REFERENCE 

NUMBER: CHTSR

How to remove

TSRs / Startup

programs.

About:

This document contains

information about how to remove TSRs

temporarily

from your computer memory and/or how to prevent

TSRs from

automatically loading each time your computer

boots.

Solution:

How to temporarily

remove a TSR from

memory

The below information

on how to temporarily remove from memory TSRs or

programs

running in the background.

Information on how to prevent these program from

automatically

loading each time the computer boots can be

found
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#02">later on this

page.

name="win3x">


src="http://www.computerhope.com/dot.gif"

alt="" height="6" width="5">

Removing a TSR in

Windows 3.x:

To remove any currently

running programs in the background,


href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/m/mini

mize.htm">minimize all open
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/wind

ows.htm">Windows

including
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/prog

mana.htm">Program Manager.

Once each of

the windows have been minimized, any currently

running application running

should be shown as a

small icon. Open and close each of these icons

except the Program

Manager.

src="http://www.computerhope.com/dot.gif"

alt="" height="6" width="5">

Removing a TSR in

Windows 95, 98, and ME:

Press and hold
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/a/alt.

htm">ALT +


href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/ctrl

.htm">CTRL +
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/d/dele

te.htm">DEL. Once these three keys have all

been properly pressed

together, you should receive a

Close Program
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/wind

ows.htm">Window.

src="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/picture

s/endtask.gif" border="0" height="280"

width="319">

href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/h/high

ligh.htm">Highlight any of the listed

items

except
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/expl

orer.htm">Explorer /
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/syst

ray.htm">Systray and press the End Task

Button. Repeat

this process until you

only have Explorer and

Systray.

Extra Information:

• There is no
  
  way to highlight more than one
  
  of these icons.



• Some of the
  
  listed
  
  programs may not be removed the first attempt,
  
  just continue to the next available,
  
  if any.





• When End
  
  Tasking some of these you may
  
  receive "This Program is Not responding",
  
  simply
  
  click End Task again.



• Pressing ALT
  
  + CTRL
  
  + DEL twice in a row will reboot the
  
  computer.



• Each of the
  
  items you are
  
  removing will come back the next time you reboot
  
  the computer unless they
  
  are removed.

name="win2k">


src="http://www.computerhope.com/dot.gif"

alt="" height="6" width="5">

Removing a TSR in

Windows 2000 and XP

Press and

hold
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/a/alt.

htm">ALT +


href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/ctrl

.htm">CTRL +
href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/d/dele

te.htm">DEL

and

click the Task Manager

button. Within Task Manger, click the

Applications

Tab, select the program

that you wish to End

Task and click the End Task button.

src="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/t/taskm

ana.gif" border="0" height="332"

width="300">

Note: You cannot End Task any of

the systems processes.

name="02">Disabling

TSRs from loading

automatically

Because many TSRs

load up automatically when your computer

starts

you may find it a burden to manually unload each

of these

programs each time you reboot the

computer. Below are the steps on how to remove

these programs from starting up



automatically.

Microsoft Windows 3.x

users

1. In File Manager open the Main
   
   group



2. Locate and open the
   
   Startup Folder



3. Delete the
   
   program you wish
   
   to not
   
   startup from the startup folder

If you were unable to locate

the

program automatically loading

following the above instructions,



attempt to locate this program in the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#autoexec">autoexec.bat,


href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#win">win.ini.

Microsoft Windows 95 users

1. Click
   
   Start / Settings / Taskbar & Start Menu
   
   Programs



2. Click the Start Menu
   
   Programs tab



3. Click the
   
   advanced button



4. Open the
   
   Programs folder



5. Open the
   
   Startup folder and remove the program you wish
   
   to not
   
   start automatically.

If you were unable to locate

the

program automatically loading

following the above instructions,



attempt to locate this program in the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#autoexec">autoexec.bat

or
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#win">win.ini for Windows 95 users, or

in the


href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#registry">system registry for Windows

Windows 95 or

Windows NT users.

Microsoft Windows 98 and

Windows ME

users

1. Click Start / Programs /
   
   Startup



2. Right click and
   
   delete the file you wish to not start
   
   
   
   automatically.

If you

were unable to locate the

program

automatically loading following the above

instructions,

attempt to locate this program

in the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#autoexec">autoexec.bat,


href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#win">win.ini,
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#registry">system registry

or

Windows 98SE or Windows ME users can disable

programs through

the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#sysconfig">System

Configuration.

Microsoft Windows NT 4.0



users

1. Click Start / Settings / Taskbar &
   
   Start Menu Programs



2. Click the
   
   Start Menu Programs tab





3. Click the advanced button





4. Open the Programs folder





5. Open the Startup folder and remove the
   
   program you wish to not
   
   start
   
   automatically

If you

were unable to locate the

program

automatically loading following the above

instructions,

attempt to locate this program

in the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#registry">system registry.

Microsoft Windows 2000

users

1. Click Start / Programs /
   
   Startup



2. Right click and
   
   delete the file you wish to not start
   
   
   
   automatically.

If you

were unable to locate the

program

automatically loading following the above

instructions,

attempt to locate this program

in the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#registry">system registry.

