Autoruns: Find Those Pesky Startup Programs

The Nov '04 issue of Windows IT Pro contains an article by Mark Russinovich covering Sysinternals' tool, Autoruns.

This utility shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more.

I downloaded the zip archive and double clicked Autoruns.exe.  The program was up and running without a software install to endure.  In under two minutes, I had banned AOL's AIM instant messenger from running when my computers restarts.  This was a bit too easy, thanks Mark and Bryce.

 

-Chris

Update - 9 NOV 2004
SysInternals releases version 6.0 for Autoruns.