4sysops - FREE: AutoRuns - Comprehensive auto startup monitor

AutoRuns is the most comprehensive auto startup monitor. There are many locations where applications can configure Windows to start automatically whenever the computer boots-up. The new version 9.0 shows some new locations for Vista computers such as Scheduled Tasks or the Sidebar gadgets. If I suspect that a computer has been infected with malware, AutoRuns is the first tool I start. However, in most cases I use it to get rid of auto start components of newly installed programs. Often they only slow down the computer without being really useful. The only disadvantage of AutoRuns is that its complexity. It displays so many different entries in numerous different locations that you easily lose track of things.