Programs used to install links to the Startup folder so that Windows will load them up automatically after booting up. However, since this enables users to easily remove the links themselves, software developers are now eschewing the use of the Startup folder. Instead, they are directly adding the links to the registry so that users won't be able to remove them easily.

Well, that's okay if those programs are those that you require quick access to all the time. However, quite a few programs out there do nothing but sap resources right from boot up till shut down. If you would like to remove these programs so that they won't load up and remain in the background (tray) after boot up, here's how you can remove them.

1. Open up Registry Editor (Start Menu -> Run -> regedit).
    
2. In Registry Editor, go to My Computer -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> Software -> Microsoft -> Windows -> CurrentVersion -> Run. You will see a screen similar to the example below :-

3. Select the program you want removed, right click and choose Delete. In the example below, the AudioHQ tray application loaded by Creative Labs' installation of the Sound Blaster Live! driver is in the process of being removed.

4. Once removed, Windows 2000 will no longer load this program at start up.
    
5. Close Registry Editor and restart Windows 2000 for the changes to take effect.

• Be careful of what you delete. It may be quite hard to recreate the link. Just to be safe, it's best to save (export) the Run registry branch so that you can undo the changes later.
   
• If you made a mistake and can't remember what the exact command line for the link was, you can try creating a shortcut to the program in question and moving it to the Startup folder.

If you have a comment or question about this tip, please post them here.

Thanks for your time and I hope this tip has helped you some! :)

Adrian Wong
Adrian's Rojak Pot
http://www.rojakpot.com/
http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/