How can I stop media center from loading in vista?

I'm reposting the the thread below in case anyone else can offer some
suggestion as to how I can stop media center from loading. Unfortunately,
everything I've tried so far hasn't worked. Any other thoughts?

Previous thread:

Hi Mark,

Per your suggestion, I went to software explorer and disabled the windows
media center tray applet (ehtray.exe). For good measure I also went to
services and disable four services with media center in the description.
And I confirmed that load at startup was unchecked in media center's
settings/general.

Then I rebooted and media center still booted up!

So, I went back to software explorer. I see that another copy of media
center applet (ehtray.exe) had been somehow created shows as permitted.

I'm guessing that somewhere there is a register or other setting that forces
media center to be loaded. In addition, it is clear that the setting
control in settings/general is not working.

It's a bit of a mystery! Any next step suggestions?

surfer100

"Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
message news:2AC4D22E-EA9D-40E6-9ABF-...
> There are several ways to start an app on windows startup. I suggest
> looking at your Defender settings in the "Software Explorer" area, to
> check that. You need to rightclick Windows Defender in All Programs and
> click 'run as administrator' to gain access the the top level Software
> Explorer (see Tools menu)features.
>
> --
> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>
> "surfer100" <> wrote in message
> news:56067565-5427-4D8C-8523-...
>> I'm using Vista Home Premium on a Gateway laptop with all updates
>> including
>> Media Center's most recent ones. I would like to stop Windows Media
>> Center
>> from loading, since I don't use it at all. I've gone into Media Center's
>> tasks/settings/general/startup and I unchecked the box which reads "start
>> windows media center when windows starts." But Media Center keeps on a
>> loading! Any hints about how I can get it to stop loading? Thanks!
>>

surfer100 wrote:
>snip<
> how I can stop media center from loading. snip<
=====================================
How to Disable (Uninstall and Remove)
Windows Media Center in Vista
http://tinyurl.com/35w33y
or...
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/0...nter-in-vista/

--

John Inzer MS-MVP
Digital Media Experience

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

Hi,

Do it the right way. Start the media center, go to
Tasks/Settings/General/Startup and Windows Behavior and uncheck the line to
load at boot.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"surfer100" <> wrote in message
news:E5CB22B3-C6E4-4E08-9E0C-...
> I'm reposting the the thread below in case anyone else can offer some
> suggestion as to how I can stop media center from loading. Unfortunately,
> everything I've tried so far hasn't worked. Any other thoughts?
>
> Previous thread:
>
> Hi Mark,
>
> Per your suggestion, I went to software explorer and disabled the windows
> media center tray applet (ehtray.exe). For good measure I also went to
> services and disable four services with media center in the description.
> And I confirmed that load at startup was unchecked in media center's
> settings/general.
>
> Then I rebooted and media center still booted up!
>
> So, I went back to software explorer. I see that another copy of media
> center applet (ehtray.exe) had been somehow created shows as permitted.
>
> I'm guessing that somewhere there is a register or other setting that
> forces
> media center to be loaded. In addition, it is clear that the setting
> control in settings/general is not working.
>
> It's a bit of a mystery! Any next step suggestions?
>
> surfer100
>
> "Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
> message news:2AC4D22E-EA9D-40E6-9ABF-...
>> There are several ways to start an app on windows startup. I suggest
>> looking at your Defender settings in the "Software Explorer" area, to
>> check that. You need to rightclick Windows Defender in All Programs and
>> click 'run as administrator' to gain access the the top level Software
>> Explorer (see Tools menu)features.
>>
>> --
>> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
>> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
>> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
>> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
>> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>>
>> "surfer100" <> wrote in message
>> news:56067565-5427-4D8C-8523-...
>>> I'm using Vista Home Premium on a Gateway laptop with all updates
>>> including
>>> Media Center's most recent ones. I would like to stop Windows Media
>>> Center
>>> from loading, since I don't use it at all. I've gone into Media
>>> Center's
>>> tasks/settings/general/startup and I unchecked the box which reads
>>> "start
>>> windows media center when windows starts." But Media Center keeps on a
>>> loading! Any hints about how I can get it to stop loading? Thanks!
>>>
>

Thanks, Rick, but unfortunately that direct solution is not working, as
indicated in the the thread.

