If you're frustrated with the time it takes your Windows PC to boot and then it seems to be running slowly you may have too many programs running at start-up - and have come to the right place to identify them. This is the original startup programs (as opposed to processes/tasks) list - one of the most comprehensive and most accurate!
"Name or Startup Item" in the table below refers to how an entry is displayed in MSConfig, Windows Defender or the registry "Run" keys. "Command or Data" refers to the program the entry runs. For further information on this and how to identify and disable startup programs please visit the Startup Content page.
For further information on random startup entries please visit the Startup Info page. For the next few months and foreseeable future I'll be verifying many of the Y, U, N & ? entries via virtual machines. If you can verify/identify those entries with a "?" status (especially hardware specific - such as laptops and motherboards) then please E-mail me (address at bottom of the page) or use the new Message Board.
Last update :- 31st August
21939 items listed
"Status" key:
- "Y" - Normally leave to run at start-up
- "N" - Not required or not recommended - typically infrequently used tasks that can be started manually if necessary
- "U" - User's choice - depends whether a user deems it necessary
- "X" - Definitely not required - typically viruses, spyware, adware and "resource hogs"
- "?" - Unknown
Variables:
- %System% - refers to the System folder; by default this is C:\Windows\System (9x/Me), C:\Winnt\System32 (NT/2K), or C:\Windows\System32 (XP/Vista)
- %Windir% - refers to the Windows installation folder; by default this is C:\Windows (9x/Me/XP/Vista) or C:\Winnt (NT/2K)
- %UserProfile% - refers to the current user's profile folder; by default this is C:\Documents and Settings\ (NT/2K/XP) or C:\Users\ (Vista)
- %ProgramFiles% - refers to the Program Files folder; typically the path is C:\Program Files
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| Name or Startup Item | Status | Command or Data | Description | Tested? |
|---|
| Microsoft Office 2010 | U | BCSSync.exe | Part of SharePoint Server 2010 which is part of the Microsoft Office 2010 suite. "Business Connectivity Services (BCS) uses a cache to store a copy of the external data required by the BCS solutions deployed on the Office client. A process called BCSSync.EXE runs on the client and provides automatic cache refresh and data synchronization of the entity instances." For more information - see here | No |
| Microsoft Office Fast Cache | N | Fastboot.exe | Part of MS Office 95 (v7.0). According to this it improves the performance. Most likely a predecessor of MS Find Fast and can be disabled | No |
| Microsoft Office Groove | U | GROOVE.EXE | System Tray access to and alerts for MS Office Groove - a stand-alone product or included with the Enterprise/Ultimate versions of MS Office 2007. "A collaboration software program that helps teams work together dynamically and effectively, even if team members work for different organizations, work remotely, or work offline". Users can create workspaces and invite other Groove users to share the workspace and when a document is edited within the workspace the changes made become available to all other users in the workspace when they come online - synchronized using LAN, WAN and the Internet | Yes |
| Microsoft Office Monitor | X | alg2k.exe | Added by the SDBOT-CZO WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Office Monitor | X | aql32.exe | Added by the RBOT-GCY TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Office OneNote | N | ONENOTEM.EXE | System Tray access to MS Office OneNote 2003 & 2007 - an electronic notebook that allows you to create free-form notes, including text, graphics and audio/video. When running, ONENOTEM.EXE also enables the WINDOWS KEY combinations - such as WINDOWS KEY+N (new Side Note - 2007 only) and WINDOWS KEY+S (insert screen grab into a note). Leave the icon enabled in OneNote but move the shortcut from Start → All Programs → Startup to the desktop or elsewhere on the Start menu and run when needed | Yes |
| Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 Quick Launch | N | ONENOTEM.EXE | System Tray access to MS Office OneNote 2003 - an electronic notebook that allows you to create free-form notes, including text, graphics and audio/video. When running, ONENOTEM.EXE also enables the WINDOWS KEY+S key combination to insert screen grab into a note. Leave the icon enabled in OneNote but move the shortcut from Start → All Programs → Startup to the desktop or elsewhere on the Start menu and run when needed | Yes |
| Microsoft Office quick launch | X | OSA.exe | Added by the VBOT.A BACKDOOR! Note that OSA.exe was used in older versions of Office to launch common components to help speed up the launch but it is no longer normally used - see here. This file is located in a valid MS Office 2003 (aka Office 11) directory - %Program Files%\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11 - and may overwrite a valid file | No |
| Microsoft Office Quick Launcher | X | iau1.exe | Added by the DLOADR-AWD TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar | N | Msoffice.exe | Feature included with older versions of MS Office giving you access to common Office functions and optional shortcuts to Office (and other) programs. Some people prefer it but a better way is to create desktop shortcuts if you want access these features and programs quickly. Also available via Start → All Programs | Yes |
