 | By Fred Langa Windows’ System Configuration Utility startup-management tool — AKA Msconfig — depends on Registry data that may be wrong. One way to clear the clutter from Msconfig is by running a Registry cleaner. |
Ghostbusting Windows’ built-in startup manager
Ed Blake discovered leftover entries in Msconfig’s display of startup items:
- “When installing software, I’ve noticed that some programs insert little tidbits into the Startup display on Msconfig. When installing a program now, I make sure not to allow the program to insert items into the Startup area.
“When I go to uninstall programs, I notice that their footprints are still visible in the Msconfig file. How does one purge the Msconfig window of unwanted (no longer installed) entries?”
If an uninstalled program leaves behind settings in the Registry, Msconfig will still dutifully show you the ghost entries — because it doesn’t know the software has been uninstalled. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1. Bad Registry entries can result in incorrect data being shown by Msconfig. (An instance of Windows 7 with very few Startup entries is shown in this illustration.)
Related posts:
