Goodbye Quicktime on Startup

Quicktime installs when a lot of programs install. Including iTunes -- and there is no option that allows you not to install it. Maybe Quicktime isn't so bad, but it does use precious system resources that could be used for useful applications, since the Quicktime and iTunes installers add programs to your startup list whether or not you like it.

There are three useless programs that launch on startup after iTunes has been installed. These three programs, "iTunesHelper.exe," "iPodService.exe," and "qttask.exe" use almost 10MB of system ram. Perhaps this won't be worth a couple minutes of your time for what it does, but for some it could prove helpful. And besides, step 3 will get rid of the Quicktime task tray icon that appears on startup!


A Word About the "iPodService.exe" File

One would assume the "iPodService.exe" file is some sort of driver for iPods to function properly. A user at Digg, odysseus, says all the file does is bring up iTunes when your iPod is plugged in, or so it can be recognized immediately. If you have an iPod, it would probably best to continue and let this file run on startup.


How to do it

Here's how to disable these programs. It took no genius to figure it out. Please note there are multiple ways to stop these three programs from executing.

Update: It looks like Quicktime 7 has an option to turn off the task tray program on startup. In previous versions hadn't been that option, and currently right-clicking on the task tray program does not give you an option to disable it. Here's what you do: Open Quicktime (the actual program), Edit -> Preferences -> Quicktime Preferences. Go to the Advanced tab, and at the bottom of the window is a checkbox for the task tray icon, which you should uncheck.


Alternatives

Someone on Digg, illynova, commented that there is an easier way: go to Start -> Run -> Type "msconfig" and then go to the "startup" tab, and uncheck "qttime" to remove Quicktime form startup (there's also the option to remove "iTunesHelper." Turns out this only works until Quicktime runs, and you'll have the problem again, according to sendmoney2me at Digg.

Another digg user, digitaldaiquiri, recommends a program called Startup Control Panel, which is like Microsoft's msconfig program. Odysseus (another digg user), recommends yet another program, Sysinternals' Autoruns, which has much the same functionality as the other two. Both programs these digg users suggested are free, though I myself recommend Autoruns.

The one other alternative I've tried, is to use a program that loads on startup, and closes these programs. However, this will increase your boot time, because it has to open yet another program and close it. And most of these programs that do this only work on Windows XP Home or Pro (XP Pro already contains a program which does just that, while Home edition does not).


Test Results

As one might have expected, the system's ram does get freed up a smidgen.

After some tests if disabling any of these programs, that it might have an effect on the computer's boot time, it didn't. Tested on a Athlon-XP-M laptop with 512MB RAM.


Troubleshooting

Windows, being Window, may not allow you to rename or delete one of the three programs, whether or not they really are in use, as Windows claims.

Having a problem with Quicktime not working at all? It should work. If it doesn't work now, it probably didn't work before you did step 3. If you are trying to get Quicktime to work in your browser, try making sure it isn't a plugin problem, or that you have an alternative music/video player being used as the default player for Quicktime files.


Thanks for the Comments

Thanks to all the people who posted comments on digg. This article has been modified with more ideas and information because of them. I hope I've credited everybody. Thanks guys.

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