This document contains steps for removing TSR temporary programs from memory and how to prevent them from automatically loading each time the computer starts.

How to temporarily remove a TSR from memory

The information below contains steps on how to remove TSRs from memory and currently running programs temporarily. Note that after the computer reboots, many of these will be reloaded.

Removed a TSR in Windows 8 and 10

Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + DEL, then click the Task Manager option. Or press and hold Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager directly. Click the Processes tab, select the program you want to end, and click the End Task button.

Removed a TSR in Windows 2000 through Windows 7

Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Del, then click the Task Manager option. Or, if you’re running Windows XP, it should immediately open a Windows Task Manager window. In Task Manager, click the Applications tab, select the program you want to end, and click the End Task button.

As shown in the figure above, the Applications window displays only the open programs and is visible to the user. The other TSRs and Windows Processes are displayed in the Processes tab. Click the Processes tab, which shows each running process and the system resources they are using, as shown below.

We recommend the End Process only for programs you know about. If you don’t know what a process is, performing a search will return each process’s results.

Note: You cannot end any work of the system processes.

Removed a TSR in Windows 95, 98, and ME

Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Del. Once these three keys have been pressed correctly, you will get a Close Program window.

Highlight any item in the list except Explorer and Systray and click the End Task button. Repeat this process until you have only Explorer and Systray.

Additional information

  • There’s no way to highlight more than one of these icons.
  • Some of the programs listed might not get removed on the first try. Just continue for the next available program, if any.
  • When End Tasking some of these, you may get “ This Program is Not responding ”, click End Task again.
  • Pressing Ctrl + Alt + Del twice in a row would restart the computer.
  • Each item you are deleting will be restored the next time you restart your computer unless it is deleted.

Remove a TSR in Windows 3.x:

To remove any programs currently running in the background, minimize all open Windows, including Program Manager.

Once each window has been minimized, any currently running applications are shown as a small icon. Open and close each of these icons except Program Manager.

Turn off TSR auto-load

Since many TSRs are loaded automatically when the computer boots, you may find that it is a burden to unload each program each time you restart your computer manually. Here are the steps to remove these programs from automatic startup.

Microsoft Windows 8 and 10 users

  1. Press and hold Ctrl + Alt + Del, then click the Task Manager option. Or press and hold Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager directly.
  2. Click the Startup tab.
  3. Select the program you want to stop automatic downloads and click the Disable button.

If you cannot locate the automatically loading program by following the previous instructions, you can find it in your system’s Registry or use a software utility.

Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7 users

  1. Click Start-> Programs-> Startup
  2. Right, click and delete the file you want doesn’t start automatically.

If you cannot locate the program that is automatically loading by following the instructions above, find it in the system Registry or msconfig or another utility.

Microsoft Windows 2000 users

  1. Click Start-> Programs-> Startup
  2. Right, click and delete the file you want doesn’t start automatically.

If you cannot locate the automatically loading program by following the instructions above, find it in Registry or msconfig or another utility.

Microsoft Windows 98 and Windows ME users

  1. Click Start-> Programs-> Startup
  2. Right, click and delete the file you want doesn’t start automatically.

If you cannot locate the program that automatically downloads by following the instructions above, follow these steps. Locate the program in autoexec.bat, win.ini, system Registry, or Windows 98SE. Windows ME users can disable the program through System Configuration or other utilities.

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 programs you want from starting automatically.

If you cannot locate the program that automatically downloads according to the instructions above, look for it in autoexec.bat or win.ini for Windows 95 and NT users.

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 programs you want from starting automatically.

If you cannot locate the automatically loading program, follow the instructions above, find it in the System Registry.

Microsoft Windows 3.x users

  1. In File Manager, open the Main-group
  2. Locate and open the Startup Folder folder
  3. Delete the programs you want to not boot from the startup directory

If you cannot locate the automatically loading program, follow the instructions above, find it in autoexec.bat, win.ini.

Autoexec.bat

Note: This section only applies to users of Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows 98. If you are unsure which version of Windows is running, see our Microsoft Windows versions page.

After following the instructions above for the operating system you are running, if the program or TSR is still loading every time you start your computer, it can be loaded in your autoexec.bat. Information about autoexec.bat and how to edit it can be found on our overview Autoexec.bat and Config.sys.

Win.ini

Note: This section applies to Windows 3.x, Windows 95, and Windows 98 only.

If the program continues to load and you have checked the boot directory and autoexec.bat for this program or file, this program can also load the win.ini file. To prevent this file, follow the steps below.

  1. Windows 3.x, users click the File menu and click Exit to access the MS-DOS prompt.
  2. Windows 9x, users click Start and Shutdown and restart the computer in MS-DOS.
  3. Once at the MS-DOS prompt, type:
    cd windows
    edit win.ini
  4. In the win.ini file, you should have multiple lines of text; locate the line that says:
    LOAD =orRUN =
  5. Verify that these lines are just LOAD = or RUN = no text after the equal sign. If text follows one of these statements, the program likely loads every time your computer starts up.
  6. To temporarily disable lines, you can put a semicolon in front of these lines, as shown in the example below., RUN =
  7. To save this file, select File (Alt + F) and then Exit and save changes on exit.

System Registry

Note: This section applies only to Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista users. If you are not sure which version of Windows is running, check our Microsoft Windows versions page.

Windows 98 users should disable startup programs through the System Configuration before doing the System Registry.

If the program continued to load after restarting your computer and verified that the program doesn’t exist during startup, autoexec.bat, or win.ini, the last place is the system’s Registry. Before editing or making changes to the Registry system, you must read our Registry overview to understand the potential risks of editing the Registry.

After you have familiarized yourself with the system Registry, open the Registry below to see the program or TSR is loading in the system Registry.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE MICROSOFT…
WINDOWS CURRENTVERSION RUN]

If you locate a loading program, remove it from the above key (do not delete any other files from any further access).

System configuration

Note: This section applies to Windows 98 and Windows ME users only. If you’re not sure which version of Windows is running, see our guide to determining your version of Windows.

To disable startup programs via System Configuration, follow the instructions below.

  1. Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and then 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 want not to upload automatically.

System configuration utility and msconfig and others

Note: The following information applies only to Windows XP and Vista users. If you are not sure which version of Windows is running, check our Microsoft Windows versions page.

To disable automatic downloads, follow the instructions below.

  1. Click Start, Run, type msconfig, and press Enter.
  2. In the “System Configuration Utility” window, click the Startup tab. Uncheck each startup job that you no longer want to load. If you are unsure which startup programs are causing your problem, try checking all the items again, then starting to check each item slowly until you have originated the problem. Restart your computer after checking each item, allow the program you checked to start when Windows starts, and determine if that program is the source of the problem.