Clearing the System Configuration Utility Startup List 2

[mastavic]

My list of programs under the Startup tab of System Configuration Utility is getting really crowded, especially with programs that have already been unchecked, and sometimes uninstalled. How can I safely clear that list? I found a site that told me how before, but in the last 20 minutes of searching through Google, I couldn't find anything.

Any help please? Thanks,
-=ViC

 

[bcastner]

You might consider some freeware alternatives/additons to msconfig:

. Aspy32

I use this myself because of familiarity. Click all boxes on the left to show all autorun and other startup keys. You can edit, delete and change the depositions of any key quite eaasily. Always remember to do a File, save at the end of any session to have the registry changes written.

Search google for aspy32.zip as it is easily found from hundreds of sites.

. AutoRuns from Sysinternals.

A good listing program showing what is being done at startup.

http://www.sysinternals.com

Be sure to check out their freeware pstools utility suite as well.

. Dough Knox's AutoStart

Another good listing program. Easy to use and to create a text log of all startup programs.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_starttrack.htm

. Startup Control Panel. Small and rather nifty utility to show startup and autorun entries in an system Win9x through XP.

http://www.mlin.net/files/StartupCPL.zip

. Startup Monitor. Rather cool little gadget that you let autorun itself. It does not have a tray icon. It will pop up and warn you when any applioation tries to install a notification try icon or makes an autostart entry.

http://www.mlin.net/files/StartupMonitor.zip

 

[MSeng]

To clear unchecked programs from the list open Regedit and navigate to HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Sharedtools/MSconfig/startupreg. Compare the list of registry keys under startup reg with their counterparts in msconfig and remove (delete) the keys which are no longer valid.

 

[mastavic]

Thanks a lot for the help.

MSeng, got a quick question (just wanna make sure of something so I won't mess anything up). Is it safe to delete keys that are UNCHECKED but are actually INSTALLED programs that I don't even plan to have them start up automatically? Also, when you say remove/delete the keys, you mean the entire folder, right?

Thanks,
-=ViC

 

[MSeng]

No, it will not damage the program to remove the key.

Yes, delete the folder.

If you are the least bit concerned about problems, export the key to a safe place first (as a backup).

 

[mastavic]

Thanks for the reply.

I deleted all the ones I already could, but there are those that appear (unchecked) in the System Configuration Utility that do not appear in HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Sharedtools/MSconfig/startupreg, such as Acrobate Assistant, America Online, and GetRight Tray Icon. Is there any way to remove these?

Thanks.
-=ViC

 

[bcastner]

Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs.

 

[mastavic]

Although the ones I mentioned are installed (and I'm actually using them), there are actually some that I have removed cleanly but still remains in my System Configuration Utility startup tab. Any ways to remove those?

Thanks,
-=ViC

 

[bcastner]

You need to look in two registry locations under XP:

For items that were in the Start -> Programs -> Startup folder:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupfolder
You'll find a subkey for each disabled item.

For items loaded from the Registry:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupreg
Again, you'll find a subkey for each disabled item.

 

[mastavic]

Thanks a lot, bcastner! =)

I greatly appreciate the help!
-=ViC