WARNING: Use this tip at your own risk. Editing the registry may result in damage to your system. Edit your Windows registry only if you know what you are doing.

There are at least two ways that a program can start automatically after Windows starts (i.e., after Windows boots up). First, a shortcut can be placed in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. This is a supported feature of Windows and the Windows Help facilty documents this feature so we do not discuss it futher here.

A second, less obvious way a program will automatically start after Windows starts is for an entry to exist in the Registry beneath the key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run

An entry in the above location of the Registry identifies an executable that will be run by Windows automatially after Windows starts. To prevent that behavior, you can delete the entry by running Regedit. Start Regedit via Start/Run/Regedit. Then navigate to the above location and carefully delete programs you don't want started automatically.

Caveat: This technique may not always work. Some programs are very clever and will reset the registry after they start. Anything is possible really. Good luck!

WARNING: Use this tip at your own risk. Editing the registry may result in damage to your system. Edit your Windows registry only if you know what you are doing.