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InControl 2.5 Giveaway
$29.95
EXPIRED

Giveaway of the day — InControl 2.5

Manage Windows start-up and get rid of annoying programs.
$29.95 EXPIRED
User rating: 279 88 comments

InControl 2.5 was available as a giveaway on January 7, 2009!

Today Giveaway of the Day
$36.00
free today
Download music from 1000+ sites anytime and anywhere!

Put your Windows on a low-carb diet! You need a startup manager and InControl is the most powerful and easy to use start up manager ever!

Manage and cleanup the applications starting up with Windows.

You can add new items to the startup or edit the settings of the ones already there.

Add a program to the Black List and forget about it. InControl will make sure this application never bothers you again.

Don't worry about mistakes. The History Viewer remembers all the changes you make and you can go back to any of the previous states of the list at any time.

Heal the wounds your Windows got fighting evil programs with the Heal My PC feature.

System Requirements:

Windows 98, ME, 2000, 2003 or XP; 3 MB of free hard drive space

Publisher:

Virtuoza Software, Inc.

Homepage:

http://www.get-in-control.com/products/

File Size:

2.24 MB

Price:

$29.95

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Comments on InControl 2.5

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#88

VISTA with the latest updates runs perfectly fine on My PC's, in fact I have fewer problems with it then I do the heavily patched XP with SP3 well over 100+ updates/patches just to get XP working correctly, so VISTA is doing ok with it's Windows Updates, not even close to as many nor will it have as many as XP Iam sure of that. At any rate hands down I choose VISTA to work with as it's got the latest "GOODS" That cannot be found on XP, Sure some call VISTA "Bloat Ware" But that Bloat is like my fat belly, it's part of me, it's part that I find useful, so get 2GB of DDR2-3 Memory or even 4GB or more and enjoy VISTA. HOWEVER Be warned there is one big downfall of VISTA and it is my ONLY Gripe about VISTA and that is it runs VERY VERY Few of My older softwares, I would say it runs maybe 2 out of 30 softwares I have, yet these older softwares ALL 30 run perfectly fine on XP... So there You have it, out of the mind & mouth of a well travelled PC user, now You be the judge and decide, I just hope that I have provided my bit of PC Knowledge and Personal PC Experience that I have gained over the course of time between 2003 up till now.

Old & New alike, Have a Slap Happy New Year and:

Enjoy Your PC Experience...!

Reply   |   Comment by StanDP.  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#87

And I Quote from the makers of the software...

"InControl is the most powerful and easy to use start up manager ever!"

OH MY GOD! Are They serious? WinPatrol Plus Version far exceeds anything this program ever thought of being. WinPatrol Plus is very system friendly this InControl is not very system friendly and does not work 100% with VISTA OS's... With all that said, I still have it installed but I will rarely if ever use it because it's buggy in my VISTA OS, and also WinPatrol Plus is always in my taskbar monitoring like the good ole' watchdog it is, so I will stick to what works.

-=8^)

Reply   |   Comment by StanDP.  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#86

Not a Bad program (needs more options)
I think one of the best is " AnVir Task Manger " Which has been on this site. Which I liked so much I paid for it. So I could get the yearly upgrades

Reply   |   Comment by James0622  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#85

Testing today's Giveaway on Vista Home Premium laptop (to see if maybe it can help me weed out more of the Vista & Toshiba crapapp garbage startups), it installed fine and is running fine, no problem at all so far, anyway!

Reply   |   Comment by Spiritwolf  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#84

Dream software...

I would like to see a program that would tell you what startup items on Vista OEM machines were SAFE to disable...my Toshiba Vista laptop loads so much stuff at startup! Another wish of mine...something that would make Vista forget what "access denied" means.

AnVir has been the best thing I've ever seen so far anyway, for putting memory hogs on restrictive diets when they get too greedy.

Reply   |   Comment by Spiritwolf  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#83

I put in a suggestion on #27...it really is a great free software and anyone who didn't like todays offer for whatever reason, give it a try, it has information features and you can add and remove back and forth. InControl probably is fine and well worth using, but my suggestion is just for anyone who wants to try something different.

Reply   |   Comment by surfidiot  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#82

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot, before InControl printed the wasted pages, it spent 5 or 10 minutes refreshing that information I did not want, despite the fact that the summary of it was already displayed in front of my face.

