Windows comes with a system configuration utility called MSCONFIG which you can use when you want to mange your startup programs. But MSCONFIG doesn’t provide enough information and can be a bit cryptic for a newbie. Autoruns is another program that you can use to manage your Startup utilities. It also shows the utilities in order in which the windows processes them.

The programs displayed by Autoruns contains programs in Startup folder, Run, RunOnce and other registry keys. It can be configured to show other locations also. It also includes a line of description of each entry. It also gives an option of ‘Hide Signed Microsoft Entries”’ so your choice in narrowed down to only third party applications. You can also use it to launch the Regedit for a selected entry or you can delete an entry quickly. It can also display a list of services, Scheduled tasks, Winsock providers etc apart from Startup entries.

It is a great utility and a lot better than MSCONFIG. Newbie users as well as advanced users will find it very helpful.