Every now and again I or somebody else using my PC will run Windows Live Messenger.
From then on every time I start my computer Messenger starts up too. I do not want it to start up with my PC and I do not want to log in to Windows Live Messenger every time I use my PC. I do not want to uninstall Messenger either.
Question: How do I stop Windows Live Messenger from running at start up on Windows Vista?
Solution: I found that you can get to the Vista System Configuration Panel very easily and disable the start up of any program you want to.
- Click the Vista start button in the bottom left corner of the screen.
- In the search box just above the button type (without the quotes) “msconfig”.
- You should see a search result showing “msconfig.exe”. Now click that link.
- A box called System configuration will appear and you can use this box to change your start up programs.
- Click the Startup tab at the top of the box and you can then select which applications you want to disable from starting up at System start up.
- To disable stop Windows Live Messenger look for it in the list and uncheck the check box next to its name. Then click Apply then OK and you are done.
- Warning: Do not disable applications if you do not know what they are. You can always look them up on the internet to find out exactly what they are and what they do.
In the same way as described above for Start up Applications you can disable Start up Services in the System Configuration Window by clicking the Services Tab rather than the Startup tab.
The first two tab of the Vista System Configuration allow you to change some other more technical start up options regarding boot configuration. I would leave this bit alone unless you know what you are doing.
The last tab is the tools tab and that lists some useful system tools.