surfer100

"Rick Rogers" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Hi,
>
> Do it the right way. Start the media center, go to
> Tasks/Settings/General/Startup and Windows Behavior and uncheck the line
> to load at boot.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "surfer100" <> wrote in message
> news:E5CB22B3-C6E4-4E08-9E0C-...
>> I'm reposting the the thread below in case anyone else can offer some
>> suggestion as to how I can stop media center from loading.
>> Unfortunately,
>> everything I've tried so far hasn't worked. Any other thoughts?
>>
>> Previous thread:
>>
>> Hi Mark,
>>
>> Per your suggestion, I went to software explorer and disabled the windows
>> media center tray applet (ehtray.exe). For good measure I also went to
>> services and disable four services with media center in the description.
>> And I confirmed that load at startup was unchecked in media center's
>> settings/general.
>>
>> Then I rebooted and media center still booted up!
>>
>> So, I went back to software explorer. I see that another copy of media
>> center applet (ehtray.exe) had been somehow created shows as permitted.
>>
>> I'm guessing that somewhere there is a register or other setting that
>> forces
>> media center to be loaded. In addition, it is clear that the setting
>> control in settings/general is not working.
>>
>> It's a bit of a mystery! Any next step suggestions?
>>
>> surfer100
>>
>> "Mark L. Ferguson" <> wrote in
>> message news:2AC4D22E-EA9D-40E6-9ABF-...
>>> There are several ways to start an app on windows startup. I suggest
>>> looking at your Defender settings in the "Software Explorer" area, to
>>> check that. You need to rightclick Windows Defender in All Programs and
>>> click 'run as administrator' to gain access the the top level Software
>>> Explorer (see Tools menu)features.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Please use the Communities guidelines when posting.
>>> http://www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales...help_en-us.htm
>>> Use the "Ratings" feature. It helps the new users.
>>> Mark L. Ferguson MS-MVP
>>> https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Mark.Ferguson
>>>
>>> "surfer100" <> wrote in message
>>> news:56067565-5427-4D8C-8523-...
>>>> I'm using Vista Home Premium on a Gateway laptop with all updates
>>>> including
>>>> Media Center's most recent ones. I would like to stop Windows Media
>>>> Center
>>>> from loading, since I don't use it at all. I've gone into Media
>>>> Center's
>>>> tasks/settings/general/startup and I unchecked the box which reads
>>>> "start
>>>> windows media center when windows starts." But Media Center keeps on a
>>>> loading! Any hints about how I can get it to stop loading? Thanks!
>>>>
>>
>

Thanks for your reply.

I found a solution on another web forum that worked. Just renamed the
"ehome" directory to "ehomeold" and media center no longer runs! Simple!


"John Inzer" <> wrote in message
news:...
> surfer100 wrote:
>>snip<
>> how I can stop media center from loading. snip<
> =====================================
> How to Disable (Uninstall and Remove)
> Windows Media Center in Vista
> http://tinyurl.com/35w33y
> or...
> http://www.mydigitallife.info/2008/0...nter-in-vista/
>
> --
>
> John Inzer MS-MVP
> Digital Media Experience
>
> Notice
> This is not tech support
> I am a volunteer
>
> Solutions that work for
> me may not work for you
>
> Proceed at your own risk
>

Surfer,

Thanks for the info. Can you detail the steps you took to rename ehome
as ehomeold. I'm not very tech savvy but also need a way to override
Windows Media Center. It keeps loading itself on my new Gateway and has
taken over my computer. It is next to impossible for me to do anything
without Media Center randomly loading and interferring with my
computing.

So, if you could explain your solution, I would great appreciate it.
Thanks.


--
shark
Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com

Hi Shark:

Yes. Basically you find the folder "ehome" and rename it to "ehomeold" (no
quotes). The programming that launches media center is dedicated to
finding it at ehome folder, so when it looks for it...no can find because
the folder is now labelled ehomeold!

The way I found the folder was to go to start/search field and type in
"ehome" (no quotes). That then generates a folder icon and the folder name
ehome at the top of the window. Left click on the folder name ehome. This
opens a new window which shows you ehome as a subfolder of the windows
folder on the c drive.

Right click on the ehome folder, which brings up a menu of choices. Left
click on "rename" Now you can type in any new name for the folder.
Actually, ANY different name will stop media center from running, but using
ehomeold is just a convention that lets you remember some day in the future
if you want to start it up again. Hope that is enough to help you get this
accomplished.

surfer100

"shark" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
> Surfer,
>
> Thanks for the info. Can you detail the steps you took to rename ehome
> as ehomeold. I'm not very tech savvy but also need a way to override
> Windows Media Center. It keeps loading itself on my new Gateway and has
> taken over my computer. It is next to impossible for me to do anything
> without Media Center randomly loading and interferring with my
> computing.
>
> So, if you could explain your solution, I would great appreciate it.
> Thanks.
>
>
> --
> shark
> Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com
>