How to disable programs that run when you start Windows XP Home Edition or Windows Vista

To modify the list of programs that run when you start Windows, choose one of the following methods.

Method 1: Use Windows Defender to modify the list of programs that run when a Windows XP Home Edition-based or a Windows Vista-based computer starts

Use Windows Defender to find out what programs are running when you start Windows XP Home Edition or Windows Vista..

Windows XP Home Edition

To use Windows Defender to disable programs in Windows XP Home Edition, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click All Programs, and then click Windows Defender.
2. Click Tools, and then click Software Explorer.
3. Click the application name in the Name column that you want to disable, and then click Disable.

Windows Vista

By default, Windows Defender is installed as part of the Windows Vista installation.

How to use Defender to disable programs in Windows Vista

For more information about how to use Software Explorer in Windows Defender, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about how to stop a program from running automatically when Windows Vista starts, visit the following Microsoft Web site: You can also use Windows Defender to scan for spyware or for other potentially unwanted software. For more information about how to use Windows Defender to scan for spyware and for other potentially unwanted software, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

Method 2: Use a registry key to modify the list of programs that run when a Windows XP Home Edition-based computer starts

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If you want to modify only the list of legacy programs that run at Startup, use Registry Editor. To do this, follow these steps:
 

1. Start Registry Editor, and then locate one of the following registry keys:
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
   • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
2. If you do not want a program to run at Startup, find that particular program, and then delete its entry from one of these registry keys.
   
   You can add entries here also. But we recommend that you use the Windows Run at Startup policy setting to add programs that you want to run at Startup.