Startup programs are the ones that load automatically when the system is turned on. Adding programs that you frequently use to the startup list is a good practice. But certain programs have this feature turned on by default and have to be turned off manually.

For those of you wondering if there’s a need to disable startup programs, it’s beneficial and boosts your system’s performance. When too many programs are to be loaded at startup, it would take longer for the Windows to boot. Also, these programs hog the system resources and may slow it down.

Many make the mistake of disabling all the startup programs, including the antivirus and other critical apps. This is counterproductive and puts your system at risk. Therefore, before you proceed, identify the non-critical programs that you want to disable from loading at startup.

There are many ways you can disable startup programs in Windows 11 and we have listed them all. Go through them all and choose the one that suits you the best.

Disable Startup Programs from Settings

To disable startup programs from Settings, right-click on the ‘Start’ icon or press WINDOWS + X to launch the Quick Access menu, and select ‘Settings’ from the list of options. Alternatively, you can use the WINDOWS + I keyboard shortcut to directly launch the Settings app.

In ‘Settings’, select the ‘Apps’ tab from the pane on the left.

Next, click on the ‘Startup’ option listed on the right.

You will now find a list of the programs that can be configured to launch at startup with a toggle next to each. Next to the toggle, there will be an impact indicator that tells how much resources a particular app will consume when configured to launch at startup. The impact is categorized into three types as per Microsoft.

  • High Impact: Apps that load at startup and use more than 1 sec of CPU time or 3 MB of disk (I/O).
  • Medium Impact: Apps that load at startup and use 0.3 – 1 sec of CPU time or 300 KB – 3 MB of disk (I/O).
  • Low Impact: Apps that load at startup and use less than 0.3 sec of CPU time and 300 KB of disk (I/O).

Now, you can identify that apps that might be hogging the system and affecting its performance.

To disable an app from loading at startup, click on the toggle next to it, and then verify that it reads ‘Off’.

You can similarly disable the other apps listed here.

Disable Startup Programs from Task Manager

To disable startup apps from Task Manager, right-click on the ‘Start’ icon in the Taskbar or press WINDOWS + X to launch the Quick Access menu, and select ‘Task Manager’ from the list of options. Alternatively, you can press CTRL + SHIFT + ESC to directly launch the Task Manager.

In the Task Manager, navigate to the ‘Startup’ tab at the top.

All the startup apps will be listed in this tab. You will find their impact listed under the ‘Startup impact’ column.

To disable a startup app, simply select it and click on the ‘Disable’ option.

You can also disable an app by right-clicking on it and selecting ‘Disable’ from the context menu.

Both these methods work fine and you can choose the one that suits you best.

Disable Startup Programs from Task Scheduler

Another way to disable startup programs is with the Task Scheduler. In the Task Scheduler app, you can also disable certain tasks that launch on startup and are not listed in other programs.

To disable startup programs from Task Scheduler, search for it in the ‘Search Menu’, and click on the relevant search result to launch the app.

Next, select ‘Task Scheduler Library’ from the navigation pane on the left, select the program/task listed in the center and then click on the ‘Disable’ in the ‘Actions’ pane on the right.

The selected tasks/programs will now be disabled from loading at startup.


Disabling irrelevant startup programs helps boosts the system performance and enhances the booting time of Windows. With either of the three methods mentioned above, you can easily disable startup programs.