Disabling System Startup programs

[joe53]

Hi:

While troubleshooting some shutdown problems, I attempted to disable my AVG Free in Tools>System Startup, by unchecking the box next to its entry. After rebooting, I found that entry was missing from the System Startup list entirely, even though I did not choose the delete option. Moreover, my ZoneAlarm Firewall entry was also missing, and my firewall did not load.

Both programs were still on my system. I was able to get ZA to reload at startup from settings within the ZA Control Center, but I had to reinstall AVG in order to get it to load at startup.

I have used this Tool in the past to temporarily stop other programs from loading, without losing the re-enable option in Spybot. I am not using the resident TeaTimer. Running Win XP here. My PC is malware-free.

Is this expected behaviour? Here are the affected entries:

--- Spybot - Search & Destroy version: 1.4 (build: 20050523) ---

Located: HK_LM:Run, AVG7_CC
command: C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe /STARTUP
file: C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe
size: 357888
MD5: 679093afd939b3c1b88110ebf859984d

Located: HK_LM:Run, Zone Labs Client
command: "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe"
file: C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
size: 755480
MD5: b4e843ded6daf99aec3fbfe395e643c7

[Zenobia]

I don't believe this is expected behavior,since I just unchecked my avg startup
entry,then rebooted,and the entry stayed in the system startup list after a reboot,unchecked.
And it just showed in the exported list as disabled:
Located: HK_LM:Run, AVG7_CC (DISABLED)
command: C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe /STARTUP
file: C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe
size: 357888
MD5: 679093afd939b3c1b88110ebf859984d
The avg startup entry just was moved from the run key to the run- key.
I'm not too sure why your startup entry would disappear.
If you're scared that might happen again,if you ever need to temporarily disable avg again,about the only thing I can suggest is using msconfig to temporarily disable the startup item,instead of Spybot.
Or,for avg in particular,I exported the run key for avg from the registry in case it did disappear from the Spybot startup list,when checking this for you.
If you're 'registry-friendly',I guess you could export the avg entry from the registry,in case that ever happened again.

[pudelein]

An alternative to msconfig is Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel which is available at www.mlin.net for free download. This adds a Control Panel applet which allows very easy management of startup programs in all four of the most important places.

[joe53]

My apologies:

It was not unchecking the AVG entry that was responsible, but rather it was unchecking the entry for my SunBelt CounterSpy:

Located: HK_LM:Run, SunServer
command: C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\CounterSpy\Consumer\sunserver.exe
file: C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\CounterSpy\Consumer\sunserver.exe
size: 290816
MD5: a6498e745702f2b9c1d1702c094ca2b5

Unchecking only CounterSpy deleted its entry in Spybot, plus the ZA entry, plus the AVG entry, and prevented all 3 from loading at startup. Even more interestingly, it did this whether I unchecked it in Spybot, or in msconfig, or in Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel. Obviously, this is something I will have to take up with SunBelt.

Thanks for the replies.

[Zenobia]

Sorry to hear that.Hope you get it all sorted out.