How to stop annoying background programs
Many programs install little "helper" programs whether you want them or not ...
Prime examples are Real Player and QuickTime. They both install background programs (listed below) that have no apparent benefit to the end user. There are several tricks of varying effectiveness to avoid some of these programs from loading, but often the main offending program reinstates the loading process.
Two examples from the startup section of the registry:"C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
My solution was to create a null.exe program that does absolutely nothing. A do-nothing program. It just exits with an exit code of 0. It was "written" in FreeBASIC. I say "written" because it is only the line "end 0"!
By copying this file to the folder where the offensive program resides and renaming it, it takes the place of that program, preventing it from loading. You can also right-click the renamed replacement file and make it "Read-only" for a bit more assurance.