How to Make a Program Start Automatically in Windows 11

Startup programs? Sometimes they are very useful

The startup programs They are those that are automatically executed when your computer starts up. They are generally associated with significant performance loss, penalizing system load and increasing the time it takes for your PC to finish booting up. While all of this is true, it is sometimes very useful to have a program start automatically.

For example, think about the application you use the most, which is possibly the browser. In that case, the first thing you do when the system boots is to click on the browser shortcut to start browsing. Wouldn’t it be interesting to automate its execution? And the same can be said of well-known applications, such as WhatsApp, Spotify or Google Drive.

In this guide we will know what steps you must follow to make an application start automatically during the start-up of Windows 11. Learn with us several methods that will help you have your favorite applications ready for when the system finishes loading.

4 Ways to Start an App Automatically in Windows 11

There isn’t just one way to start an app automatically in Windows 11. For this reason, we are talking about a total of four methods that will help you with this issue.

With task manager

The first way to enable the automatic start of a program is with the Task Manager. You can access it in a variety of ways, such as pressing Control + Alt + Delete, one of the most popular Windows commands. It is also possible to locate this tool with the search or by running the command taskmgr in the Run dialog.

Once you are in the Task Manager, do the following:

1. Click on the section boot applications.
2. Click on the application you want to run at startup. This should be marked as disabled in the column State.
3. In the context menu, select Enable.

The next time you turn on your computer, the application will open automatically. This list does not contain all the applications on your computer. If you can’t find the one you need, read on for other methods.

With Windows 11 setup

Settings in Windows 11 gives you the ability to control startup apps. The truth is that the mechanics of this tool is identical to that of the Task Manager.

All in all, it’s good that you know how to do it with the Settings app:

1. Open the settings.
2. Go into Applications.
3. press on Start.
4. Turn on the apps you want to open automatically.

From the application settings

In the two previous cases, only those applications that have created a record for tell the system that they need or can be run at startup. In most cases, these programs have an option in their settings that controls this behavior.

In the image above you can see the WhatsApp settings panel and the corresponding option.

Again, in this capture a similar parameter appears, but, in this case, in Spotify.

Finally, another example: the Google One VPN that starts automatically when you start Windows 11.

With your browser, if it is a web application

Let’s approach this question from another prism. What about web applications? If you prefer to open Gmail, Trello or Spotify, to give just a few examples, from the browser, you also have the possibility of marking them as startup applications.

You will find this option in browsers such as Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome. Taking the latter as a reference, this is what you should do:

1. Open the web app you want to add to startup in a new tab.
2. Click on the menu with the three points and open the section more tools.
3. Click on Create Shortcut.
4. check the box open as window.
5. The web will open as if it were a native application, in its own separate window.
6. Click on the three dots that you will see in the title bar and click on Application Information.

   

7. Click on Setting.

   

8. In the new tab, check the option Open at login.

   

The web application will open automatically when you turn on the PC, always in the browser and using its own window. As we mentioned, we have tested it in two browsers, both based on Chromium, and it has worked well.

Unfortunately, other browsers, more specifically, Firefox, they are not so friendly to web applications. If you do not consider changing your browser, then read the last method that we propose.

Creating a shortcut in the Startup folder

Finally, we arrive at the universal solution. This is for web applications, programs, files, and specific URLs.

In the Start menu there is a folder named Start, forgive the redundancy. All the shortcuts that are inside it are executed automatically when you turn on the computer.

Here are the steps to open anything at startup with this procedure:

1. Open the following path in explorer C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup .
2. Leave the folder open and go to the desktop. There, right click on an empty space and select New. Then click Direct access.

   

3. press on Examine and locate the executable of the program you want to open at startup. Here you can also select specific files, such as a Word document or an image. On the other hand, if you want to open a URL, type it directly in the text field with the format https://geeknetic.es.

   

4. Press next and assign a name to the shortcut.
5. Finally, it sends the shortcut to the Startup folder (in English it is called Startup).

   

From now on, the element it will run whenever you turn on the computer. If it’s a URL or a file, it will run with the default application at that time. For example, if you type web address, the usual browser is used.

Beware of overdoing the startup programs

There are startup programs that are indispensable. Nobody doubts the utility of the automatic opening of the program that synchronizes your files in the cloud with the PC, your favorite VPN application or your email client.

However, if you add too many programs to your computer startup, your PC will be affected as follows:

• slower boot. The more programs or files your computer needs to open, the longer it will take before you can use it at full capacity.
• Consumption of unnecessary resources. You may need some programs to open when you log in, but after a while, you no longer need them. Typically, they remain open, consuming CPU and RAM memory resources.
• Increased battery consumption. Programs that are kept open after booting also have an impact on the battery. On laptops it is very important that startup applications are only the most essential.

We recommend that you take advantage of the methods that we have mentioned to find out if you have unnecessary startup programs that you should remove. In fact, it is one of the most recurring tips when we talk about optimizing a Windows 11 computer.

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