The Startup page in Windows 11’s Settings is really useful for toggling which apps auto-start when you boot the system.
But the more apps you have enabled in Startup, the longer it takes for Windows to be fully usable after restarting. That’s why it’s good to check the Startup page every so often and disable unwanted apps.
Or you could simply enable a built-in notification that alerts you whenever new apps are added to Startup. Here’s how to configure Windows to notify you when new Startup apps appear.
Enable alerts when new Startup apps are added to Windows 11
Open the Windows 11 system settings, click on System in the left sidebar, then select the Notifications section on the right. The settings page for notifications will now open.
Scroll down to the bottom of the notifications page. Just above Additional settings, you’ll see the item we want: Startup App Notification, which is switched off by default. Move the slider to On.
From now on, you will receive a notification whenever an application is added to the Windows startup process. You can configure what this notification looks like by clicking on the arrow next to the slider button, and you can also tweak the notification’s sound.
Note that Windows notifications need to be enabled for this to work. If you’ve disabled notifications, or if you’re in Do Not Disturb mode, then you won’t get these new Startup app alerts.
Managing Startup apps in Windows 11
When you install new programs, many of them either add themselves to the Startup page or ask for permission to do so. As more and more programs are automatically started with Windows, the entire startup process can bog down to a frustrating speed.
You can check which apps are in Startup via Task Manager. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to launch Task Manager, then in the left sidebar select the tab titled Startup apps.
Here you’ll be able to see how much impact each app has on the system bootup process, and you can toggle each one by selecting it and then clicking either Enable or Disable at the top right.
Keep reading: Free tips to speed up your Windows PC
This article originally appeared on our sister publication PC-WELT and was translated and localized from German.
Author: Hans-Christian Dirscherl, Managing Editor, PC-WELT
Hans-Christian Dirscherl began his IT life with Autoexec.bat and config.sys, Turbo-Pascal and C, Sinix and Wordperfect. He has been writing on almost all IT topics for around 25 years, covering everything from news to reviews and buying guides.