Remove startup programs in Win2000

[vetteguy]

Can someone tell me how to remove programs that are registered to startup in Win2000? You know, the ones that aren't in the "Startup" folder but start anyway? I can see a list of them in the computer management/software environment/startup programs, but of course it won't let me remove them there. Win98 had some utility that would let you check and uncheck the ones you wanted. How can I do this in 2000? Thanks.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Win2k doesn't have the utility (msconfig), but you can find them easily in the Registry. Go to HKEY/Local Machine/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Run or Run Once, et cetera, and all the programs are listed in one of those.

 

[vetteguy]

Thanks...I still can't believe the one good thing Win98 had going for it they got rid of.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Remember, Win2k is not an upgrade of Win9x. It's based on NT, which didn't have that tool either. WinXP, which is meant to be the merging of the two lines, does have msconfig. It's basically got the best parts of both lines. It's possible that before XP, making a tool like msconfig wasn't possible due to things like security rights.

 

[AndyHui]

Please read the FAQ: Equivalent of MSCONFIG for Win2K.

 

[Agent004]

Or you can copy the msconfig on the XP over to the win2k, it still works

 

[Lord Evermore]

AndyHui: given that that is a third party app, or requires having an XP CD to copy the msconfig app over to 2k, I consider that a very crappy FAQ. If somebody wants to know how to do something using 2k's OWN tools, you don't tell them to go get another program or OS.

 

[AndyHui]

Perhaps you want to suggest a method and/or submit a replacement FAQ, Lord Evermore?

 

[vetteguy]

Well without reading the FAQ I found that System Control Startup thing. I found that it does remove some of the startup apps but some still remain even if I select them to be removed. I have WinXP on my desktop but 2000 on my laptop because of less memory/slower processor, but I had a bunch of startup crap that I wanted to get rid of. I will try grabbing MSCONFIG from XP and see if that works.

 

[Mitzi]

This utility is pretty good at doing what you require.

 

[mastertech01]

I use a 3rd party software called Start Manager, download free from ZD net. It works quite well.

 

[c0rv1d43]

<< AndyHui: given that that is a third party app, or requires having an XP CD to copy the msconfig app over to 2k, I consider that a very crappy FAQ. If somebody wants to know how to do something using 2k's OWN tools, you don't tell them to go get another program or OS. >>



I think that's highly debatable. Anybody who has to ask the question may be better off not editing the registry. Besides, even for someone who's an expert with the OS, Mike Lin's utility or the WinXP version of MSCONFIG is quicker and easier than firing up regedit and picking through the tree, and Lin's utility works better for testing "what if" scenarios. It's a better tool for this purpose than MSCONFIG, and more convenient than regedit. With regedit, if you want to be able to revert easily, you have to export the settings you're removing. Waste of keystrokes and time. I use Startup Control Panel in WinXP, Win2K Pro / Server versions. My $.02.

- Collin

 

[vetteguy]

Well, I asked the question but I don't have any problems with editing the registry. I also am an expert with the OS, but I, like the other 99.99% of the population, cannot know everything about everything. I knew I could do it through the registry, I simply wanted to know if there was an easier alternative. Just because I can do the reg hack doesn't mean I want to. Sorry if I'm sounding a little bitter, but I just don't think that someone asking a question about 2K automatically makes them a candidate for "Windows for Dummies"

 

[c0rv1d43]

<< Well, I asked the question but I don't have any problems with editing the registry. I also am an expert with the OS, but I, like the other 99.99% of the population, cannot know everything about everything. I knew I could do it through the registry, I simply wanted to know if there was an easier alternative. Just because I can do the reg hack doesn't mean I want to. Sorry if I'm sounding a little bitter, but I just don't think that someone asking a question about 2K automatically makes them a candidate for "Windows for Dummies" >>



No insult meant. But read your first post again...



<< Can someone tell me how to remove programs that are registered to startup in Win2000? You know, the ones that aren't in the "Startup" folder but start anyway? I can see a list of them in the computer management/software environment/startup programs, but of course it won't let me remove them there. Win98 had some utility that would let you check and uncheck the ones you wanted. How can I do this in 2000? Thanks. >>



If you think about it, can you see why someone might think you weren't well-acquainted with the use of regedit. (Actually, in Win2K you'd probably want to use regedt32.) You certainly didn't mention it, even though you did mention the startup folder. There's no need for you to feel insulted, and I never said anything about "dummies", with respect to Windows or anything else. Furthermore, I did hint that experts might prefer the utilities as well, and for very good reasons. If Andy Hui likes Startup Control Panel, I suspect there are few people who need to look down their noses at anyone who wishes to use it. Speaking of noses, no need for yours to be out of joint. I certainly wasn't looking down my own nose at anyone else.

- Collin

 

[vetteguy]

I understand, I just felt maybe there were better ways of saying what you did than speaking about the person who started the thread within the same thread, as if he wasn't reading the posts. I guess next time I'll make sure to clarify what type of help I'm looking for, so no one is confused about my user level.

 

[c0rv1d43]

I'm sorry if I seemed to be putting you down. The message was, of course, not meant for you but was an aside to Lord Evermore. It was a response to his observation about the quality of a FAQ which, I was trying to point out, was quite well-written and well-targeted -- to novices and experts alike. But, in particular, I wanted to point out that it was at least possible that the suggestion of delving into the registry for the purpose of editing it could very well constitute bad advice for many people who would be asking this question.

I have never met anyone who didn't know more about many things than I do -- sometimes even within my own fields of supposed expertise. I don't let it worry me if someone knows more, or thinks he knows more, than I do. And I don't feel superior if I know more, or think I know more, than someone else does. No one has all the marbles. In fact I doubt very much that the distance between the least knowledgeable human and the most knowledgeable human is nearly as great as we pretend. Much of what we learn when dealing with computers could be categorized as trivia, and knowledge of it has little to do with the capacity for reason.

My apologies for the misunderstanding.

- Collin