How to Change Windows Startup Programs

March 31, 2015

By: Nick Peers

Some programs add themselves to the startup list in Windows 7 or 8.1 and are launched automatically by the operating system when it boots. You can prevent these programs from starting with the operating system from the Startup tab of the Task Manager dialog in Windows 8.1, or of the System Configuration dialog in Windows 7. You can also add your own files and programs to the startup list by adding their shortcuts to the Startup folder.

Not all programs in the Startup tab have shortcuts in the Startup folder.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Stop Programs From Starting Automatically

The Power User menu provides easy access to many important Windows utilities.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Press Windows-X to display the Power User menu and select Task Manager to launch the utility.

The startup impact of each app is displayed in the Startup Impact column.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Select the Startup tab to view all programs that are allowed or disallowed to start with the operating system. Note that some installers set the programs to start with Windows without asking your permission.

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You can see the status of each program in the Status column. If the status is Enabled, the program starts automatically with Windows.

The Disable button is replaced by the Enable button if the app is Disabled.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Prevent specific apps from starting with the operating system by selecting them from the list of apps and then clicking the Disable button. The changes are applied immediately.

The enable programs, check their boxes or click Enable All.

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In Windows 7, expand the Start menu, type msconfig into the Search field and then click msconfig.exe to launch the System Configuration utility.

Select the Startup tab and then uncheck the apps you want to disable or click Disable All to disable all at once. Click Apply to apply the new settings.

Start Specific Programs Automatically

If you select "Send To" and click "Desktop," you create a shortcut on the desktop.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Press Windows-X to display the Power User menu and select File Explorer to launch the utility. Locate the executable -- the EXE file that launches the application -- of the program you want to launch automatically when Windows starts. Programs are usually installed in the Program Files or Program Files (x86) -- on 64-bit systems -- folder on the system drive.

Right-click the executable and select Copy from the context menu to copy it to the clipboard -- this copies a shortcut to the clipboard, not the entire program.

You can browse for files to run if you click Browse.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Press Windows-X to expand the Power User menu and click Run to display the Run dialog. The keyboard shortcut to display the Run dialog is Window-R. Type shell:startup into the Open field and click OK or press Enter to open the Startup folder in a new File Explorer window.

If you select Paste, an unusable copy of the EXE file is created.

credit: Image courtesy of Microsoft

Right-click on an empty spot in the Startup folder and select Paste Shortcut from the context menu to create a shortcut that points to the EXE file you copied to the clipboard.

You can copy into the Startup folder to automatically launch the apps when Windows Starts.