Reply   |   Comment by windowsexplorer  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#81

This app badly needs a print preview function or else a more granular selection of what can be printed. I clicked on System Information and got to view a one-page System Summary which I asked it to print, but instead I got 118 pages of mind-numbing detail about everything on my system, which is very wasteful.

Reply   |   Comment by windowsexplorer  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#80

Not such a good program really, there's many freebies out there that do it better.

Though if it blocks Quicktime/iZunes from behaving like spyware I would be more impressed.

Still keep trying GAOTD.

Reply   |   Comment by alan scott  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#79

Joe K, when you come here & use foul language & then return to justify it, it doesn't cut it. What you said in #55 was flat out rude. Act your age will you? I to prefer my Vista Ultimate to ant version of XP & I own all three. you should just mind your own business about what someone else likes & uses. You can sure keep the heck out of mine!

Reply   |   Comment by who said that  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#78

# 55 and 75 .... I thought this was a discussion regarding the application that was being offered today. This is not the site to bash Vista. Oh, and by the way, I am a GENTLEWOMAN!!!!!! So as in your rare form you assume again.

Reply   |   Comment by Enough Vista Bashing  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#77

Correction- I have not used Anvir, musta missed it's giveaway. So it may be as good, I dunno. :)

Reply   |   Comment by Skye-hook  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#76

I like it a lot! I have used all the other programs people mentioned above, & Reg seeker, which I love, but none do all this one does! it shows stuff from within the System 32 items that don't show the same way in Administrative Options/system 32 lists, & is simpler & doesn't show all the stuff a beginner shouldn't be messing with. I love that it will keep ctfmon from ever running again, as NONE of the other programs mentioned by others are able to do. My only problem with this is trying to decide which 1 to keep & run, Spybot & it's extras, or this. I want to use both. I'm going to try using both, & since they don't actually interfere with anything like a firewall does, or an anti-virus, I bet I can use them both with no problem.I also still will run Reg Seeker when I want to find a registry entry, and it & Eusing reg cleaners both to be sure my system is as clean as can be.One finds things the other doesn't. AND I WILL BE USING THIS. Also. :) No reason not to. And CCleaner, which is a very different program from this. I had trouble using Advanced care, & Windows Defender is useless compared to other programs, & conflicted with my AVG. Why peeps would prefer them to this, when they are so different, is beyond me. THIS DOES DIFFERENT THINGS! And more of them! Why use 5 programs to do what this does with 1 program? I very much like how this looks, ease of use, what it does, & I will enjoy using it! Thanks much! GREAT PROGRAM!

There sure are a lot of comments today that seem to have very little to do with actually reviewing this program! It's hard to read about this program with so much muck here.

Reply   |   Comment by Skye-hook  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#75

Iam blown away by the users who state this program "DOES NOT WORK ON VISTA..." etc... etc.; I just tested it here on my Windows Vista H.P.E. Home Premium Edition with SP1, and it functions perfectly fine, so imagine that! i mean who woulda thunk it anyway? but seriously this program is above average system startup configuration & monitor. Not a whole lot of use for it on my part, yet when I do have use, hey it's there to work for me, not against me, Thanks GAOTD, it's another hit in my opinion, so two big thumbs up from me.

Happy New Year to Old and New alike, and remember to always strive to enjoy Your PC Experience!

Reply   |   Comment by StanDP.  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#74

Today's download doeswhat it claims an does it nicely. Its not for a newbee or an advanced user who would have no need of such a program....its more for the middle-of-the-road crowd that wants something easy and quick plus small.
Installed it on a Virtual Drive an tested it....it worked well. There were no alerts for viruses or malware.....an my systems are jam tight security wise.....nothing calling home as monitored by the firewall. Although I would have no use for today's program it could be useful to others. The price is much to high...outragous as a matter of fact.



A Belated Happy New Year To Everyone

Reply   |   Comment by bobbie jones  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#73

# 61 e 62


Just a short note for the 2 gentlemen mentioned above and those who has found their idiotic comments useful !!


I've just expressed my opinion and nothing else.

Ok maybe I shouldn't say "SHIT" but just "RUBBISH" to describe what I think about VISTA but I repeat this is my opinion and if you attend other forums around the web (in English, French, German, Italian etc...) most of the GEEKS or PC USERS there agree with me.

