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Startup programs (faster boot)

"Startup bloat" = programs that launch themselves when Windows starts and run in the background even when you don't need them right now. Over time a lot of them pile up → slower start and needlessly used-up memory.

How to get there

On the main screen the list has its own "Startup" button — at the bottom, next to Space map and The Hole. Open it whenever you feel like it, even when Viktor isn't complaining about anything.

The other route goes through the health check: the "Startup programs" card has a Tune ▸ button on the right that opens the same list.

What you see in the list

For each item:

what it is — the program's publisher and description from its file (like Task Manager),
where it launches from and a short line on why to (not) disable it,
a checkbox to pick what to disable. No blind bulk disabling.

Disabling = disabling, not deleting

Viktor doesn't delete the program — it disables it the same way Task Manager does: it leaves the entry in place in Run / Startup and just marks it disabled. So the program:

stays visible in Task Manager (as Disabled) — it doesn't vanish anywhere,
doesn't launch at startup (boot is snappier),
is still installed and you can run it manually any time.

Everything can be restored from the hole (a disabled startup is a permanent record there, it never deletes itself) — restoring enables it again.

Traffic light — what's safe to disable

Items are colour-coded and (un)pre-selected accordingly:

🟢 Green — safe. Ordinary apps (launchers, chats…). Pre-selected, disable at will.
🟠 Orange — careful. Tied to hardware (printers, scanners, audio interfaces, board and graphics utilities such as MSI Center or Intel's), to the link with your phone (Cross Device — phone notifications, phone as a webcam) or requiring an administrator. Highlighted but unchecked — disable them only when you know you don't need that device feature.
🔴 Red — hands off. Sensitive: antivirus, backups, remote access, drivers, OneDrive. Viktor won't even let you check them and only shows them so you know they're there.

Microsoft Store apps

Spotify, Xbox and other Store apps start up differently from the rest — they have no Run entry, the package manages it itself. Up to version 1.1.0 Viktor left them out of the list entirely, so they were invisible even though they were starting and holding memory. On the author's PC, Spotify and Xbox together were running over a gigabyte out of sight like that.

Since version 1.1.3 Viktor can switch them off too, the same way Task Manager and Windows Settings do: he marks the app as turned off by the user. It then doesn't start with Windows. You switch it back on by restoring it from the hole, or in Settings → Apps → Startup.

The exception: when the app's startup is enforced by a policy (typically an administrator on a work computer), neither Viktor nor Windows can switch it off. Viktor shows such an app in orange with the tag "set by policy — Viktor leaves it", and the health check says how many there are.

Tip

After disabling the excess programs, the Windows start is usually noticeably snappier. When you start missing something, you restore it from the hole (or re-enable it in Task Manager).