Cleaning Up StartUp/Msconfig

[GUSMAN]

Hi Guys.
Two things I would like to know about the start up.

1. I only have a few things on my start up list, Norton Firewall etc, but there are a load of things in the list I will never use again. Is there any way to delete these Items, so it wont be so cluttered?

2. Every time I run things like Realplayer, Morpheus etc They are automatically put on my start up again,and it takes ages for my pc to boot thenext time I use it. Then I have to use msconfig and go through the procedure to get them off again. Is this normal ???

If you can help thanks a lot, if not, no problem guys, have a nice chrisrmas.

 

[TonyKlein]

Things you don't want to start up automatically should first be disabled in the option of the program itself, or these may override the Msconfig settings, as you have noticed.

In case of Real Player: View/Preferences/Start Center/Settings/remove check mark.

If you want to get rid of the unchecked items in Msconfig that you'll be sure you'll never need, you'll have to edit the registry:

Start/Run/'regedit'.

Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run- and RunServices-

Note the - (minus) sign behind Run and RunServices.

In those two subkeys you'll find the Msconfig/startup entries that are UNchecked.
Highlight the ones you'd like to get rid of in the RIGHT pane, and choose 'delete'.

And next thing you know, they're gone...

As I said, don't remove stuff this way you still have, and might want back in startup, for in that case restoring them gets a little more complicated.

Good luck,

 

[Bryan]

You'll also find uncheck items from Msconfig in a folder called "Disabled Startup Items".

And you could also find unchecked items from Msconfig in the Win.ini file. They would be lines that read "NoRun=" or "NoLoad="

 

[hewee]

Bryan

"You'll also find uncheck items from Msconfig in a folder called "Disabled Startup Items".


Thanks I just seen that folder after I had uncheck all the Norton SystemWorks 2.0 software before I uninstalled it to upgrade to Norton SystemWorks 2001.
I was wonder were it came from but was thinking it was part of the new Norton SystemWorks 2001. The Disabled Startup Items folder was empty by the time I seen it. But now I know what it is.
So If you need to start something that you disable at startup you can just go to the Disabled Startup Items folder and start the program right?

 

[TonyKlein]

No, you go to Msconfig/startup, and put the checkmark back.
The programs in your Startup folder are listed there as well.

Or change it back in the program's options, if possible, of course.

 

[GUSMAN]

Guys, that is great, thanks to you all for the quick reply. I will get onto it straight away.

All the best.
Gus.

 

[Bryan]

Hewee, it's easier to just recheck it in Msconfig but it's not magic what Msconfig does. You could just as easily drag the shortcut back to the Startup folder at c:\Windows\All Users\StartMenu\Programs\Startup and reenable it, too.

Anyway, if anyone's interested, here's what Msconfig does if you Un-Check an item.

1) If the program is loading from a Registry Run or RunServices key, it moves the registry entry to the "Run-" and "RunServices-" key in the registry, whichever is applicable.

2) If the program is loading from the Startup folder, it moves the shortcut to the "Disabled Startup Items" folder. If the "Disabled Startup Items" folder doesn't exist, it creates it.

3) If a program is loading from a Win.ini file "Load=" or "Run=" line, it changes the line to "NoRun=" or "NoLoad=", whichever is applicable.

If you Re-Check an item in Msconfig, it does the reverse process.

No magic, it's just doing the same thing you could do yourself but it does it for you. I'm not suggesting anyone manually make the changes since it's much easier to just let Msconfig do it for you but that's an explanation of what it's doing if anyone is curious.