It monitors running programs, system performance, and active processes. Now for those of you that are not familiar with Task Manager, it's a built-in program that does a lot of different things. You will not find any program listed here that Windows 10 or Windows 11 requires to operate. None of the programs listed here are going to prevent your computer from starting if disabled. Using Task Manager is the most comfortable and safest way to enable or disable programs that auto-start with Windows 10 and Windows 11.

The Startup tab inside of Windows 10 / Windows 11 Task Manager

Yes, it's time-consuming, but sometimes you have to do it. That way, you can find out if you need that program or service you just disabled. Note: I recommended that you make changes one at a time and restart between them. The third program ( Autoruns / Autoruns64) can be dangerous because not only can it enable or disable entries, but it can also delete them. The built-in programs ( Task Manager and System Configuration) are pretty safe to use but still can degrade performance if not used properly. Now there are three ( 3) programs I use to enable or disable programs, drivers, or services that start up in Windows 10 and Windows 11. By minimizing the number of applications that launch at startup, you can also free up memory. Now this one doesn't cost any money and can dramatically improve the time it takes for your computer and programs to start up. Here's how to disable programs, drivers, and services that auto-start in Windows 10 and Windows 11.

Quite often, it turns out there are items set to auto-start that don't need to or don't exist anymore. In doing computer repair, I often get asked, 'Why does my computer take so long to start up?'.

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