Startup Applications List
Unfortunately, due to a change in my circumstances, the startup programs database here at Sysinfo.org will no longer be updated and the off-line downloads are no longer available. The version at Pacman's Portal will, however, continue to be updated and it's recommended that you refer to that site for more up to date information. The reason for this change in policy cannot be disclosed at this time but I hope you have enjoyed using the database here and thank you for your support and kind comments over the years.
Paul Collins
If you're frustrated with the time it takes your Windows 7/Vista/XP PC to boot and then it seems to be running slowly you may have too many programs running at start-up - and you 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 accurate and comprehensive. Services are not included - see below. The database is mirrored in a slightly different format at Pacman's Portal.
"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 you may want to also visit this page.
For further information on random startup entries please visit the Startups Info page.
Last update :- 29th July, 2011
24133 items listed
"Status" key:
| Name or Startup Item | Status | Command or Data | Description | Tested? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AppleSyncNotifier | U | AppleSyncNotifier.exe | Part of Apple's MobileMe software and also installed with version 7.7 of the iTunes media management software. Enables users of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad devices to synchronize their emails and calendars on every device and computer they use - whether its a desktop, laptop or a Mac. Also see here for more information | Yes |
| Aqujyjax | X | [path to file] | Added by the RANCK-CQ TROJAN! | No |
| ara-key | X | [random filename] | Added by the ANTINNY WORM! | No |
| ArcSoft Connect | N | ACDaemon.exe | Used to serve notice of product information and updates when running ArcSoft products such as TotalMedia, PhotoStudio 6 and Print Creations. Set the associated ArcSoft Connect Daemon (ACService.exe) service to Manual (via Start → Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services) and run this entry manually via the Start menu when required | Yes |
| ArcSoft Connection Service | N | ACDaemon.exe | Used to serve notice of product information and updates when running ArcSoft products such as TotalMedia, PhotoStudio 6 and Print Creations. Set the associated ArcSoft Connect Daemon (ACService.exe) service to Manual (via Start → Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services) and run this entry manually via the Start menu when required | Yes |
| Arman | X | [path to worm] | Added by the IRCBOT-TG WORM! | No |
| Arovax AntiSpyware | U | arovaxantispyware.exe | Part of Arovax AntiSpyware from Arovax, LLC - that offers an "innovating, powerful, speedy and extremely easy to use Spyware protection program". Runs a system scan when Windows starts and adds a System Tray icon | Yes |
| Arovax Shield | Y | ArovaxShield.exe | Part of Arovax Shield from Arovax, LLC - that "detects and notifies you about all major online threats trying to penetrate your system, isolates & blocks them". Runs the main program in the background and adds a System Tray icon | Yes |
| arovaxantispyware | U | arovaxantispyware.exe | Part of Arovax AntiSpyware from Arovax, LLC - that offers an "innovating, powerful, speedy and extremely easy to use Spyware protection program". Runs a system scan when Windows starts and adds a System Tray icon | Yes |
| ArovaxShield | Y | ArovaxShield.exe | Part of Arovax Shield from Arovax, LLC - that "detects and notifies you about all major online threats trying to penetrate your system, isolates & blocks them". Runs the main program in the background and adds a System Tray icon | Yes |
| AsCmd | N | AsCmd.exe | Part of the AI Direct Link data transfer utility included with some ASUS motherboards. "Lightning Fast Data Linkage between Your PC & Laptop AI Direct Link can easily and efficiently transfer large amounts of data via the network cable - saving up to 70% of the total time taken. With AI Direct Link, it becomes easy to backup or share large data files like movies or other media content". The exact purpose it unknown and it doesn't remain in memory. Loading AI Direct Link via Start → All Porgrams runs this file which loads the associated System Tray entry (AsShare.exe) | Yes |
