FIGHT BACK!!! Damn, I am sick of this crap — apps starting up without consent when I login to Windows. Here are some great tools to put the control back in your hands. Although these tools are not actually "Web Development" tools, part of programming is keeping your computer running smoothly and making your time more productive. Startup apps in Windows are a love/hate kind of thing: I love the ones that are useful, like my McAfee VirusScan, but I absolutely hate the apps that I don't want to startup, yet do everytime I logon to Windows.

Since this is my article, I'm allowed to rant. Here goes. Every time I install or update iTunes, I get stuck with that stupid Yahoo Messenger app automatically starting up. I've disabled it about half a dozen times now via the Registry Editor. It's probably all my fault because I'm too dense to understand the installation (I swear I've installed iTunes and unchecked Yahoo Messenger but during updates I don't get that option). And, of course, there are many other apps that do the same thing: startup in the background and place an icon in the Windows Quicklaunch tray. Quicktime ... Norton (which came on my computer but I never activated) ... the list could go on. Whatever the case, why should I have to fight any application wanting to load itself when I logon to Windows? Now I don't have to! Enter three cool tools — Process Explorer, Startup Control Panel, and Startup Monitor. Oh yeh, all three are free (no cash, no spyware).

Process Explorer

The first step is to identify which executables to kill. If you use the Windows Task Manager a lot, you'll like Process Explorer. Process Explorer is a free application from Sysinternals. And I quote:

Process Explorer simply has too many feastures to go into here. Use the link below for more information. Just know that, like Windows Task Manager, it shows an entry for every app running, but it also gives a more descriptive name and a ton of other details to help you figure out what the apps is, what it's doing, and when it's running.

Visit Process Explorer Homepage to download.

Startup Control Panel

Ok, you are now using Process Manager, or you are continuing to use Windows Task Manager, to find those nasty litte bugger's by file name. Now it's time to apply some whoop ass!

To stop individual apps from starting up when you login to Windows, you could do what I used to do, which is search the Windows Registry and Startup folder to remove references, or you can use Startup Control Panel, like I do now.

After you have installed Startup Control Panel, I should mention that you access it via Windows Control Panel, where you will find an icon named Startup. Double click that icon to start double kicking ass. Startup Control Panel organizes the various apps into tabs, and you check/uncheck which ones you want to allow/disallow starting up. Neat, huh?

Visit Startup Control Panel Homepage to download.

Startup Monitor

And now for the final knockout punch — stop apps in the future from registering to startup automatically.

Startup Monitor comes from the same author of Startup Control Panel, so I'm sure it rocks. The author purports — I haven't tested this yet, I admit — to alert you when an app tries to register itself to startup automatically. If this works, I'm going to howl at the moon.

There is no user interface or icon for Startup Monitor. It is supposed to popup an alert asking if the app in question may, or may not, register itself to startup automatically.

Visit Startup Monitor Homepage to download.

Conclusion

If you hate annoying startup apps as much as I do, please drop by the Forums and shout out. I am working on a comments feature for articles, but I haven not finished it yet. But you can use the forums, which are also great for asking questions about Web development.