| Microsoft Office Start | X | winupdates.exe | Added by the GAOBOT.BC WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Office Startup | N | osa.exe | On older versions of MS Office this launches common Office components to help speed up the launch of Office programs. On slower machines it can be a resource hog and some users claim there's no difference with or without it - but it usually isn't required. This must be left enabled if you use the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar (MSOFFICE.EXE) and have set it to load at startup. Available via Start → All Programs | No |
| Microsoft Office Startup | N | Osa9.exe | On older versions of MS Office this launches common Office components to help speed up the launch of Office programs. On slower machines it can be a resource hog and some users claim there's no difference with or without it - but it usually isn't required. This must be left enabled if you use the Microsoft Office Shortcut Bar (MSOFFICE.EXE) and have set it to load at startup. Available via Start → All Programs | No |
| Microsoft Office Studio | X | scvhvst.exe | Added by the RANDEX.CST WORM! | No |
| Microsoft OfficeTool | X | svchosts.exe | Added by the DUTAN.A WORM! | No |
| Microsoft OfficeXP | X | officeXP.exe | Added by the KILLAV.MA WORM! | No |
| Microsoft OfficeXP | X | vcvsdf.exe | Added by the SDBOT-SF WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Oftice | X | msmsgs.exe | Added by the IRCBOT.ALT WORM! Note - this particular msmsgs.exe file is located in %System% and should not be mistaken for the MSN Messenger file of the same name which is located in %Program Files%\Messenger | No |
| MicroSoft OneCare | X | FreeS3x.exe | Added by the SDBOT-DJT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Opeions | X | IEXwe.exe | Added by a variant of the RBOT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Outlook Express Protocol | X | svchst.exe | Added by a variant of the RBOT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Patch Update | X | bootini.exe | Added by the RBOT-FMN WORM! | No |
| Microsoft PC Health Remote Assistance File Open & Save controls | X | sfrcdlg32.exe | Added by the RBOT-AVY WORM! | No |
| Microsoft PCHealth32 | X | [path to file] | Added by the NICE-A TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft PCHealth32 | X | NDDENB.exe | Added by the PWSYAHOO-A TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft PCI Manager | X | mspci.exe | Added by the RBOT.BBG WORM! | No |
| Microsoft People Near Me | N | p2phost.exe | Signs a user into the People Near Me feature at login in Windows 7 and Vista. People Near Me enables you to use certain peer-to-peer (P2P) programs on a network - that "identifies people nearby who are using computers and allows those people to send you invitations for programs such as Windows Meeting Space. They can only invite you to participate in programs that are installed on your computer." Available via Start → Control Panel | Yes |
| Microsoft Personal Firewalls | X | bakw.exe | Added by the RBOT-KS WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Problem Doctor | X | windr128.exe | Added by the SMALLTRO.EF TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Problem Doctor | X | windr32.exe | Added by a variant of the SMALLTRO.EF TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Problem Doctor | X | windr64.exe | Added by a variant of the SMALLTRO.EF TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Proc Driver32 | X | msprc.exe | Added by a variant of the WOOTBOT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Procedure Call | X | MSPCALL.exe | Added by a variant of the RBOT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Process Manager | X | process32.exe | Added by the CHECKOUT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Profile Manager | X | profile.exe | Added by a variant of the IRCBOT TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Protection Subsystems | X | msm32.exe | Added by the RBOT-JU WORM! | No |
| Microsoft PSTCP32 Data | X | pstcp32.exe | Added by a variant of the RBOT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft QMGR | X | msnqmgr.exe | Added by the IRCBOT-S TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft quick launch | X | OSA.exe | Added by a variant of the VBOT.A BACKDOOR! Note that OSA.exe was used in older versions of Office to launch common components to help speed up the launch but it is no longer normally used - see here. This file is located in a valid MS Office 2003 (aka Office 11) directory - %Program Files%\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11 - and may overwrite a valid file | No |
| Microsoft RDLL | X | sysconf32.exe | Added by a variant of the SDBOT TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Redirect | X | [path to file] | Added by the BANKER-FW TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Redirect | X | systen.exe | Added by the BANCOS-FO TROJAN! | No |
| Microsoft Regestry Edit Manager | X | regedit.exe | Added by the SHEUR.HC TROJAN! Note - this is not the valid Windows registry editor which resides in %Windir% and will not normally figure in Msconfig/Startup! This version resides in %System% | No |
| Microsoft Regestry Manager | X | regedit32.exe | Added by a variant of the IRCBOT.ARD WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Regestry Manager | X | registry32.exe | Added by the IRCBOT.ARD WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Registro | X | svchostt.exe | Added by the BANCOS-DH TROJAN!