| AsCmd.exe | N | AsCmd.exe | Part of the AI Direct Link data transfer utility included with some ASUS motherboards. "Lightning Fast Data Linkage between Your PC & Laptop AI Direct Link can easily and efficiently transfer large amounts of data via the network cable - saving up to 70% of the total time taken. With AI Direct Link, it becomes easy to backup or share large data files like movies or other media content". The exact purpose it unknown and it doesn't remain in memory. Loading AI Direct Link via Start → All Porgrams runs this file which loads the associated System Tray entry (AsShare.exe) | Yes |
| ASDPLUGIN | X | 100171be.exe | AsdPlug premium rate adult content dialer | No |
| ASDPLUGIN | X | 100176br.exe | AsdPlug premium rate adult content dialer | No |
| Ashampoo AntiSpyWare 2 | Y | AntiSpyWare2Guard.exe | Part of Ashampoo® AntiSpyWare 2 from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG. This part is the realtime monitor that looks for changes on the users system such as BHO, Winsock LSPs, Windows Hosts file, Autostart entries, etc | Yes |
| Ashampoo AntiSpyWare 2 Guard | Y | AntiSpyWare2Guard.exe | Part of Ashampoo® AntiSpyWare 2 from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG. This part is the realtime monitor that looks for changes on the users system such as BHO, Winsock LSPs, Windows Hosts file, Autostart entries, etc | Yes |
| Ashampoo AntiVirus Service | Y | GuardGui.exe | System Tray access to the main user interface for Ashampoo® AntiVirus from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG. | Yes |
| Ashampoo Core Tuner | U | ct.exe | Ashampoo® Core Tuner from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG - a utility which helps you to get the most out of a multi-processor (or dual core) computer. "For instant results you just need to select Auto-Optimize to optimize all the programs you are running or Boost to give more power to a single program". This entry loads Core Tuner with Windows (required if you use any optimized profiles) and gives System Tray access | Yes |
| Ashampoo FireWall | Y | FireWall.exe | Ashampoo® Firewall FREE from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG | Yes |
| Ashampoo FireWall PRO | Y | FireWall.exe | Ashampoo® Firewall PRO from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG | Yes |
| Ashampoo HDD Control Guard | U | HDDControlGuard.exe | Part of Ashampoo® HDD Control from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG - a hard drive monitoring utility which also incorporates defragmentation and cleaners for browsing history and unnecessary files. This entry loads the Ashampoo HDD Control Guard component on startup which runs in the background and monitors the hard drives and provides System Tray access | Yes |
| Ashampoo Magical Defrag | U | aDefragCtrl.exe | System Tray access to the main user interface for Ashampoo® Magical Defrag from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG - which "runs in the background as a service, defragmenting when necessary to keep the hard disk tidy" | Yes |
| Ashampoo Magical Optimizer Taskplaner | U | AMO_TA~1.EXE | Part of Ashampoo® Magical Optimizer from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG - which removes stagnant and unnecessary hard drive files, deletes Internet tracks and streamlines the registry by erasing invalid and orphaned entries. The Taskplaner automates this system optimization according to the user defined schedule and gives System Tray access to the main program | Yes |
| Ashampoo Magical Optimizer Taskplaner | U | AMO_TA~1.EXE | Part of Ashampoo® Magical Optimizer from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG - which removes stagnant and unnecessary hard drive files, deletes Internet tracks and streamlines the registry by erasing invalid and orphaned entries. The Taskplaner automates this system optimization according to the user defined schedule and gives System Tray access to the main program | Yes |
| ashampoo Magical UnInstall | N | MagicalUnInstall.exe | Ashampoo® Magical UnInstall from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG - which monitors each new program installation, saving a log of the current configuration and using this as a reference to completely uninstall it if you chose to do so at a later date | Yes |
| ashampoo UnInstaller Watcher | N | UIWatcher.exe | Part of the Ashampoo® UnInstaller series from Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG - including UnInstaller Platinum 2, UnInstaller 3 and UnInstaller 4. These monitor and record program installations and allows you to remove them completely, so that no trace is left. This is the installion monitor that sits in the System Tray and detects the launch of installation programs | Yes |
