Vista: Use Defender to Monitor and Disable Startup Programs

Contributed by Rob Rogers  
Tagged: Microsoft Vista  

Defender is not only a great help in protecting your computer from malware, it also simplifies monitoring the programs that automatically start when Windows boots up. To do this…

1. Open Windows Defender.

2. Select Tools.

3. Click Software Explorer.

4. Select Startup Programs from the Category dropdown.

5. Review the programs in the left pane. Selecting a program will display information about it in the right pane.

6. To remove a program from startup, select the program from the left pane and click the Remove button. Use the Disable button for programs you want to temporarily stop from starting when Windows starts. To make them active again, simply select the program and click the Enable button.

After removing a program from startup, you probably will want to stop it from running during your current session. Simply select Currently Running Programs from the Category dropdown. Next, select the program and click the End Process button.