Skip Annoying Screens And Messages
Don't let pointless welcome boxes and start-up pages slow you down. Here we reveal 10 easy ways to disable and hide unnecessary screens.
Disable the Windows start-up screen
You can cut your PC's boot time by turning off the "splash screen", which announces that Windows is starting and shows which version you're using. In Windows 7 and Vista, click the Start button, type msconfig into the search box and press Enter. In Windows 8, just type msconfig into the Start screen. When the System Configuration box opens, click the Boot tab and select the 'No GUI boot' option. Click OK and restart your PC. In Windows XP, click the BOOT.INI tab and tick /NOGUIBOOT. If you can't see the tab, right-click My Computer, and select Properties, Advanced, 'Startup and Recovery' and Edit. Add /SOS after 'fastdetect' and click OK.
Log into Windows automatically
If you're the only person who uses your computer (or you trust everyone else who does!), you can skip the screen that asks you to log into your account. Go to the Start menu or screen (Start, Run in Windows XP), type control userpasswords2 or netplwiz and press Enter. When the User Accounts box opens, deselect the option 'Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer' and click OK. In the next window, enter your current username and password to keep the settings associated with that account when you log on automatically. Click OK, restart your PC and you'll be taken straight to your Desktop (or your Start screen in Windows 8 - see tip below).
Boot to the Desktop in Windows 8
If you've upgraded to Windows 8, but can't get used to the Start screen, you can skip it and boot straight to your Desktop instead. You can do this by installing a free program such as Start Menu 8 or Classic Shell (www.classicshell.net), which not only let you bypass the Start screen but also restore the Start menu and can disable other annoying Windows 8 features such as the Charms Bar. In the new Windows 8.1 preview (see our Weekend Project on page 70), you can boot directly to the Desktop automatically. Right-click the taskbar, choose Properties and, in the Start screen section, select 'Go to the desktop instead of Start when I sign in'.
Turn off the Office 2013 start screen
One improvement in the latest version of Microsoft Office is that it's much easier to turn off the splash screen that appears when you launch one of the programs. Just open Word, Excel or PowerPoint, click the File tab and choose Options. Deselect the option 'Show the Start screen when this application starts' and click OK. Perform the same steps for each Office program to skip the start screen and instantly open a new file.
Skip the splash screen of older Office programs
If you haven't upgraded to Office 2013, you can bypass Word. Excel and PowerPoint's splash screens by creating shortcuts to the programs. Right-click your Desktop, choose New, Shortcut and enter the following into the location box:
For Word: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\WINWORD.EXE" /q
For Excel: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE" /e
For PowerPoint: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Of fice14\POWERPOINT.EXE" /s
Note that the 'Office14' relates to Office 2010. For Office 2007, enter Office12 instead, and for Office 2003, enter Office11. You can browse to the relevant programs to make things less confusing. Click Next, give the shortcut a relevant name, such as 'Word shortcut', and click Finish. Double-click the shortcut to launch the program without a splash screen. You can also pin it to your Windows 7 taskbar for easy access.
Disable Adobe Reader's welcome screen
Adobe has tried to make the welcome screen in Reader more useful, by providing options to open recent PDFs and access Adobe's online services, but you may not want to see it every time you launch the program. You can turn it off using a Registry hack (as ever, make sure you create a System Restore before fiddling with the Registry). Launch the Registry Editor by going to Start, typing regedit and pressing Enter. Navigate to the folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\[current version]\FeatureLockDown Right-click the folder, choose New, Key and name the key cWelcomeScreen. Right-click the new key, choose New, DWORD Value and name the value bShowWelcomeScreen. Double-click it and enter the value data 0. This should disable the welcome screen when you next launch Adobe Reader (to get it back, just delete the new value).
Skip your email program's splash screen
If you don't like the splash screen that appears when you launch Window Live Mail, Windows Mail or Outlook Express, try the following. Launch the Registry Editor, and navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail (or Windows Mail or Outlook Express) Right-click inside the right-hand pane, choose New, DWORD Value and call the new value NoSplash. Double-click this, enter the value 1 and click OK. Restart your PC for the change to take effect.
Hide every program's splash screen
Rather than disabling software splash screens individually, you can turn them all off by using a free program called SplashKiller. It hasn't been updated for a (very) long time, partly because splash screens aren't as prevalent as they once were, but SplashKiller still works well in the latest versions of Windows and is very easy to use. Just download, extract and run the program, and it will automatically disable start-up screens where possible. To exclude certain software from this block, right-click Splash Killer's System Tray icon, choose Config and click 'Add application' to add it to the ignore list.
Turn off the default-browser request
Some browsers pester you to make them your default every time they're launched. Fortunately, this message is easy to turn off. If Firefox keeps asking you, type about:config into the toolbar and press Enter Find the entry 'browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser' and double-click it to set the value to 'false'. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options and click the Programs tab. Deselect the option 'Tell me if Internet Explorer is not the default browser'. Chrome no longer offers to be your default browser, but older versions of the program had a 'Don't ask' option under Settings, 'Default browser'. See our previous post on 'Reset Anything In One Click' for more advice about changing your default browser.
Stop iTunes asking you to update
If you don't upgrade to the latest version of iTunes. Apple's software will nag you to do so every time you launch it, and often ignores your request: "Do not ask me again". To avoid this message, go to Edit, Preferences and click the General tab. Deselect the option 'Check for new software updates automatically' and click OK.