Microsoft hoped that VISTA would eventually replace XP but this has not happened, nor is it likely to happen either and Windows 7 is just around the corner so as matters stand there is any good reason to migrate to VISTA unless you are crazy or moron.

The plain truth is that MICROSOFT has spent more money into advertizing VISTA than it did trying to fix its problems. What came out of that was a half baked and very heavy indeed operating system that has taken more updates than can be counted to hopefully get right.

Why in your view MICROSOFT didn't abandon XP development and now has just launched a beta version of Windows 7, the new OS which should replace VISTA next September after just 2 years since its launch in the market?

Moreover Windows XP SP3 includes most of the same security features of VISTA so why would somebody want to give up an operating system that works pretty well for another one much more expensive that is still not compatible with many programs and/or peripherals? They wouldn’t, and that’s exactly what MICROSOFT found out.

It's not an accident that the market share for Windows XP is at present sitting around 66%, although VISTA was launched 2 years ago, whereas Windows Vista has around 20% (but just because almost all LAPTOPS come with pre-installed WINDOWS VISTA as OS) with Mac OSX having around a combined 8 percent for Intel and PowerPC versions.The remainder is picked up by Linux, Windows 2000 and other...that's it!!

So who is moron? 66% of PC users around the world or the people who have been forced to use VISTA after purchasing a LAPTOP running a WINDOWS VISTA pre-installed version as OS?

Having said that what about your comments?

You called me "moron", so what is more offensive? Calling other bloggers with a different opinion than yours "morons" or calling an expensive and overrated OS like VISTA "SHIT"?

So who should be banned by GAOTD staff?

You have given 70% thumbs down for this GAOTD just because it's not VISTA COMPATIBLE and not because of its features making the USER RATING ridiculous and misleading because it doesn't reflect the real value of this GAOTD.

All the more reason to ban you from GAOTD forum.

Reply   |   Comment by joe K.  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#72

Mostly it serves as a UI for Windows built-in accessories.
Enable/Disable uses the msconfig routine.
Had no time to find out how is the blocking achieved.

Reply   |   Comment by Ants  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#71

Hold on! Doesn't CCleaner, have a similar component to this in its program or something very similar?

Reply   |   Comment by Phlan  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#70

excellent GOTD the wife about to go on a Diet & with this program the DELL can diet too hahaha

Reply   |   Comment by Phlan  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#69

This program is great! I have no idea why people are voting it down and suggesting "alternatives" that are just uninstallers, etc. They obviously didn't bother to try the giveaway. This ISN'T an uninstaller; it works like msconfig, but with the addition of a very useful blacklist feature. It also includes "Heal my PC," with options for removing broken uninstallers, fixing application paths, and cleaning up non-working startup items. There are some advanced options as well, but of course if you don't know what you're doing don't mess with them.

A very nice tour of the program's features auto-launches the first time you open the program, with links to more in-depth tutorial videos online. I had no problems with the layout or usability. Overall, I think Virtuoza Software, Inc. did a good job on this one and I'd be willing to pay $29.95 for it normally.

Reply   |   Comment by hex1213  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#68

To #6 this program is safe, you should switch to a better antispyware program as a-squared has too many problems with false posatives - i.e. detecting legitimate files as being bad.

Reply   |   Comment by Roger  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#67

#68--I agree. I know someone who has apparently been banned (none of his comments have been posted lately), without even the courtesy of a notification, for saying he won't use software from certain countries. I just hope they don't ban me for commenting even in this general way. If they do, I guess we'll need a "Free World" site for such giveaways.

Reply   |   Comment by windowsexplorer  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#66

#61 & # 62

I agree with you both. I have had comment not posted for just mentioning the origin country of some of the software offered, and they allow this garbage to be seen. Hard to understand GOTD's thinking.

Reply   |   Comment by joe  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#65

@ 35 @58
Yes, i agree with Autoruns, it is more powerful and allows you to edit much more entries. however @ 58, you're missing the whole point of this program, hiding icons simple hides them from view, it does not disable them in any way whatsoever. As for Real Player, I feel the same way. They're been notorious for spying on people.