| ashDisp | Y | ashDisp.exe | System Tray access to and notifications for the version 4.* series of antivirus products from avast! - giving left-click access to the On-Access Scanner, right-click access to other options and event notifications | Yes |
| AsShare | N | AsShare.exe | System Tray access to and notifications for the AI Direct Link data transfer utility included with some ASUS motherboards. "Lightning Fast Data Linkage between Your PC & Laptop AI Direct Link can easily and efficiently transfer large amounts of data via the network cable - saving up to 70% of the total time taken. With AI Direct Link, it becomes easy to backup or share large data files like movies or other media content" | Yes |
| AsShare.exe | N | AsShare.exe | System Tray access to and notifications for the AI Direct Link data transfer utility included with some ASUS motherboards. "Lightning Fast Data Linkage between Your PC & Laptop AI Direct Link can easily and efficiently transfer large amounts of data via the network cable - saving up to 70% of the total time taken. With AI Direct Link, it becomes easy to backup or share large data files like movies or other media content" | Yes |
| ASUS Energy Saving | U | PwSave.exe | Part of the AI Suite system management utility included with some ASUS motherboards. This entry is part of AI Gear 3+ - "a utility designed to configure and support all ASUS EPU (Energy Processing Unit) features. This easy-to-use utility provides four system performance profiles that adjusts the processor frequency and vCore voltage for different computing needs." Monitors the energy savings made via the EPU and when the Energy Saving option of AI Gear 3+ is selected it displays the current status and provides access to the calculator | Yes |
| ASUS Update Checker | N | UpdateChecker.exe | Part of the ASUS Update Windows based BIOS update utility included with some ASUS motherboards. Checks the current BIOS revision. Note that with the version tested (7.16.02 Beta) if this entry was allowed to run at startup, ASUS Update would not run properly and casued system errors | Yes |
| ASUSWebStorage | N | AsusWSPanel.exe | System Tray access to the ASUS Webstorage online backup and sharing utility which is pre-installed on some ASUS systems or available for free (with 1GB available) for others. Disable unless you want to automatically backup and sync your files every time your system starts | Yes |
| AsusWSPanel | N | AsusWSPanel.exe | System Tray access to the ASUS Webstorage online backup and sharing utility which is pre-installed on some ASUS systems or available for free (with 1GB available) for others. Disable unless you want to automatically backup and sync your files every time your system starts | Yes |
| ATI 2D Component | U | Ati2mdxx.exe | Installed with the drivers for some ATI based discrete graphics cards and on-board/mobile chipsets. After testing it's exact function isn't known at this time and it doesn't appear to be running even with the startup entry enabled - hence the "U" recommendation | Yes |
| ATI Desktop Component | U | ATIPTAXX.EXE | Installed with the drivers for some ATI based discrete graphics cards and on-board/mobile chipsets. Provides System Tray access to display settings (including desktop resolution, color depth and multi-display schemes), help and troubleshooting. Unless you often change your display settings this isn't really required as all the settings are available via the system Control Panel under "Display" | Yes |
| ATI Technologies Inc. HydraVision Desktop Manager | U | HydraDM.exe | Part of HYDRAVISION - ATI's software for managing mutliple displays and virtual desktops. This is the HYDRAVISION Desktop Manager - which "customizes the behaviour of windows and dialog boxes, allows you to set up Hotkeys for navigation in multiple display configurations and applies special effects like transparency and shadows to you desktop" | Yes |
| ATI Technologies Inc. HydraVision Viewport | U | HydraMD.exe | Part of HYDRAVISION - ATI's software for managing mutliple displays and virtual desktops. This is HYDRAVISION MultiDesk - which "creates, organizes and arranges up to nine active multi-monitor desktop combinations and allows you to cycle between them with a mouse." There is an optional System Tray icon or a hotkey can be configured to cycle through the desktops | Yes |
| ATI Video Driver Controls | X | [path to worm] | Added by the SDBOT-DDS WORM! | No |
| Ati2mdxx | U | Ati2mdxx.exe | Installed with the drivers for some ATI based discrete graphics cards and on-board/mobile chipsets. After testing it's exact function isn't known at this time and it doesn't appear to be running even with the startup entry enabled - hence the "U" recommendation | Yes |