Disable the Windows start-up screen
You can cut your PC's boot time by turning off the "splash screen", which announces that Windows is starting and shows which version you're using. In Windows 7 and Vista, click the Start button, type msconfig into the search box and press Enter. In Windows 8, just type msconfig into the Start screen. When the System Configuration box opens, click the Boot tab and select the 'No GUI boot' option. Click OK and restart your PC. In Windows XP, click the BOOT.INI tab and tick /NOGUIBOOT. If you can't see the tab, right-click My Computer, and select Properties, Advanced, 'Startup and Recovery' and Edit. Add /SOS after 'fastdetect' and click OK.
Log into Windows automatically
If you're the only person who uses your computer (or you trust everyone else who does!), you can skip the screen that asks you to log into your account. Go to the Start menu or screen (Start, Run in Windows XP), type control userpasswords2 or netplwiz and press Enter. When the User Accounts box opens, deselect the option 'Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer' and click OK. In the next window, enter your current username and password to keep the settings associated with that account when you log on automatically. Click OK, restart your PC and you'll be taken straight to your Desktop (or your Start screen in Windows 8 - see tip below).
Boot to the Desktop in Windows 8
If you've upgraded to Windows 8, but can't get used to the Start screen, you can skip it and boot straight to your Desktop instead. You can do this by installing a free program such as Start Menu 8 or Classic Shell (www.classicshell.net), which not only let you bypass the Start screen but also restore the Start menu and can disable other annoying Windows 8 features such as the Charms Bar. In the new Windows 8.1 preview (see our Weekend Project on page 70), you can boot directly to the Desktop automatically. Right-click the taskbar, choose Properties and, in the Start screen section, select 'Go to the desktop instead of Start when I sign in'.
Turn off the Office 2013 start screen
One improvement in the latest version of Microsoft Office is that it's much easier to turn off the splash screen that appears when you launch one of the programs. Just open Word, Excel or PowerPoint, click the File tab and choose Options. Deselect the option 'Show the Start screen when this application starts' and click OK. Perform the same steps for each Office program to skip the start screen and instantly open a new file.
Skip the splash screen of older Office programs
If you haven't upgraded to Office 2013, you can bypass Word. Excel and PowerPoint's splash screens by creating shortcuts to the programs. Right-click your Desktop, choose New, Shortcut and enter the following into the location box:
For Word: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\WINWORD.EXE" /q
For Excel: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\EXCEL.EXE" /e
For PowerPoint: "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Of fice14\POWERPOINT.EXE" /s
Note that the 'Office14' relates to Office 2010. For Office 2007, enter Office12 instead, and for Office 2003, enter Office11. You can browse to the relevant programs to make things less confusing. Click Next, give the shortcut a relevant name, such as 'Word shortcut', and click Finish. Double-click the shortcut to launch the program without a splash screen. You can also pin it to your Windows 7 taskbar for easy access.
Disable Adobe Reader's welcome screenAdobe has tried to make the welcome screen in Reader more useful, by providing options to open recent PDFs and access Adobe's online services, but you may not want to see it every time you launch the program. You can turn it off using a Registry hack (as ever, make sure you create a System Restore before fiddling with the Registry). Launch the Registry Editor by going to Start, typing regedit and pressing Enter. Navigate to the folder: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\[current version]\FeatureLockDown Right-click the folder, choose New, Key and name the key cWelcomeScreen. Right-click the new key, choose New, DWORD Value and name the value bShowWelcomeScreen. Double-click it and enter the value data 0. This should disable the welcome screen when you next launch Adobe Reader (to get it back, just delete the new value).
Skip your email program's splash screen
If you don't like the splash screen that appears when you launch Window Live Mail, Windows Mail or Outlook Express, try the following. Launch the Registry Editor, and navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows Live Mail (or Windows Mail or Outlook Express) Right-click inside the right-hand pane, choose New, DWORD Value and call the new value NoSplash. Double-click this, enter the value 1 and click OK. Restart your PC for the change to take effect.
Hide every program's splash screen
Rather than disabling software splash screens individually, you can turn them all off by using a free program called SplashKiller. It hasn't been updated for a (very) long time, partly because splash screens aren't as prevalent as they once were, but SplashKiller still works well in the latest versions of Windows and is very easy to use. Just download, extract and run the program, and it will automatically disable start-up screens where possible. To exclude certain software from this block, right-click Splash Killer's System Tray icon, choose Config and click 'Add application' to add it to the ignore list.
Turn off the default-browser request
Some browsers pester you to make them your default every time they're launched. Fortunately, this message is easy to turn off. If Firefox keeps asking you, type about:config into the toolbar and press Enter Find the entry 'browser.shell.checkDefaultBrowser' and double-click it to set the value to 'false'. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools, Internet Options and click the Programs tab. Deselect the option 'Tell me if Internet Explorer is not the default browser'. Chrome no longer offers to be your default browser, but older versions of the program had a 'Don't ask' option under Settings, 'Default browser'. See our previous post on 'Reset Anything In One Click' for more advice about changing your default browser.
Stop iTunes asking you to update
If you don't upgrade to the latest version of iTunes. Apple's software will nag you to do so every time you launch it, and often ignores your request: "Do not ask me again". To avoid this message, go to Edit, Preferences and click the General tab. Deselect the option 'Check for new software updates automatically' and click OK.
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