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Applicable for: Mac,Windows

Managing startup and background processes with Norton Utilities Ultimate

Certain startup programs and processes slow down your computer by running silently in the background and consume system resources. Norton Utilities Ultimate scans for these processes and lets you safely put them to sleep to boost the speed and performance of your computer.

Certain programs and processes need to run in the background to offer full functionality. If you notice any abnormal change in functionality after you turn off a process, you may need to turn it back on.

Windows

  1. Open Norton Utilities Ultimate.

  2. On the main menu, click Manage Programs.

  3. In the Manage Programs window, on the Processes tab, click Rescan.

  4. From the list, identify the processes that have High or Medium impact.

  5. For each item, turn off the Processes switch.

These startup programs and processes can no longer run in the background. However, you can open and use these programs normally. After you close the program, Norton Utilities Ultimate automatically returns its status to sleeping.

Tip: If you use a program daily, we recommend not to turn it off. For example, you may miss incoming calls if you put the Skype app to sleep.

Mac

The Startup Manager feature helps you to turn off programs that run automatically in the background to stop them from slowing down your Mac and impacting the performance of your daily tasks.

  1. Open Norton Utilities Ultimate.

  2. Click Startup Manager > Manage startup items.

  3. Click the green (ON) slider next to a startup item, so that it changes to red (OFF) to turn off the program. You can also filter the list of programs using the All, Active, and Inactive categories at the top panel.

DocID: v20230411200124348
Last modified: 02/24/2026

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