Numerical results on the stability of boundary layers in the presence of streaks, assumed steady and spanwise periodic, are presented. The instability features are retrieved both from stability analysis and from the numerical simulation of the flow impulse response. It is found that the presence of streaks of moderate amplitudes is able to quench the viscous Tollmien-Schlichting waves. However, a threshold exists beyond which secondary inflectional instabilities occur. Streaky basic flows unstable to both sinuous and varicose perturbations are considered. To gain physical understanding of the instability mechanisms the equation for the perturbation kinetic energy is analysed. To investigate the sinuous instability modes an analytical model streak is also proposed.