When it comes to music streaming, there none better than Spotify, at least for me. The user interface is clean, has a huge catalog, lightweight compared other services, and most of all, the music quality is better. Not to mention, Spotify is available to through Windows Store and has a ton of options to customize the app as you want.
One of the interesting features of the Spotify app in Windows 10 is that if you shut down your system with Spotify running, the app will open itself and resume where you left off as soon as you start the system. This behavior is very similar to how Microsoft office apps work. For instance, if you shut down the computer with a Word document opened, it will be opened automatically for you so that you can start working from where you left off.
Though starting Spotify where you left off is pretty helpful, if you don’t like this behavior you can stop Spotify from opening on system startup in Windows 10 by changing a single option. Let me show you how.
Method #1: Stop Spotify from Opening on System Startup
1. First, open the Spotify application by searching for it in the Start Menu. You can also use the taskbar icon if you’ve pinned the Spotify application.
2. Once the Spotify application has been opened, click on the dropdown menu appearing on the top-right corner and select the “Settings” option.
3. The above action will open the Spotify settings page. This is where you can change different options of Spotify. For whatever reason, Spotify chose to hide the startup option under Advanced Settings. So, scroll all the way down and click on the “Show Advanced Settings” button.
4. Now, scroll down until you find the “Startup and Window Behavior” section. Under this heading, select “No” from the dropdown menu next to “Open Spotify automatically after you log into the computer” option.
The changes are saved instantly and automatically. From now on, Spotify won’t start with your system. You have to manually launch the application as and when needed.
Method #2: Disable Spotify in Task Manager Startup Applications List
Alternatively, you can also use the task manager’s startup tab to stop Spotify from automatically starting with your system. This method is useful when the Spotify app is ignoring your startup settings, for some reason.
1. To open the task manager, right-click on your taskbar and select the “Task Manager” option. If you don’t mind doing some finger gymnastics, you can also use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
2. In the task manager, go to the Startup tab. This is where you can manage all the applications that register to start with Windows. Here, find the Spotify application from the list, select it, and click on the “Disable” button appearing at the bottom right corner.
3. Once you disable the Spotify startup entry, it should say “Disabled” under the “Status” column.
That is all. After you disable Spotify startup item, it will no longer open when you start the computer. You have to manually start the Spotify application.
If you like this article, do check out how to open a webpage using task scheduler and how to change keyboard language shortcut in Windows 10.