.
I have tried right clicking and closing the various programs. A lot. Sure it works for the session at hand, but isn’t carried over to the next time I boot up my computer.
And, as far as using the StartUp folder in the Start menu, that only leads me to things like Microsoft Find Fast and Office, but not to the programs of interest - the ones whose icons are in the lower right of the task bar.
Normally, in the tray, you can right click on most programs and they give you an Options or Properties option…most programs can be told not to start up there. If not launch the program and see if you can find it under an Options or Tools menu.
90% of my programs have that option, even the dreaded AIM when you load Netscrape. It still tries to load but I haven’t messed with the registry as this machine is in need of serious FDISKing anyway.
Win 95 doesn’t have MSCONFIG, but I think it works if you can find the program somewhere. Do a Google search on MSCONFIG and Win 95. Stopping the programs individually works (if they have the “don’t start up” option - some don’t, they just assume you want them running all the time), but MSCONFIG is easier IMHO, cause you can do them all in one fell swoop.
SETI@Home: Double-click on the icon. Under Settings|Preferences, make sure the “Data analysis runs only when the screen saver…” is checked. Displaying the icon itself doesn’t take much memory, so don’t worry that it’s still visible. It won’t actually be running at that point.
RealPlayer: Under View|Preferences|Start Center Settings, make sure “Enable Start Center” is unchecked.
As has been said, most programs have an option to not load on startup. For the ones that do not, the following should work in win95.
First, you should read this then maybe proceed if all else fails.
(Disclaimer: ONLY do the following if you are familiar with sysedit, and you cant stop them any other way. You can screw up your system by messing with these lines)
As a last resort in win95 you can go to start/run and type “sysedit” (w/o quotes) This will show a tabbed menu. Click on the win.ini tab. Look for lines that read "Load= or Run=. You should see some of the offending programs listed.
put a semicolon in front of ONLY those lines with the progs you dont want to start. Close and click save changes.
Again, don’t do this unless you are comfortable.
This has worked well for me, especially with pesky AV programs.
If you do not find your “offender”, be aware that entries may not use the name you expect. Also examine the entire \windows\startmenu\programs tree for additional Startup folders.
I apologize for not searching through the archives first (frankly, I thought this was going to be a simple matter and nobody else would have needed such help).
most of the time you can just put your mousie on top of the program icon on the taskbar, right click & click properties or options & select to ask it not to load when windows loads. you should not attempt registry editting–which is my opinion when just about every program has it’s way of doing it.