Clean up startup apps
Also searched as: startup cleanup · disable startup apps · boot time · msconfig startup
The goal
Speed up boot and cut background stutter sources by stopping vendor extras from launching with Windows.
Steps
- Open Task Manager and go to the Startup apps tab, which lists everything that launches at boot and rates its startup impact.
- Disable the obvious extras — RGB lighting suites, updater helpers, launcher background processes you don't need running all the time.
- Leave anything you don't recognize alone, plus your security software and audio drivers.
- Restart and confirm boot feels quicker and the things you actually use still open normally.
To undo
Disabling a startup item doesn't uninstall it — flip it back to Enabled in the same Task Manager tab and it launches at boot again.
The Compy Blackbook holds 174 graded entries like this one, judged against your hardware — and every change it does make is reversible, with the receipt to prove it.
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