@ 55
Yes, Vista is a large flop, as corporations want nothing to do with it, but you can transform it into an XP looking system by choosing the Classic Start Menu, then go to Services and stop the Themes service and choose Disabled. Simple as that. You can also get rid of the silly pop ups that appear in Vista by digging though Control Panel, selecting each item, then go through the options. The fact is all new computers are shipping with Vista and your statement "Just people with laptops run VISTA on their PC nowadays!".....What the heck does that mean?

A note on my initial posting....I was able to add the program to startup, but had to right-click on it and chose the path to the program.

Reply   |   Comment by reghacker  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#64

Heads up - Virtuoza seems to be a company that buys up former freeware and shareware software and repackages it. I purchased Fusion Desk from them last year - great program, but a definite orphan - no new development, no support. Support links from InControl also end up 404ed.

Reply   |   Comment by Keter  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#63

i think its time the moderators starting blocking people that dont actually test the software, all they do is say its no good cos there is an alternative. im all for knowing about the alternatives, but at least give the sotware on offer here a go before you go bagging it. it is making it too hard to use the percentage guide.

Reply   |   Comment by mark  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#62

#16, Fubar

Where's the "minor version increment" you are talking of?! I can't seem to see any. Virtuoza don't help us either providing no build for comparison.

On the homepage ( http://www.get-in-control.com/download ) it reads "InControl 2.5, Release date: 20-Nov-2007 Size: 2.15Mb".

InControl 2.5 was previously given away on 01/17/2008, that's 2 months AFTER the release date stated for the current version.

Hence, my conclusion has to be: It's a repeat from January 2008!

Reply   |   Comment by No Mainpupil  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#61

OK, I tried todays offer & uninstalled it after 5 minutes. Just an opinion but this isn't a very good program whether your using XP or Vista. Win Patrol is much better. I've been using the pro version for 5 years & will continues to do so on both my systems!

Reply   |   Comment by ww2vet56  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#60

#55 - If you don't like Vista then don't use it. This is not the place for your vile language either. Show some maturity.

Website Manager - Why would you post comments made by this person? There are better choices of word and I find it rather offensive the see it on this site.

Reply   |   Comment by Enough Vista Bashing  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#59

This comment is not for posting! Please remove #55. Thats an insult & morons like that should be bared from ever commenting again! What the hell are you guys thinking even allowing that crap to be posted? I've had several, much nicer worded comments that weren't posted. Thats some fool who has no idea what Vista even is!!!!!! Many of your regulars use Vista & I'm sure they feel the same way as I do.

Reply   |   Comment by Charles K  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#58

http://www.seyretogren.com/video/program-incelemeri/incontrol-programi-incelemesi.html

program introduction video

Reply   |   Comment by keza  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#57

Thanks but no thanks.
For those who want free alternative, Revo Uninstaller is a good one. Lets you remove the junk uninstallers leave behind, and also manage the startup. Which is good 'cos it took me awhile to get my computer going.

Reply   |   Comment by A.M.  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#56

Thumbs down on this one! It would appear it's for the more advanced users only. Hiding icons on the task bar is a simple matter of a few clicks. On Vista, rt. click on the task bar, select properties, notification area, pull down whatever you don't want showing and select hide. On XP, it's a little different but similar & can be done with a few clicks to.
For those wanting something more, I recommend, "AutoRuns for Windows". It's from "Microsoft", free & as good or better then todays offering. It can be downloaded here:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

And to those having troubles with "iTunes" and, or "Real Player" auto starting, I have one question. Why on earth would you even have those installed, unless it's because you have an "iPod" & think it's the only way? "Real Player" has to be the absolute worst player there is and has ever been! There are other, free alternatives for use with an "iPod".

Reply   |   Comment by who said that  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#55

As others have mentioned, WinPatrol ROX. Always free and very well written. Super easy to use, too.

Get it at http://www.winpatrol.com/.

Happy Dae.

Reply   |   Comment by Happy Dae  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#54

For those of you that didn't notice, InControl adds its own icon to Control Panel.....why....I have no idea.

The 2nd thing it adds is a shortcut link in the Send To folder when you right click on a file. The only time you would use this if you right click on an executable file (.exe) and add it to the startup key in the registry.
I added and alternative Explorer replacement to run at start, but that did not work


It also gives the option of importing registry files to the registry if you right-click on a ..reg file.I have a registry script that Adds Copy To and Move to which adds these entries when you right-click on any file (very useful). I entered this script and on startup a dialog box from Registry Editor popped up stating (Adding information can unintentionally change or delete values and cause components to stop working correctly
If you do not trust the trust the source of this information in E:\Registry copytpmoveto.reg, do not add it to the registry.

