How to stop startup programs on Windows 11
Speed up a slow boot on Windows 11: turn off startup apps in Settings and Task Manager, clear the Startup folder, and learn what's safe to disable.
When a Windows 11 PC takes a long time to reach the desktop, the usual reason is simple: too many programs launch the instant you sign in, then sit in the background competing for the disk and memory. Microsoft puts it plainly in its guide to take control of Windows startup — “Having too many apps set to open on startup can make your computer start up slowly.” Turning them off takes a couple of minutes, does not uninstall anything, and any app you disable still opens normally when you click it.
Three ways to stop a startup program
Windows gives you more than one place to flip the same switch, and each suits a different situation.
| Method | Where you find it | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Settings | Settings > Apps > Startup | The quickest toggle for most apps |
| Task Manager | The Startup apps tab | Seeing each app’s impact before you decide |
| Startup folder | shell:startup in File Explorer | Stubborn shortcuts the lists above don’t show |
Start with whichever is in front of you. The Settings and Task Manager lists usually show the same apps; the Startup folder catches the leftovers.
Turn apps off in Settings
This is the least fiddly route. Open Settings, then go to Apps > Startup. You’ll see every app that can launch at sign-in, each with its own toggle. Set the toggle to Off for anything you don’t need running the moment you log in. If your build doesn’t show a page by that exact name, type “Startup apps” into the Start menu search and open it directly.
Disabling an app here does not remove it. It simply stops the automatic launch, so the program is still there whenever you choose to open it.
Task Manager, and what “Startup impact” means
Task Manager shows the same apps with one useful extra: a rating of how much each one slows your boot. Right-click the Start button, choose Task Manager, and open the Startup apps tab (you can also press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to open Task Manager). Select a program and choose Disable to stop it launching. Microsoft documents these steps and the ratings in Configure startup applications in Windows.
The Startup impact column is Windows’ own estimate, based on the CPU time and disk activity an app uses while it loads:
| Rating | What it means |
|---|---|
| High | More than 1 second of CPU, or more than 3 MB of disk, at startup |
| Medium | Roughly 300 ms to 1 second of CPU, or up to 3 MB of disk |
| Low | Under 300 ms of CPU and under about 292 KB of disk |
| Not measured | Enabled, but Windows has no data for it yet |
| None | The app is disabled |
Treat it as a priority order rather than a stopwatch. The sensible move is to disable the High-impact apps first, then Medium ones if the boot is still slow. A freshly enabled app can read “Not measured” until it has launched at startup a few times.
The Startup folder, for stubborn items
Some older programs add themselves by dropping a shortcut into a Startup folder instead of registering with the lists above, so they keep launching even after you’ve checked Settings and Task Manager. To open your own folder, press Windows + R, type shell:startup, and press Enter, then delete any shortcut you don’t want. The all-users version, reached with shell:common startup, holds items that start for every account on the PC and may ask for administrator permission. Deleting a shortcut here only stops the auto-launch; the program itself stays installed.
Some programs relaunch themselves
A few apps — chat clients, game launchers, sync and updater helpers — keep a “start with Windows” or “launch at login” option in their own settings, and will quietly switch it back on after an update. If something you disabled keeps coming back, open that program’s own settings (often under General or Startup) and turn the option off there too. That is the piece people most often miss.
Safe to disable vs. leave on
Most startup apps are conveniences you can open by hand when you actually need them. A few are worth keeping on. When you’re unsure, disable one, restart, and see whether anything breaks — you can re-enable it in seconds.
| Usually safe to disable | Better to leave on |
|---|---|
| Chat and meeting apps you open on demand | Security software you rely on to load at sign-in |
| Game launchers and their helpers | Cloud sync you depend on to keep files current (such as OneDrive) |
| Updater and “assistant” helpers for apps you rarely change | A VPN or work tool you need before you can log in to anything |
| Music and media players | Accessibility tools you use from the moment you sign in |
The pattern is straightforward: if an app only matters once you’ve chosen to use it, it doesn’t need to load at boot. If disabling it would leave you unprotected or out of sync, keep it.
Trimming startup apps is one of the cheapest speedups available, but it treats load, not failing hardware. If the machine still crawls after a clean boot, work through why a Windows PC feels slow more broadly, check whether your PC needs more RAM, and free up disk space on Windows 11 so the drive isn’t the bottleneck. Work through those in order and you’ll know whether the fix was free or whether it’s time for an upgrade.