| ATIModeChange | U | Ati2mdxx.exe | Installed with the drivers for some ATI based discrete graphics cards and on-board/mobile chipsets. After testing it's exact function isn't known at this time and it doesn't appear to be running even with the startup entry enabled - hence the "U" recommendation | Yes |
| ATIPTA | U | ATIPTAXX.EXE | Installed with the drivers for some ATI based discrete graphics cards and on-board/mobile chipsets. Provides System Tray access to display settings (including desktop resolution, color depth and multi-display schemes), help and troubleshooting. Unless you often change your display settings this isn't really required as all the settings are available via the system Control Panel under "Display" | Yes |
| ATIPTAXX | U | ATIPTAXX.EXE | Installed with the drivers for some ATI based discrete graphics cards and on-board/mobile chipsets. Provides System Tray access to display settings (including desktop resolution, color depth and multi-display schemes), help and troubleshooting. Unless you often change your display settings this isn't really required as all the settings are available via the system Control Panel under "Display" | Yes |
| AtomSync | U | atomsync.exe | AtomSync - "this NTP client synchronizes your PC clock with an internet atomic time server or with a time server on your LAN" | Yes |
| Audio HD Driver | X | [random.exe] | Added by the AGENT-OAL TROJAN! | No |
| AudioCommander | N | AudioCommander.exe | System Tray access to the AudioCommander user interface for Andrea USB devices - including features such as noise cancellation, graphic equalizer, echo Cancellation and beam forming | Yes |
| AudioCommander Application | N | AudioCommander.exe | System Tray access to the AudioCommander user interface for Andrea USB devices - including features such as noise cancellation, graphic equalizer, echo Cancellation and beam forming. This entry is taken from the XP version of Windows Defender | Yes |
| AudioCommanderVista | N | AudioCommander.exe | System Tray access to the AudioCommander user interface for Andrea USB devices - including features such as noise cancellation, graphic equalizer, echo Cancellation and beam forming. This entry is taken from the registry "Run" key in the Vista version | Yes |
| Auslogics BoostSpeed | U | boostspeed.exe | System Tray access to Auslogics BoostSpeed system optimization utility - which allows you to "Start programs faster. Speed up computer start time. Increase Internet speed, optimize your Internet Explorer, Firefox and E-mail programs" | Yes |
| Auslogics BoostSpeed 4 | U | boostspeed.exe | System Tray access to Auslogics BoostSpeed 4 system optimization utility - which "Start programs faster. Speed up computer start time. Increase Internet speed, optimize your Internet Explorer, Firefox and E-mail programs" | Yes |
| Auto Run Software for Photo Frame | U | PhotoManager.exe | Management software for Philips digital PhotoFrame range. Used to edit photos and transfer them directly from a PC via a USB cable. Start manually when you connect the device | Yes |
Notes & Warnings
Variables:
DISCLAIMER: It is assumed that users are familiar with the operating system they are using and comfortable with making the suggested changes. We will not be held responsible if changes you make cause a system failure.
WARNING: 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 entries listed in this database where specific removal instructions haven't been given. If this is the case then you could try ComboFix, a program written by sUBs that can remove many different types of Trojans and Worms. See here for a tutorial on how to use the program
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.
SERVICES: "Services" from the NT/2K/XP/Vista/7 operating systems are not included. I fully understand that some programs with these OS's use "Services" as an alternative to load their component parts at startup but these are handled in a different way. We recommend you try BlackViper for information on services for the relevant operating systems.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you're looking for a startup manager then why not 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.
As there are more than 10,000 entries in this database related to viruses, trojans, worms and other malware we recommend you use a quality internet security package. Which ever you choose, keep it updated.
Copyright
Presentation, format & comments Copyright © 2001 - 2011 Pacman's Portal
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