In your Windows "start menu" (lower bottom left), you will find a folder called "Start Up". You can also find this folder with your Windows Explorer on c:/windows (inside this folder the location varies from one Windows version to another). Anyway, any executable file (.exe or .com) that you move or copy to the "Start Up" folder will come up as soon as Windows starts. To stop a program from execute automatically, just do the opposite, meaning erasing it from the "Start Up" folder.

You can drag a shortcut to any file, folder or programme that you wish into the Startup folder, and Windows will run it on startup. Some programmes designed to run in the tasktray may also include a means to make the programme automatically load or run in its own configuration settings.

Another way is to go into the Registry (REGEDIT) and find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion Run Within this registry entry, you will find all of the programs that execute automatically when your computer starts (Including SPYWARE and VIRUSES!) To start a program, just have the pathname, and create a new key. Note: If you see anything in there you aren't sure about, you can place a apostrophe at the front of any of the entries, and it will disable the program without giving an error. If there were no entries under this key, Windows would still run perfectly (no Windows dependecies) but there are printer dependencies or anti-virus, or basically anything in your systray (icons in lower right corner)

Also, you can use a free program called "Codestuff Starter", If in doubt about stopping any of the startups, you can right click on the program and select Google it. It has speeded up my machine quite a bit. Or you can click start, run and type "msconfig" without the quotes in the box,they both work but I like the Starter program best. Good luck.

no, no, no, don't do any of those things U need to go to the start menu then click on run and type in "msconfig" that will bring up a menu and select start up on the top right hand corner and select the programs u want to run at start up or the ones u don't.

Msconfig will only show you a small number of programs which start automatically. Many programs, especially the ones you would rather get rid of, hide themselves from MSCONFIG. This includes a number of reputable programs from HP, Acronis, Microsoft, Apple, AVG, Logitech and countless others. The free program from Microsoft Sysinternals called Autoruns.exe lets you see everything which starts up. (Unsually it's hundreds of programs, - far more than you will see in msconfig.msi or msconfig.exe). You can then turn the automatic start up of individual programs on or off by simply clicking the check-box next to each entry. As you look down the list you will see software starting up for all sorts of devices you no longer need or use, like printers, cameras, back-up systems, mice, keyboards, and music players. I strongly recommend that you watch the videos on the Microsoft Sysinternals site to see the tutorials about how to use this program in conjunction with two other free programs from Microssoft Sysinternals called Process Explorer (procexp.exe) and TCP View (tcpview.exe). Even if you are a geek, you will find it interesting and useful to warch the tutorials. When I ran autoruns I found the following startup programs which could be permanently turned off: NB_ST3402 (ST3402 Launcher) EyelineService (Allows Eyeline to run in the background if required) DM1Service (from Olympus Imaging Corp) AcrSch25vc (Acronis Scheduler 2) ACDaemon PartyPoker.com Pacific Poker Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper Skype4com bwfile-8876480 (logitech Desktop Manager) Nokia PCSynch Manycam PC Suite Tray HP Digital Imagage Monitoring SunjavaUpdatesched Bigdog303 (Vmicro camera) Just switching off all these out-dated devices off has speeded my start up time alot.

If you're on XP then run msconfig. This should be adequate for you. A reboot is required to save the changes. You most likely needn't worry about 3rd party or any secondary programs. I'm sure there are plenty out there if choose to do so. It's up to you. A simple question deserves a simple answer.

XP MSCONFIG (RESETTING START UP ORDER) 1. START 2. RUN 3.TYPE IN - msconfig 4. WHEN THE BOX COMES UP CLICK THE START UP TAB 5. THESE ARE THE PROGRAM THAT ARE ALL TRYING TO OPEN WHEN PC FIRST COMES ON 6. YOU WILL SEE A LOT OF ITEMS WITH BOXES WITH CHECK MARKS IN THEM, IN GENERAL THE ONLY ONES YOU NEED ARE: THE ONES FOR VIRUS & SPYWARE PROGRAMS SUCH AS AVG, SPYBOT ETC. *** If this a laptop turn a few items at a time off, you have to be a little more careful as you need touchpad, monitor etc. by default xp will not let you turn off any thing that will harm PC, it will come right back on. 7. CLICK APPLY AND OK AND THEN COMPUTER WILL REBOOT AND A MESSAGE WILL TELL ABOUT THE FACT YOU HAVE RESET MSCONFIG, JUST PUT CHECK MARK IN THE BOX AND CLICK OK AND YOUR DONE. THIS WILL SPEED UP HOW FAST YOUR COMPUTER BOOTS UP! **** If for some reason there’s a problem and you need to turn ever thing back on just go back to run- msconfig- startup-enable all- apply and ok System will reboot and see#7above and your back to normal. ^^^^ If you see a box with a check mark in it but basically a blank area following where it should tell you name of software (this is spy ware) uncheck box and remove with other item in #6.

Have you looked into FireDaemon. It can start your app at boot up before you log in and keep them running in the background. It will also restart your apps if it's unstable, shuts down, crashes or hangs. Check it out: http://www.firedaemon.com/