What Can You Disable in Windows 10's Task Manager Startup List?

One reason your Windows 10 PC may feel a bit sluggish is that you've got too many programs running in the background - programs that you may never use, or only rarely use. If you stop some of these programmes from running, your PC will run a bit more smoothly.

To start this process, right click your Taskbar and select Task Manager from the list of options. Now click on the Start-up tab. (If you don't see any tabs, click the More details link at the bottom to expand Task Manager to show all the tabs)

Once you click the Start-up tab you will see a list of the programs and services that launch when you start up your Windows PC. Included in the list is each program's name as well as its publisher and whether it's enabled to run on start-up or not. It also shows the program’s "Start-up impact," which is how much it slows down Windows 10 when your PC starts up.

To stop a program or service from launching at start-up, right-click it and select "Disable." This doesn't disable the program entirely; it only prevents it from launching at start-up - you can always run the application after launch if you need to use it. Also, if you later decide you want the program to launch at start-up, you can just return to this area of the Task Manager, right-click the application and select "Enable."

If you want to completely remove a program because you no longer use it you will need to take advantage of the program’s uninstaller app, if this was provided by the program’s developer. If there is no uninstaller app try a utility like the excellent Autoruns, part of the Microsoft Sysinternals collection.