Taskbar/Startup

How can I remove certain software from starting up whilst booting and from showing in the taskbar...I clicked on the taskbar otion in the control panel but the options are only
1. hide when inactive
2. hide always
3. show always

I don't want the icons to hide but to disappear , thanks

 

if you go to start>run type in MSCONFIG

A screen comes up. You can really mess up you computer if you edit some stuff in here, so do some research first and make sure you have system restore active in case you make a mistake.

If you go to the last tab "startup" this is where most of the stuff starts that ends up on your taskbar that you don't want.

How i learned how to use this is I googled each item in the list to see what it does, whether I needed it to run, etc.

A common one is qttask.exe, which is from quicktime. When it runs at startup, it shows the little blue "Q" in the taskbar. I HATE IT but if you use quicktime or itunes, it keeps showing up. If you unclick qttask, and restart, the blue Q goes away.

I have one in my list calle ADeck.exe. So, I don't know what it's for so I googled it. I found this page:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/ADeck.exe-12399.html

It isn't neccessary, and I can unclick it. If I restart and have problems, I just run msconfig again and click it, so it loads.

Once you find ones that are unnecessary, you can uncheck them one at a time to see what happens.

But be careful!

 

Hi bombagirl.

While raingirlIT instructions are correct, I strongly suggest you not use MSCONFIG as a start up manager. Unless you're an advanced user, it could be a problem.

There are a couple of very popular very effective and free apps to monitor what you want to start up

One of the better ones, IMHO is WinPatrol v10.0.3.0.
It offers start up control along with many other features and is quite simple to use.

Another one is Mike Lin's Startup Monitor

These are far better and safer means of start up management.

Hope that's been helpful.

 

TeMerc...with all respects but I just can't afford to install anymore programs on my pc...are these some kind of programs that we constanly need to run? I mean...lately I've installed...ewido..mailwasher...smitfraud...cleaup etc...that's really a lot and I don't want to slow down my pc...


will see what the raingirlIt's method is all about as well...thanks

 

Hi Claudine,

When you use msconfig and boot up again, you'll get a message from the System that you have changed the startups, tick the box on the left to shut the message off.

One thing to keep in mind about msconfig, a small number of programs will re insert themselves into the startups again. You may or may not experience that.

The program suggested by TeMerc, Mike Lin's, is better at stopping that sort of behavior and it's resource usage is quite small. The other one referred to, WinPatrol, I know only by reputation, which is very good.

If you're interested, there is a discussion on startups and their control in the last page of this thread http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?p=304820#post304820

Regards - Charles

 

Ewido does not run in the back ground unless you buy the premium version, with its guard.

MailWasherPro of course needs to run to check your mail, unless you don't get much and you can occasionally open it that way. I get 30-50 legit emails per day easily, so mine is always running.

SmithFraud is of no concern, it does not run unless you need it. Matter of fact I would delete the one you have. Should you need it again, a new version will be out.

CleanUp is another tool that does not run in the background, only when needed.

WinPatrol uses up virtually no resources.

 

You can probably turn most of them off in the options for whichever program you are trying to get rid of. Look for something like "run xxxx at startup" (xxxx being the program you are trying to get rid of). Otherwise, using msconfig to kill them is safe enough in my opinion as long as you stick just the startup tab. You can always turn them back on if something doesn't work right after using msconfig. You can go here to find out what each of the programs listed on the startup tab do. Just search for the name you see in msconfig. You'll have to decide whether it's something you want or not.

 

Hey,

Seriously, use MSConfig and uncheck the programs you dont want to startup. It's really not that hard. Don't download any un-needed applications, even though those programs probably do what they are suppose to do it's uncessary when you can just easily fix your problem with msconfig.

When using msconfig under startup expand the command section that way you can see the actual location of each file. Read through the location and try to identify if its a program you need to have started up or not. Anything with microsoft in the name leave it checked.

 

I'll jump in too

I think all the replies have their merits. Personally, I would use Zander's suggestion first and stop them at their source. Keep looking at msconfig to see what is left over, do you want it running or not? Do the research on what the programs are. If you still do not want them running uncheck them in msconfig and still use the Startup Monitor at least as a trial, I think it should provide more detailed information and then uninstall it if you are happy with the reduced amount of things running in the background...just remember, every new program you install will probably want to have it's "helper" or "updater" running all the time (and some are not so straight forward).

If you find a program has finished serving it's purpose, uninstall it. Check through the list in Add/Remove programs. I do this as part of my cleanup procedure.

Matt

 

Yeah I tend to do the same Mattman

 

I have been using StartupCop for years.


http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1830389,00.asp?kc=PCGL10310KTX2B2200331

BillyBob