It is important to manage startup programs in Windows 7 or Windows 8, that you do not need to start up every time your Windows boots. It is common for most programs to add themselves to the startup list as a result of which, your computer does tend to waste resources and perhaps make it run slow.

Disable or Manage Startup programs

In Windows 7, you can use the System Configuration Utility or MSCONFIG to manage start-up applications. This tool allows us to disable or enable the startup items. To run this in-built utility, we type msconfig in start search and hit Enter. Under the Startup tab you will be able to enable, disable or remove the startup entries.

Here under the Startup tab, one can uncheck an entry, if he or she does not want the item to start at every boot. Of course, one can only Enable or Disable the entries.

In Windows 8, things are a bit different. If you open msconfig or the System Configuration utility, under the Startup tab, you get to see this.

You have to click on the link to open the Task Manager. It is from the Task Manager interface, that you can now disable, enable the startup items. You no longer need to open msconfig. Simply go ahead and open the Task Manager directly and manage your startup items unders the Startup tab.

In Windows 8, to disable or manage startup programs, you have to open Task Manager and click on the Startup tab. Here you can see the list and right-click on any entry to Disable it.

Incidentally, in case you did not know, you can also use the  Windows Management Instrumentation command-line or WMIC to see the list of startup programs in Windows. To do so, open a command prompt window.

Type wmic and hit Enter. Next type startup and hit Enter.

You will see the list of programs that start with your Windows.

There also several good freeware like WinPatrol, CCleaner, MSConfig Cleanup Tool, etc, that can help you manage your startup programs easily, and theherby make Windows start faster.

Also read:

1. Location or path of the startup folder in Windows
2. Windows Registry Startup Paths
3. How To Delay Startup Programs in Windows
4. Fix: Disabled startups do not run after re-enabling them in Windows.