How to Use Autoruns to Disable Startup Programs on Windows

Any easy-to-use GUI interface

There are many reasons why your PC might not be running as smoothly as it used to. The hard drive might be deteriorating,the RAM could be developing problems, or perhaps the Windows operating system itself has issues.

But more often, a slow computer is caused by bloatware. This means many unnecessary applications start up automatically every time you boot up your computer, taking up system resources and slowing things down.

Thankfully, there is away to easily remove these startup programsfrom your PC. Autoruns is a Windows utility that allows you to view and configure all automatically running processes from an easy-to-use GUI interface. The following is a short guide on how to use Autoruns to disable startup programs on your computer.

What Are Startup Programs and Why Are They a Problem?

Many applications and services are designed to autostart every time you boot up. For many essential services that’s a good thing, as crucial processes can get up and running without you having to manually start them up every time.

The problem lies with third-party startup applications. Many apps insert themselves into the list of startup processes, bloating up the otherwise limited lineup. And very rarely are these apps actually needed – after all, you can always run any application when you actually require it.

These startup programs increase the boot time apart from consuming memory and CPU cycles while your computer is running. And while you can disable a few of these programs from the Task Manager’s Startup tab, most startup processes aren’t even displayed there.

How to Disable Startup Programs With Autoruns

In contrast to other common methods to disable startup programs (Windows registry editing, PowerShell scripts, etc) Autoruns is rather easy to use. Even among other startup monitor utilities, Autoruns stands out due to its cleaner interface and comprehensive coverage.

And that’s it. You can scroll through this list at leisure, removing any startup entries you feel are unnecessary. Note that some useful utilities are sometimes unverified as well – for example, 7zip – so make sure to read the names of the programs before deleting their Autoruns entry.

Understanding the Various Tabs of Autoruns

Let us make one thing clear first – it is not necessary to know anything about the tabs to be able to use Autoruns. By default, the tool opens in the Everything tab, which includes all the startup entries collected from different tabs. You can easily remove any program or malware from this list.

But if you want to focus on specific categories only, you need to know more about the tabs. And that’s where this overview will help you.

The tabs covered above are the principal tabs in Autoruns. There is another row of tabs like Known DLLs, WinLogon, Winsock Providers, Print Monitors, LSA Providers, Network Providers, WMI, and Office.

For the most part, you don’t have to worry about these tabs, as they are rarely used and are likely to be devoid of any entries. Any programs in these tabs are likely to be add-ons or low-level processes.

Is Autoruns Worth Using?

The concept of removing startup programs to improve boot times and computer performance is nothing new. The only problem is that most of the methods required to do that aren’t accessible to casual users.

And whilemany third-party toolsare available, they often fail to locate all types of autostart processes or sport a complicated user interface. That’s where Autoruns comes in.

Autoruns provides an easy-to-use GUI interface to remove all startup programs from Windows 10 and Windows 11. It detects processes in all startup locations in the Registry, giving a complete rundown of autostart applications on your computer.

And since processes from reputable sources are already marked with a Verified tag, you can quickly hunt down the useless processes and delete them from your PC with a click. The best part is that Autoruns is a free portable tool, so you can run it straight from a pen drive without having to install anything.

Levin Roy is a software engineer who loves writing about technology. Whether it is Windows tips-and-tricks or in-depth guides about application development, Levin uses his practical experience and technical skills to create articles that can help solve tricky problems.Read Levin’s Full Bio

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