Microsoft Windows XP

users

1. Click Start / Programs /
   
   Startup



2. Right click and
   
   delete the file you wish to not start
   
   
   
   automatically.

If you

were unable to locate the

program

automatically loading following the above

instructions,

attempt to locate this program

in the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#registry">system registry

or
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#msconfig">msconfig.

name="autoexec">Autoexec.bat

Note: This section is only



applies to Windows 3.x and Windows 95 and 98

users. If you are uncertain

which

version of Windows you are running, please
href="http://www.computerhope.com/whow.htm">cl

ick

here.

After following the above



instructions for the Operating System you are

running, if the

program or TSR is

still loading each time you boot your

computer,

it is possible that

program may be loading in your

autoexec.bat.

Information about the

autoexec.bat and how to edit it can be



found on our
href="http://www.computerhope.com/ac.htm">Auto

exec.bat / Config.sys page.

name="win">Win.ini

Note:

This section is only

applies to Windows

3.x and

Windows 95 and 98 users. If you are

uncertain

which version of Windows you

are running, please
href="http://www.computerhope.com/whow.htm">cl

ick

here.

If the program

continues to load

and you have

checked the startup folder and the autoexec.bat

for

this program or file, it is

also possible for this program to



load in the win.ini file. To check this file,

follow the below

steps.

1. Windows 3.x users
   
   click the File menu
   
   and
   
   click Exit to get to a MS-DOS prompt.





2. Windows 9x users click
   
   Start
   
   / Shutdown and
   
   restart the computer in MS-DOS prompt.





3. Once at the MS-DOS prompt,
   
   
   
   type:
   
   
   
   
   cd\windows <press enter>
   
   
   
   
   edit win.ini <press
   
   enter>



4. In the
   
   win.ini file you
   
   should
   
   have several lines of text, locate the line
   
   that
   
   reads:
   
   
   
   
   LOAD=
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   or
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   RUN=
   
   
   





5. Verify that these lines are
   
   
   
   just LOAD= or RUN=
   
   If text is following either of these
   
   
   
   statements it is possible that this
   
   may be the program
   
   
   
   loading each time your computer boots.





6. To temporarily disable
   
   these
   
   lines, you can
   
   place a semicolon in front of these lines,
   
   as
   
   shown in the below
   
   example:
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   ;RUN=
   
   
   
   
   



7. To save this
   
   file, choose File
   
   (ALT +
   
   F) and then Exit and save changes on
   
   exit.

name="registry">System Registry

Note: This section is only for



Windows 95 and 98 users, Windows ME users,

Windows 2000 Users,

and Windows XP users. If

you are uncertain

which version of Windows

you are running, please
href="http://www.computerhope.com/whow.htm">cl

ick

here.

Windows

98 users should

attempt to disable

startup programs through the
href="http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chtsr.

htm#sysconfig">System

Configuration

before doing the system Registry.

If

the program continues to load

after

rebooting your computer and you have verified

that the

program does not exist in your

startup, autoexec.bat or win.ini,

the

last and only other location that this program

or TSR may be

loading is the system

registry. Before attempting to edit or



change the system registry, it is important you

read our
href="http://www.computerhope.com/registry.htm

">registry

page to understand the

potential risks of editing the

registry.

Once you have

familiarized

yourself with the system

registry, open the below registry



key to see if the program or TSR is loading in

the system registry.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT...
&

#13;

\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\RUN]

If you locate the program

that

is loading, simply delete this

program from the above key (do

not

delete any other files from any other keys).

name="sysconfig">System



Configuration

Note: This section

is only for

Windows 98 and Windows ME

users. If you are uncertain

which

version of Windows you are running, please
href="http://www.computerhope.com/whow.htm">cl

ick

here.

To disable

startup programs

through the System

Configuration, follow the below

instructions.

1. Click Start / Programs /
   
   
   
   Accessories / System Tools / System
   
   Information



2. In the System
   
   Information
   
   Window, click the
   
   Tools drop down menu and select the System
   
   
   
   Configuration Utility





3. Select the Startup tab and
   
   
   
   uncheck the programs you wish to not load
   
   up automatically.

name="msconfig">System

Configuration

Utility also known as msconfig

Note:

This section is only for

Windows XP users.

If you are uncertain

which

version of Windows you are running, please
href="http://www.computerhope.com/whow.htm">cl

ick

here.

To disable

programs from

automatically loading, follow the

below instructions.

1. Click
   
   Start / Run / Type msconfig
   
   
   
   and press enter.



2. This will
   
   open the "System
   
   Configuration
   
   Utility"
   href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/w/wind
   
   ow.htm">window.



3. Within this
   
   window click the
   
   "Startup",
   
   uncheck each of the startup tasks you no
   
   
   
   longer wish to load. If you are uncertain
   
   what startup
   
   programs are causing your
   
   issues, try un-checking all of the
   
   
   
   items and then slowly start checking each
   
   of the items until
   
   you determine the
   
   source of your issue.

Definition:

• See
  
  our
  href="http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/t/tsr.
  
  htm">TSR dictionary definition
  
  for additional
  
  information about TSRs and related
  
  dictionary
  
  definitions.