Are you sure you want to continue? Actually this is typical when you try to add any registry file to import into the registry. I chose yes and a dialog box popped up stating (the keys and values of E:\Registry\copytpmoveto.reg has bin successfully and to the registry

I checked and they where present on the right-click context menu. The problem is that it stays in startup and run every time Windows starts, Once you add a entry in the registry, you only have to do it once, but Incontrol did not remove the entry from msconfig

I've been manually editing the registry since 1985 and can tell you this is a dangerous option.

If you're using Vista, you get an access denied message even if you are using the hidden Administrator account. You need a special File Manager to access this entries.

It an open source File Manager named Surf. It's very different from Windows Explorer and there is a slight learning curve, but it allows you to add or remove entries in the send to folder among others such as your temporary Internet files director

It can be downloaded here:
http://surf.svprogramming.net/

I was now able to remove the entry from the Send To folder.

Reply   |   Comment by reghacker  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#53

N # 1 and other moaners



VISTA is SHIT and it has been a huge worldwide FLOP so far: forget it!!

Just people with laptops run VISTA on their PC nowadays!

You'd better downgrade to XP if you can, as almost everybody else has already done around the world!!

This SW is GOOD and the current USER RATING (70% THUMBS DOWN) is simply ridiculous besides being unreliable and misleading, probably because affected or even manipulated by VISTA USERS...LOL!!

Reply   |   Comment by joe K.  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#52

When QuickTime/iTune re-insert themselves into Startup, WinPatrol (free version) pops up to alert me and I choose "No" to allowing it.

Reply   |   Comment by magiccrpet  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#51

#4
yessssssssssssssssssss! you are absolutely right. it is so annoying that quicktime/itunes keep coming back although you kill them every time! we need some special killer for it.

and #36:
if you don't have ipod, you probably may not care about itunes (fortunately or unfortunately, i do have an ipod), however, many online academic sites use quicktime to demonstrate videos. no quicktime in your computer means you cannot watch those nice videos! being a student, I MUST INSTALL QUICKTIME. but these two programs are so memory hungry, start-ups take so much RAM!

having windows in-built utilities, sysinternals, and ccleaner, i am not feeling to install today's giveaway.

Reply   |   Comment by mukhi  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#50

Let me rephrase my query. Is the "Heal my PC" feature of this software safe to use?

Reply   |   Comment by Lu Hulu  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#49

Installed on XP2 SP3 successful. Look through the features and there is one feature which is System Doctor, which it says will heal your PC.

Anyone tried that feature yet? What does it do? Does it clean the registry? If that is what it does, then the feature is not for me.

Reply   |   Comment by Lu Hulu  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#48

Thanks for the neat little programme. Very useful :)

Reply   |   Comment by Karen willoughby  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#47

I like the clean interface and simplicity in the use of the program. There are other program that address the autoruns with Windows systems but have more than one isn't going to hurt your system.

A-Squared Malware reported a virus while installing but I'm sure it is a false positive report.

Thumbs up on my initial evaluation.

Reply   |   Comment by zzyzx  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#46

I have still version 2.5 from the last time it was offered here running on my pc. Works fine. But I don´t know if the today version is a newer one or exactly the same? If the version from today is a better one, should I uninstall my recent one or it´s just fine install the today version over the older one? I hope somebody can answer my question. Thanks in advanced and I wish you a great day!

Reply   |   Comment by Hans  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#45

I took a quick look at InControl to see if it was something I could recommend to barely PC-literate users, finding that IMHO it’s still not quite simplified enough... It does however look like it would be handy for those somewhere in the mid-range who don’t want to bother with learning anything - they just want to get rid of a pesky icon showing up on the taskbar next to the clock, & the program at fault is one of the few left that don’t give you that option.

