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Geek Culture / How can I lock the startup processes list?

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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 19:34 Edited at: 10th Sep 2009 19:36
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Quite frankly, I am sick of programmers nowadays. Why does a blank Illustrator artboard with 32Mb of photographs arranged on it need 780Mb of disk space without a preview image? Hell if I know. Why does every program need to pre-load itself with a secondary process? If I ever meet the man or woman who decided this was a good idea I will cover the walls with their blood and guts.

The worst part is if you remove these preloaders that take up several MB of RAM each using MSConfig or Regedit the next time you run the software it slaps itself back onto the list. If you replace the exes with dummy exes, they're overwritten when the software updates.

List of offenders:
QuickTime (Stop changing my file extension preferences!)
Cyberlink PowerDVD (Five boot processes? Oh, please, go hang yourselves.)
Realtek need three applications apparently all of which duplicate the Windows sound dialog in its entirety in a horrid looking blue-green style.
AOL IM (Got rid, using Pidgin)
MSN (Got rid, using Pidgin)
TP-Link need two processes to duplicate the Windows Zero Configuration Wireless Networking service.
Foxit Reader (And I thought you guys knew better)
Adobe (Four processes and it STILL runs like crap?)
Sun Java (Major drive thrasher too - observed its constant writes to binary files using FileMon)
nVidia Forceware (No, I do not want any of the useless junk you put in alongside your software. It does not improve Windows. I don't want it. Release some lightweight drivers without all this junk for God's sake.)

After all this, I am amazed. There is no way to lock the boot processes list to stop all this excrement resurfacing. It seems nobody has written a dedicated application to do this. Has someone?

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David R
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 19:46 Edited at: 10th Sep 2009 19:47
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The 'TeaTimer' app (part of Spybot Search & Destroy) allows you to decline the alteration of registry entries as and when they occur, so it could do the job. However it is highly irritating as it will also pop up during program installations.

Never seen a way to flat out 'lock' startup apps, other than just declining the changes each app adds (like the aforementioned TeaTimer)

09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0
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Van B
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 20:00
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I've made programs that do this

One of them uses a simple list of process names, like AVG.EXE for instance, then it scans the running processes and kills any offenders. I made a version that can run once too, so that you might have a list of processes for virus protection say, and running it gets rid of it all - AVG for instance is a bloomin nightmare to shut down.

Anyhoo, if your interested I'll post them up when I can - don't know if I have them at hand, I definitely have them at work so it might be tomorrow before I upload them. I am sure however that I uploaded one or both of them here before, maybe do a search for Process Ninja

This all started for me with a bug in Access 2000, where you can lock it up if you use a database that is linked to another - you quit Access but it stays open. I just made a flashing key in the top left corner - so people can just right click it to close any open Access processes. Saves people from using task manager every time. I feel your pain though, which is why it turned into Process Ninja.


Health, Ammo, and bacon and eggs!
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 20:02 Edited at: 10th Sep 2009 20:09
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Sounds good, I'll look it up. I had TeaTimer before but it drove me mad. It's disheartening to see standards amoungst software developers slip so far. Just why can people program but not use their brains any more?

Edit: Couldn't find it. Could you please upload it again?

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IanM
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 20:17
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You forgot the media center tray applet and Windows media player network sharing applet.

Also, I hate those 'hang around' type processes that are only there to do 1 thing every couple of weeks or so but that otherwise just soak up memory, like the Java online update and the warrenty registration applet for this laptop I'm using right now.

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Van B
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 20:23
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Here you go... gotta love log me in.

You should copy the folder somewhere and stick a shortcut to the .exe in the startup folder. Then you specify the setup file as a command string (like the AVG Begone example).

The .ini setup file is just an ascii list of process names to ban, pretty straightforward really.


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 20:34
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That's brilliant, thanks. Just tried it and it killed all the crap I don't want.

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 21:28
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Quote: "That's brilliant, thanks. Just tried it and it killed all the crap I don't want."


How do you know which StartUp (or other) processes can be excluded? I've just tried disabling several things that looked as if I never need (via MSCONFIG->StartUp) on my laptop - but when I rebooted a message box popped up and forced me to enable them all again. Did that mean I had disabled something essential?
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 21:33
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The message doesn't force you to set it back, it advises you to. Ignore it.

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Van B
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 21:35
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That's just the way it is GG, the msconfig will bug you all the time when you change the startup. I think it's supposed to be used mainly for debugging.

The problem is that some of the worst offenders have cryptic process names, so it can be tricky to find them. It depends though, sometimes it's quite clear when a process is taking more resource than it is worth, I would take a note of it then shut it down, if things improve and the wheels don't fall off - I'd add it to process ninja's hit list.


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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 21:40
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There's one nothing can get rid of - search indexer. I've told Windows to use the older version of search because unlike the indexer it actually works (I despise indexed search, flexible as a rock and uses RAM/CPU when you're not using it) and I STILL have two processes using 15Mb each sitting there doing nothing. They've been told to index no folders. They've been told they aren't been used. Closing them through CMD.exe or Task Manager has no effect; they pop back up in seconds.

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Green Gandalf
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 22:10
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Quote: "The message doesn't force you to set it back, it advises you to. Ignore it."


Yep - I misinterpreted the message when I first saw it.

Still don't know what I can safely turn off though.
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Insanity Complex
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 22:15
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I generally use Glary Utilities whenever I need to manage my startup programs...

If you haven't seen Gary Utilities yet, you should check it out. It does a lot of convenient stuff, including one click maintenance which includes: Registry Cleaner, Shortcuts Fixer, Startup Manager, Temporary Files Cleaner, Tracks Eraser(by default unchecked), and Spyware Removal.

While it doesn't always find everything, it does a lot, quickly and efficiently.


OMG! Insanity Complex has a new signature! No wai!
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NeX the Fairly Fast Ferret
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 22:18
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I used to use it, but I soon realised it was useless because the moment you did something all of its careful optimisations and adjustments were reset or nullified.

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Van B
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Posted: 10th Sep 2009 22:18
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Really anything that is assigned to your username can be turned off safely, those are third party programs and tend to be the offenders, some third party processes will be assigned as system, like SYSTEM, LOCAL SERVICE, NETWORK SERVICE.

I would take a look at task manager, and see how much memory your assigned processes are taking plus their CPU usage. For example I notice that I have a process for 3DS max, taking 2,5mb, it's a SYSTEM assigned process but obviously it's third party. So I would disable that and claw back 2.5mb. What might be an idea as well is to shut down anything you don't need with msconfig, then take a note of the processes that are running, maybe just printscreen though. Then boot up normally and compare processes, that should save you from disabling something important.


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ionstream
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Posted: 11th Sep 2009 00:55
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CCLeaner and Spybot S&D have the ability to delete or disable startup entries. I recently purged all but 6 programs from starting (and might erase a few of those too), and my system is much faster.

Quote: "It's disheartening to see standards amoungst software developers slip so far."


Buddy, it used to be much, much worse. As annoying as Java is now, a few years ago it was about three times as obnoxious. AIM used to make you install a whole bunch of crap, now the only thing they install is Viewpoint, which I can live with. They're a lot better now. Remeber Adobe Acrobat 6? Good Lord.

Also pidgin blows, use Digsby.

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