The Big Picture: Who Walks In With You?
When you arrive at a party, some friends are already waiting at the door and join you at once. The more friends who come in together, the more crowded the entrance gets and the slower everyone gets inside.
Windows has the same issue. When you sign in, a list of programs starts automatically with you. Each one takes some CPU, disk and memory while it starts. If the list is long, the PC feels slow for the first minutes. The Startup tab (called Startup apps on Windows 11) shows that list, and lets you switch things off.
4.1 Startup Impact Measurement
What it is: A table of programs that start with Windows, with a rating called Startup impact that tells you how heavy each one is.
┌─────────────────────┬─────────────┬──────────┬────────────────┐
│ Name │ Publisher │ Status │ Startup impact │
├─────────────────────┼─────────────┼──────────┼────────────────┤
│ Cloud Sync Tool │ ExampleCo │ Enabled │ High │
│ Chat Client │ ExampleCo │ Enabled │ Medium │
│ Audio Manager │ ExampleCo │ Enabled │ Low │
│ Printer Helper │ ExampleCo │ Disabled │ Not measured │
│ New App │ ExampleCo │ Enabled │ Not measured │
└─────────────────────┴─────────────┴──────────┴────────────────┘
Mock-up with made-up names. A real list will differ.
The columns:
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Name | The program |
| Publisher | Who made it |
| Status | Enabled (starts with Windows) or Disabled (will not start) |
| Startup impact | How much it slowed the last start-ups (see below) |
The four ratings:
| Rating | Meaning |
|---|---|
| High | It used a lot of CPU time or disk activity during start-up |
| Medium | A moderate amount |
| Low | Very little |
| Not measured | Windows has not yet measured it (for example it was just added, or it has not run at a start-up yet). Also shown for disabled items |
How is it measured? At every sign-in, Windows watches how much CPU time and disk input/output each start-up program uses during the first moments. It compares the result with fixed limits and gives a label. Roughly, a program that burns more than about one second of CPU time or moves several megabytes of data at start-up is rated High. The exact limits can differ between versions, so do not treat them as laws.
Important points:
- The rating is about start-up cost only, not how heavy the program is when it runs later. A chat app may be rated Low at start-up and still use lots of memory afterwards. Check the Processes tab for that.
- It looks at the time since sign-in, not total boot time. Task Manager also shows Last BIOS time (top-right, Windows 10) which is how many seconds the firmware (Chapter 5 on firmware and booting) spent before Windows even began.
- A High impact item is a good candidate to turn off only if you do not need it right away.
Optional columns (right-click the header): Startup type (where the entry came from, see 4.2), Disk I/O at start, CPU at start, Running now, Disabled time and Command line.
How to switch one off. Click the program and press Disable (bottom-right button). You can also right-click it and choose Disable. To bring it back, choose Enable. Nothing is uninstalled. The program simply stops starting with Windows, and you can still open it by hand.
Windows tip: Do not disable security software, drivers for your touchpad or things you do not recognise. Right-click, choose Search online or Open file location to learn what an item is first. Turning things off is easy to undo, but be careful.
Windows 11 note: The same list is also in Settings → Apps → Startup, where each program has a simple on/off switch and an impact label.
4.2 Where Startup Entries Come From (Registry Run Keys, Startup Folder)
What it is: The list in Task Manager does not come from nowhere. Windows looks in a handful of well-known places at sign-in and starts whatever it finds. Task Manager just gathers the entries and shows them in one view.
The main places:
| Place | What it is | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Registry Run key, current user | HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | Only you |
| Registry Run key, whole PC | HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run | Every user |
| Startup folder, current user | C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup | Only you |
| Startup folder, all users | C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp | Every user |
The registry is Windows' big settings database. A Run key is a list inside it: each entry is a name and the command line to start. A Startup folder is simpler: any shortcut placed in that folder starts at sign-in.
Quick way to open the folders: press Win + R and type shell:startup (your folder) or shell:common startup (all users).
You sign in
│
▼
Windows looks in:
├─ Registry Run key (you) ─┐
├─ Registry Run key (all users) ├─► each entry is started
├─ Startup folder (you) │
└─ Startup folder (all users) ─┘
│
▼
Task Manager's Startup tab lists them together
Where does "Disable" save its choice? When you disable an entry in Task Manager, Windows does not delete the Run key or the shortcut. It writes a small flag in a separate place in the registry (under a key named StartupApproved) that says "do not start this one". So Enable is instant and nothing is lost.
What Task Manager does NOT show. Some things also start with Windows but live elsewhere and do not appear in the Startup tab:
| Other start-up method | What it is |
|---|---|
| Scheduled tasks with a "at log on" trigger | Jobs in the Task Scheduler |
| Services set to Automatic | Background helpers that start with the PC, even before you sign in (Section 7) |
| RunOnce keys | Run one time only, then removed |
| Drivers | Low-level parts loaded by the system |
So a program can still run after you disabled it in Task Manager, if it has a service or a scheduled task. A tool called Autoruns from Microsoft (a free download) shows every start-up location in one list. Download only from Microsoft's official site.
Summary
| Topic | Remember this |
|---|---|
| Startup tab | Programs that start when you sign in; called Startup apps on Windows 11 |
| Impact ratings | High / Medium / Low / Not measured, based on CPU time and disk use at start-up |
| Rating limit | It shows start-up cost only, not later use |
| Disable | Stops the auto-start only; nothing is uninstalled |
| Sources | Registry Run keys (user and all users) and the Startup folders |
| Not listed | Services, scheduled tasks and drivers can start things too |