How to control what boots up with Windows

When Windows boots, it’s not just the operating system itself that is loaded into memory: many other apps, tools, and services also start, which are automatically configured to start with Windows. And depending on what you have installed, many of them may start without your knowledge or consent.

Sometimes this can be very useful, especially when you don’t have to worry about forgetting to launch something important. You want to make sure that your antivirus software is always running, for example, and that your media server or backup software is always available. On the other hand, as you add more and more applications to your computer, many of them may be set to start automatically with Windows, meaning it takes longer for Windows to be ready to use. It seems, more programs are constantly running in the background, taking up precious system resources.

This is bad news. The good news is that Windows gives you a lot of control over which applications start up with the operating system itself, so you can organize the list to make sure only the most useful tools are included.

First, it helps to know what you’re dealing with: restart Windows, and after you log in, give your computer a few minutes for everything to load. Then you can see what’s going on.

The most obvious places you’ll see which apps are loaded are on the taskbar and in the system tray (in the lower right corner under the clock). Look for the little arrow pointing up; If you click on that, it will show you all the apps loaded whose icons don’t fit in that right hand space.

For more detailed information about what is running on your system, right-click an empty area of ​​the taskbar and select Task Manager, But Procedures On the tab, you’ll see your main applications (all those that are currently running) at the top, with background processes listed below. These background processes handle jobs such as locating hardware accessories or managing file syncing, and do not necessarily have a user interface.

If you scroll further down the list, you’ll find Windows processes, which manage the running of the operating system. Processes include things like desktop window managers and a bunch labeled service hosts (which require Windows to be running in order to load libraries), among others. Most of the time, you won’t have to interfere with these processes (with the possible exception of the Registry, which you can occasionally delve into for specific fixes).

Helpfully, to the right of each program and process, Task Manager displays the current demands on CPU, RAM, disk, and network connections. This can help you decide which apps you want to allow to start with Windows and which you want to launch manually – even if a program is useful, you can decide whether You don’t want it to run automatically because of how many system resources it needs.

Don’t worry if you don’t recognize everything on the background processes list; Not all of them will come with a software program (such as Dropbox or Photoshop) to their name. A quick web search for the process name should be enough to tell you what it is and what its function is on your system. And here, you need to be a bit more careful because of how closely background processes are integrated with Windows. Make sure you know what a process is doing and what it is connected to before stopping it.

switch on Display tab on the left to see the demands currently being made on your Windows PC and app history tab to view CPU time, network usage, and notifications for all your programs during the past month.

We’re halfway there – now that you know what you’re working with, you can start making some changes. The first place to start is with the app itself, and the approach you need to take will differ from app to app.

On some apps, all you have to do is right-click the program icon in the system tray, and you’ll get the option to make the app start up or not start up with Windows.

As with other apps, you’ll need to delve deeper into Settings to find the options you need. For example, if you want to change how the Spotify Music app opens when you boot:

• In the Spotify app, click your profile icon (top right), then Adjustment.
• scroll down startup and window behavior find more Automatically open Spotify after logging in to computer, Click on the drop-down menu next to it.
• choose Yes (Spotify starts with Windows), No (Spotify doesn’t start with Windows), or least (Spotify starts from Windows, but out of sight).

Note that quite a few programs offer this “start with a minimum” option—NordVPN is another we noticed. It’s a good middle-ground option if you want to have a program always available (and that doesn’t make too many demands on your system resources), but you don’t want to see it until you need it.

If you can’t find the relevant option in the program itself, or if you want to change more than one program at a time, Task Manager re.

• open startup apps Pane.
• Right-click on the program you do not want to start with Windows and select disable,
• To reinstall an app, right-click on it and choose Able,

Incidentally, as long as you’re in the Startup Apps page, you’ll want to look at the column titled boot-up effect, which tells you how much of your computer’s resources are used by the app. If your computer slows down or a similar problem occurs, closing high-impact apps can help.

It doesn’t affect the program’s position in terms of its Start menu or desktop shortcut or anything else; It is still available to launch normally. (Of course, completely uninstalling a program is also an option for applications you’re not using at all, as it will free up disk space and reduce system clutter.)

When it comes to background processes, you should know that they stop when their parent application is disabled. If you’re still seeing mysterious processes that don’t seem to be linked to a program (in other words, its name doesn’t refer to a known app), you can run an online search for them. You can also right-click on them in the startup apps list and choose Property To see information such as where they are located (which will then tell you what app they are installed with).