Why does Win10 run programs that I have used before but didn't start?

I hope the question isn't too cryptic, but here is the issue: I have processes running like Calculator, Photo's, Cortana since starting up my computer this morning that I haven't started. I have used these programs in the past and it looks like Windows runs these programs in the background just in case I want to use them again. Is there any way to get rid of those (prefetch?)? It uses memory (albeit little) and some of the programs I've started once and never use again (like Cortana).

Thanks for any insight.. I haven't found any info on this through googling the matter....

If you are doing a hybrid shutdown many of the apps you have used will stay in memory and will be stored in a hiberfile so they are ready for use again when you need them. Effectively it is a resume rather than a restart. A full shutdown should clear them from memory so that they are not there when you next start your PC.

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4...dows-10-a.html

Thanks philc43, however, I do a complete shutdown every weekend. When I start up the computer, the programs are back... No idea why it happens, because they're not in the startup either.

How do you know it was a complete shutdown? You can check what type of shutdown you last did by following the method in this tutorial:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/2...ws-8-10-a.html

Thanks! I just tried that and got:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0> Get-WinEvent -ProviderName Microsof
t-Windows-Kernel-boot -MaxEvents 10 | Where-Object {$_.message -like “The boot typ
e*”}


ProviderName: Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Boot

TimeCreated Id LevelDisplayName Message
----------- -- ---------------- -------
7/11/2016 7:20:35 AM 27 Information The boot type was 0x0.


PS C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0>
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so the boot was cold boot from full shutdown...

Ok, that has confirmed it! So, we are now left with finding a reason for these apps to start. One possibility is that you have them all appearing in your start menu as tiles. Now, being windows modern apps these tiles are all live unless you turn live tiles off. W10 therefore loads them all into the background tasks to do this. Windows new memory management means that they use very little memory and in many cases the processes become suspended so do not interfere with normal operation.

Try experimenting with this - you can turn tiles off individually or all at once

Maybe turning off live tiles will stop the processes loading until you actually use them.

Interesting! I'm actually using Classicshell, but I will try to to turn the tiles off "all at once" and see if that will do the trick! I'll let you know more when I have done another cold boot!