You’re right to be suspicious of the programs and utilities that are fired up every time you boot up your Microsoft Windows 8 or 8.1 laptop computer, actually. It’s amazing to me how many programs worm their way into a running system with just regular daily use. Even users who are punctilious about never adding utilities, custom cursors or browser toolbars still seem to be victims of the incessant push towards these pesky add-ons.
The biggest problem is that it’s not as easy as it should be, even with Windows 8.1, for you to be notified of what’s being added to your startup list, and it’s similarly hard to figure out how to completely delete things from the list if they’re no longer desired.
Windows has come a long way, I’ll admit, but as you’ll see, it still requires some expertise…
To start, since we’re in Windows 8.1, bring up the search charm and do a search for task manager:
You can see the match immediately below the search box. Click on it or otherwise select it.
The Windows Task Manager launches and it’s interesting to examine because it shows you what programs are running on your PC and how much of its CPU and memory resources they’re consuming.
But that’s not what you want for this particular task. Instead, click on Startup to see what programs and utilities are fired up when you boot your computer:
There are a couple here that I don’t want, one of which is rather sneaky in that it’s still around at all: The Ask Toolbar Notifier. I disabled – and removed – the Ask Toolbar from my Web browser, why is the notifier still running every time I start up my computer?
There’s also the gaming system from Electronic Arts “Origin”. I don’t want that always running, just when I want to play an online game. So that’s another one that’s smart to axe from the list.
Problem is, you can’t actually delete anything from this list, as is obvious when you right-click:
Your best bet is to simply choose Disable to stop having the particular program or utility launch every time you boot up your computer.
They’re still in the Startup list, but now they won’t actually be launched:
And that’s as good as it gets in the world of Windows 8.1. Some day I’d like to see this area much better protected and utilities that make it easy to completely eradicate programs from the list, but for now, at least go and disable anything that you don’t absolutely need and your system should speed up again on your next boot!
