Once quite a pain to track down, some applications are very annoying about requesting that Windows have them start whenever you start (or logon to) your computer. One sure-fire way to speed your computer is to limit all the junk that is running on it. Vista provides a few ways to control what kicks off when you start your computer…

The most exhaustive resource for programs on your computer is Windows Defender. Kick off Windows Defender, click “Tools” from the menu at the top and then select “Software Explorer” to see what I mean. Here you will find a list of all programs by category: Startup Programs, Currently Running Programs, Network Connected Programs and Winsock Service Providers. While the “Startup Programs” category is the focus here, I also urge you to take a look at “Currently Running Programs” you may be surprised what you find here—no wonder things have been slow lately, look at all that junk!

Programs are grouped by manufacturer by default and selecting each give you a nice long list of details about the program including where it is, what version, if it is signed, what its name is, when it was installed, how it is set to startup, if ships with Windows Vista or not, and quite a bit more. But the real useful aspect of this (besides a window to a ton of information about your programs) is the buttons at the bottom of the display for each selected program: Remove, Disable and Enable. Until you press the button for “Show for all users” at the bottom left of the display, you will only see programs that affect the current user and the buttons to control them are disabled for any that would require admin privileges to remove (if they are spawned from a HKLM or All Users Start Menu, etc.). So click that button and allow the program to run with admin privileges to get the full functionality of the feature.