Personally I don’t think the majority of people feel that they need to, want to, or would bother changing anything on their PC, simply because a program starts with Windows. For those that do pay attention to this sort of thing, with most software today, if it has the option to start with Windows, it also has the option to clear the checkbox so that the program doesn’t. When/If the program in question doesn’t give you that option, but insists on starting up along with Windows, often there are alternatives - RealAlternative & QuickTimeAlternative come to mind - so you don’t have to encourage that sort of misbehavior by using their program *IF you don’t want to*.

Many programs - I think I saw this option in InControl as well - let you remove individual programs from the list in the Add/Remove Programs window in Control Panel... While it can help (usually a very small amount) to remove duplicate entries, &/or entries for programs that have already been removed, leaving them there doesn’t really hurt anything. In fact, probably the worst thing that’ll happen is knowing there’s a bad entry *might* bug you! In many (perhaps most?) cases, that’s about all you’re going to accomplish keeping a program/driver/service from starting with Windows too.
- - -
If an application starts with Windows, it’s going to be listed in 1 of 3 places: the start menu under Startup, or in one of the registry’s 2 Run keys. Dragging a shortcut out of Startup could hardly be easier; starting Regedit & book-marking the 2 main run keys makes editing the list of apps that start that way almost painless. Problems can & do happen when the program that auto-starts has to do with drivers and services... more so than simply not starting a discreet program.

Drivers & services can be listed several places in the registry, including in keys that you don’t have permission to edit. Running the wrong services can cause problems, just like turning the wrong services off. If you use Window’s Admin. Tools -> Services window, you can set the services listed there to be disabled, start manually, or start with Windows (automatic). In XP you can usually set almost anything to Manual, knowing that Windows will start the service if it needs to - Vista doesn’t play quite so nice... it often works, but not always. Web sites like blackviper.com give a pretty comprehensive listing of what services do what. Tracking drivers & services down in the registry is easiest to do in/with Autoruns.

The problem with Autoruns is that it can give you too much information, & will happily allow you to sabotage Windows. What it does is provide you with a checkbox for every listed entry, giving you the option to turn whatever on or off. What it won’t do (& what Google won’t always - or often make up for), is tell you whether un-checking a box will be good or bad. Autoruns will not tell you what software installed that line you’re thinking about un-checking. Sometimes it’s obvious because a company like Epson lists its name in the file. Very often there’s no way to tell because a company like Epson may use files written by Microsoft or whomever else. If you’re not having any problems, obviously the safest practice is to do nothing.

Reply   |   Comment by mike  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#44

To get things to stop re inserting themselves into your startup list, like Quicktime and iTunes, use the Tea Timer included with the FREE Spybot Search and Destroy. Despite teh name, it keeps watch on the startup groups and many other registry entries.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

Reply   |   Comment by oldphoneman  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#43

I am also a fan of WinPatrol and used it for years,you can remove start up items or just disable them from starting, and answer to No 4 is yes you can stop the annoying Quick Time from loading, you can also delay items so they load a bit later, will not be trying this, but thanks GOTD, keep up the good work.

Reply   |   Comment by Dave  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#42

Use task master,(built in, right click on task bar at the bottom)it will come up,it shows you what is running.
I use msconfig to stop start-ups that slow down the start up of the computer.
However we don't know what not to keep from starting up, and what damage it will do.
Even if you google to find out , it is vague, Even with this program!

Reply   |   Comment by lyn  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#41

Can't you do that by typing msconfig into run then go to start up and un-check any unwanted programs? You can even add programs. Al though I do like the easy to use inference that this program has. Thanks GAOTD. As always I am very happy with whatever program you have to offer. I dislike the people who complain about a free program. Just thought I would show some people other options. Thanks again.

Reply   |   Comment by applefox  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#40

I was using winpatrol free for a couple of years until I downloaded anvir task manager from here. Anvir in my opinion is the best of product of this type. Winpatrol is a close second. Both have delayed startup which cuts down on boot up time.

Reply   |   Comment by wdhpr  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
#39

No thanks, this app doesn't work on Vista, and Windows has that functions already built in three times - msconfig (simple startup program and services management), services.msc (advanced startup services management) and Windows Defender (advanced startup programs management). (Note that Windows Defender doesn't come preinstalled on XP.) No need for such a program. Plus, there's lots of better utils, yes, many are free. My personal recommendation were Ashampoo Startup Tuner.
Ashampoo StartUp Tuner

Reply   |   Comment by KsbjA  –  15 years ago  –  Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)
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