What is Autoruns?
In my earlier posting, I mentioned that I use Autoruns to manage the list of startup programs in Windows. So, what is it? In short, Autoruns is a nifty little program that functions like MSConfig - the built-in tool that Microsoft allows you to turn on/off startup programs by checking/unchecking them. The huge difference lies in that Autoruns delves a lot deeper and doesn't nag at you (which MSConfig does) after each Windows re-start.
Where to get it?
A copy of Autoruns can be obtained from Microsoft Technet. It is made available for download as a zipped file.
Installation and Basic Use
After downloading the Autoruns zipped file, unzip it to the directory of your choice. That's it. No further installation requirements. To start using the Windows GUI version of the program, simply double click the Autoruns.exe file (icon).
At first glance, the depth of information provided by Autoruns may appear daunting to the casual PC user. However, if one simply intends to use Autoruns to manage startup programs effectively, one only has to concern oneself with entries in the EVERYTHING tab.
To locate the programs that have configured themselves to startup automatically, trot over to the EVERYTHING tab, look for entries under the following sub-headings:
(a) HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
(b) C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
(c) C:\Documents and Settings\UserNameProfile\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Experiment with turning off those programs you deem unnecessary by unchecking the boxes next to them, and see if disabling these affect your PC after reboot. If they do, all you need to do is run Autoruns again and turn them on by checking those boxes. However, if disabling these programs do not hinder your PC activities and help in speeding up PC boot time, you may even consider deleting them from the registry (just highlight the entry and hit delete).
Happy exploring.
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