Microsoft activated the feature in Windows 10 that allowed to restart applications once the operating system started. This causes, for example, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to reopen. They are, as we know, two of the browsers most used by users. However, we may not want them to open when we start Windows again. Perhaps because we are not going to use it or because we do not want programs to load. In this article, we are going to explain how to prevent them from loading automatically when Windows starts.
Prevent Firefox and Chrome from opening when Windows starts
It should also be mentioned that the browser will load the latest version if we have it configured that way. That means if we have 10 tabs open, those same pages will reopen.
We are going to focus on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox because they are the most widely used browsers. However, it is not something exclusive to them. This also happens with any other browser such as Microsoft Edge.
However we can avoid this. In Windows 10 we have the option of not restarting the browsers, if we wish. It can be a utility in case it is the first program that we open when we start Windows. Many users do not or simply start the computer to use other programs.
Prevent Firefox from starting automatically
Once inside, we click on the toolkit.winRegisterApplicationRestart preference, which is the only one that should appear. In this way we alter the default value. Setting the value to False will not start.
If in the future we want to change this option and go back to how it was, we simply have to reverse the situation. Again we access through the toolbar and change the value to True. Thus Mozilla Firefox will start when Windows starts, as long as we have kept the window open.
Prevent Google Chrome from starting automatically
In the case of Google Chrome , we have to go to Settings. We go to the Advanced Settings option and, within System, we deactivate the option to Continue running applications in the background when closing Google Chrome.
This causes all threads to be closed when shutting down Windows. Once we start it, even if we have not previously closed the window, it will not open when the operating system starts.
Ultimately, in this way we can prevent both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox from reopening when Windows 10 starts. It is an option introduced by the Microsoft system to facilitate the task for users. However, not everyone liked the idea and chose to find a way to eliminate it.
Neither Google Chrome nor Mozilla Firefox appears in the registry of programs that start automatically with Windows. That is why we must take into account these alternative steps that we have mentioned in each case.