| No |
| Microsoft Registry | X | csrse.exe | Added by the RBOT-PC WORM!
| No |
| MicroSoft Remote Secure Service | X | MSRSS.exe | Added by a variant of the RBOT WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Restore | X | scrgrd.exe | Added by the SPYBOT.BR WORM! | No |
| Microsoft Router Manager | X | linksys.exe | Added by a variant of the IRCBOT TROJAN! | No |
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The following files are available for people developing mirrors of the site and using the information presented here:
Startup XML File - Startup INI File - Startup HTML File
For IE users, right-click on the link and select "Save Target As..." - note that for the INI and HTML files the suggested filename will be "startuplist.htm" and you'll have to rename them "startuplist.ini" and "startuplist.html" respectively.
For Firefox users, I recommend downloading the zipped versions from here. Otherwise, you'll have to open the file and save it - which can take a long time due to the size.
NOTE: These downloads are password protected and free to anyone producing a mirror or free utility. If you produce a commercial/shareware utility please contact me to discuss options. If you don't fall into any of these categories and want to download any of these files you will need to either make a donation of $15/year or more via PayPal (or E-mail me) and you will be provided with the login details which will change at the beginning of each year. The donation will go towards researching new and existing entries for the database and creating these files. Since making these files available for download they've been available free of charge and downloaded thousands of times. I believe they are unique as to my knowledge, no similar site offers such a resource as the lists they offer are on-line only.
DISCLAIMER: It is assumed that users are familiar with the operating system they are using and comfortable with making the suggested changes. I will not be held responsible if changes you make cause a system failure.
NOTE: This is NOT a database of tasks/processes taken from Task Manager or the Close Program window (CTRL+ALT+DEL) but a database of startup applications, although you will find some of them listed via this method. Pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL identifies programs that are currently running - not necessarily at startup. For a list of tasks/processes you should try the Process Library from Uniblue, the list at PC Pitstop or one of the many others now available. Therefore, before ending a task/process via CTRL+ALT+DEL just because it has an "X" recommendation, please check whether it's in MSConfig or the registry first. An example would be "svchost.exe" - which doesn't appear in either under normal conditions but does via CTRL+ALT+DEL. If in doubt, don't do anything.
To avoid the database becoming too large, all virus entries are only shown using the registry version which is common to all Windows versions. Otherwise there would be multiple entries for popular filenames that viruses often use - such as "svchost" above for example. Multiple viruses can also use the same startup entries, in this case only those with significant differences (such as file location) are repeated in this database.
NOTE : There are a number of virus and malware entried listed in this database where specific removal instructions haven't been given. If this is the case then you could try SDFix, a program written by AndyManchesta that can remove many different types of Trojans and Worms. See here for a tutorial on how to use the program and here for the latest ReadMe file detailing the fixes included.
IMPORTANT: A number of entries are repeated due to the way that different operating systems display startup items. For example, WinMe lists "POPROXY.EXE" as "Norton eMail Protect" in both MSCONFIG and the registry whereas WinXP lists it as "Poproxy" in MSCONFIG and "Norton eMail Protect" in the registry.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you're looking for a startup manager then why not try WinPatrol (by BillP Studios) or Advanced SystemCare Free (by IObit) - both include the option to search this database for a particular entry. Alternatively try Spybot - Search & Destroy (by Safer Networking Ltd) as the startup programs section (select the Advanced mode) includes descriptions from this database. You might also want to try their RunAlyzer and FileAlyzer tools.
There are an ever increasing number of rogue applications appearing these days and many of the removal guides referenced in this database use MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (which now incorporates the now discontinued RogueRemover).
As there are more than 10,000 entries in this database related to viruses, trojans, worms and other malware I recommend you use a quality internet security package. Which ever you choose, keep it updated.
Presentation, format & comments Copyright © 2001 - 2010 Paul Collins
Portions Copyright © Peter Forrest, Denny Denham, Sylvain Prevost, Tony Klein, CastleCops & Bleeping Computer
Database creation and support by Patrick Kolla
Software support by John Mayer
All rights reserved