How to Troubleshoot a Startup Problem in Windows 8

In this video we will demonstrate how to troubleshoot a startup problem in Windows 8. We'll move to the desktop by pressing the Windows and D keys. Our problem is this window appears every time we start up Windows. We'd like to stop that from happening. In previous Windows versions we would use the Microsoft utility MSCONFIG to troubleshoot. Let's see how this works in Windows 8. Press the Windows and R keys. Type msconfig in the box and click OK. In the past we would click on the Startup tab to see a list of all programs that run at startup. Notice the change in Windows 8. We must now use Task Manager. Click on the link to open Task Manager. Here we have all the programs listed that begin at startup. Previous versions had a button that we could click that would turn all of them off at once. Unfortunately that is no longer available in Windows 8. Highlight them one at a time and click Disable. Repeat this until all are disabled. Next reboot the PC and see if the problem has gone away. In most cases it will have gone away. To troubleshoot we can enable them a few at a time, reboot, and see if the problem comes back. We would continue this process until we determine which program is causing the problem. Using this process we determine that this particular program is our problem. Click the right mouse button and click Open file location. Here we notice that the file is located in the Startup folder. Somehow the file was placed here in error. All we need to do is right-click, select Delete, and confirm. The problem is now solved. Close Task Manager and the other windows. This program will no longer run every time we start Windows. I hope that you found this tip helpful. This is just one of many videos about Windows 8 that we'll be producing. If you'd like to get a quick start, we have a free gift for you. Just click on the link below this video and you'll gain instant access to this quick reference card on handy Windows 8 shortcuts. Until next time I'm *** Buchanan with Byte Savvy Computing Services.