Finding Out about Windows Auto-Runs and Hidden Processes
One of the many stupid things about Windows is that despite the overwhelming amount of useless stuff on the Control Panel, there is no way to see which programs start up automatically when Windows boots, or what different processes are for. Googling, I found a thread with a good post by Pete C. , who recommends the two programs Autoruns and Mike Lin’s Startup Control Panel, both of which seem well-designed and easy to install.
June 7th, 2007 at 6:36 am
You can view the starting programs by going to Run under the Start menu and running “msconfig” and going to its startup tab. By checking and unchecking the programs, you can determine what runs at the start and what does not.
The programs listed there function separate of anything that happens to be in the Startup subfolder of the Start menu’s Programs folder.
June 13th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Autoruns, and most of the software on the Sysinternals page, are simpply the best Windows troubleshooting utilities around: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx
Mike Lin’s programs are very good- I’ve used them on my home computers for years. I don’t think they’ve been updated in quite a long time, though.