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? |
|---|
| AsusACPIServer | ? | AsAcpiSvr.exe | Part of the ACPI driver for the Asus Eee PC range. What does it do and is it required? | No |
| AsusEPCMonitor | U | AsEPCMon.exe | Part of the ACPI driver for the Asus Eee PC range. Manages the Fn function keys and "on screen display" | No |
| ASUSGamerOSD | N | GamerOSD.exe | GamerOSD by ASUSTek - for "real-time overclocking, benchmarking and video capturing in any PC game". Free for ASUS graphics cards, 30-day trial for non-ASUS graphics cards | No |
| ASUSKey | N | V38SHELL.EXE | System tray Icon for quickly changing video modes | No |
| AsusStartupHelp | ? | AsRunHelp.exe | Unknown ASUS motherboard utility. What does it do and is it required? | No |
| asussvc | X | asussvc.exe | Added by the AGENT-FPB TROJAN! | No |
| AsusTray | U | AsTray.exe | Part of the ACPI driver for the Asus Eee PC range. Watches the sensors of the motherboard such as power and temperature | No |
| asustweakenable | U | ATweak.exe | ASUS TweakEnable - restores manually changed settings for ASUS based video cards such as overclocking. Only required if you use non-standard settings | No |
| ASUSWebStorage | N | ASUSWSDashBoard.exe | System Tray access to 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 |
| AsusWSDashBoard | N | ASUSWSDashBoard.exe | System Tray access to 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 |
| ASWDP | N | ASWDP.exe | MLS Pulse - real estate software. Keeps the home buyer/seller continually informed on the status of his/her local/regional real estate market | No |
| ASWnk | X | aswnk.exe | Adult content dialler | No |
| AT&T Self Support Tool | U | matcli.exe | AT&T Resolution Assistant. "matcli.exe is a motive Assistant Command line interface that gathers information about your system's identity like your name email address, city, state, etc and gets written to a log file". Resolution Assistant is required to run with the Help and Support program. If you uncheck AT&T Self Support Tool and then run Help and Support it will add another in the startup menu. If you remove Resolution Assistant via add/remove programs some menus in help and support will not be available. You decide | No |
| AT-Watch | U | ATWatch.exe | Anti-Trojan Watch - trojan detector | No |
| atapidrv | X | atapidrv.exe | Added by the AGOBOT-SL WORM! | No |
| atchk | U | atchk.exe | AMT Status Message from Intel. Users can manage this, read the article. See here for more information on Intel AMT | No |
| atf.exe | X | pgs.exe | Part of the PCSecureSystem rogue security software - not recommended. A member of the AVSystemCare family | No |
| atf_reinstall | X | atf.exe | Part of the AVSystemCare rogue security software - not recommended. See here | No |
| Athan | U | Athan.exe | Athan - an application that calculates and reminds the five daily Islamic prayer times for anywhere in the world | No |
| 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 Active Graphics Card Monitor | X | atievx.exe | Added by the IRCBOT-TL WORM! | No |
| ATI AS Filter | X | msnse.exe | Added by the RBOT-CCY WORM! Note - modifies the HOSTS file by appending numerous lines, preventing access to the virus cleaning websites | No |
| ATI CATALYST System Tray | N | CLI.exe SystemTray | System Tray access to ATI's Catalyst™ Control Center. Note that this has "SystemTray" appended to CLI.exe in the "Command" column of MSCONFIG. Not required to run the control center - which is available via a right-click on the desktop | No |
| Ati Control Panel | X | atiphexx.EXE | Added by the RBOT-BR WORM! | No |
| ATI Cpanel | X | atiphexx.exe | Added by the AGOBOT-NV WORM! | No |
| 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 DeviceDetect | N | ATIDtct.EXE | Utility meant for future use of the ATI TV WONDER USB 2.0 video driver and can be disabled | No |
| ATI Display | X | ATIDisplay.exe | Added by the BDOOR-AFH BACKDOOR! | No |
| ATI Display Driver | X | atixd.exe | Added by the RBOT-FOV WORM! | No |
| Ati Display Settings | X | atividx.exe | Added by the RBOT-GAS WORM! | No |
| ATI GART Set-up Utility | N | Atigart.exe | Program that checks the motherboard chipset and determines which GART driver bundle to install on ATI video cards. If you have one, once installed it shouldn't be needed | No |
| ATI Launchpad | U | launchpd.exe | Convenient way to start all your Multimedia Center applications (DVD, Video CD, CD Audio, File Player). You can right-click LaunchPad, and uncheck Load on Startup in the menu | No |
| ATI Rage3d Pro | X | AtiRage4dPro.exe | Added by the AGOBOT-OG WORM! | No |
| ATI Remote Control | Y | ATIRW.exe | ATI Remote Wonder™ - PC wireless remote control driver. Required if you use it | No |
| ATI Remote Control | Y | ATIX10.exe | ATI Remote Wonder™ - PC wireless remote control driver. Required if you use it | No |
| ATI Scheduler | N | Atisched.exe | Component that remains resident in memory and automatically launches the ATI VIDEO PLAYER at a user selected time and date. Delete the shortcut in the Start -> Programs -> Startup folder as well. Functions could re-enable the program to load at start-up and re-introduce the shortcut. Try it and see | No |
| ATI Task Application | N | Atitkad.exe | System Tray access and key-combo shortcuts to common display functions on ATI video cards. Can be run from Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Display | No |
| ATI Task Application (Atikey) | N | Atitask.exe | System Tray access and key-combo shortcuts to common display functions on ATI video cards. Can be run from Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Display | No |
| 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 Technology Startup | X | techstart.exe | Added by the RBOT-AEU WORM! | No |
| ATI Video Driver Control | X | atigfx.exe | Added by the RBOT-FWL WORM! | No |
| ATI Video Driver Control | X | btorrent.exe | Added by a variant of the IRCBOT TROJAN! | No |
| ATI Video Driver Controls | X | [path to worm] | Added by the SDBOT-DDS WORM! | No |
| ATI VIDEO REGKEY | X | ati2vid.exe | Added by the SDBOT.UR WORM! | No |
| Ati2cwxx | ? | Ati2cwxx.exe | For some ATI video cards. Probably used to access features and may not be required - for example the ATI Radeon works fine without it | No |
| Ati2evxx | X | Ati2evxx.com | Added by the BACKDOOR-CPC TROJAN! | No |
| ati2f104 | X | ati2f104.exe | Added by the DLOADR-BBW TROJAN! | 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 |
| ATICCC | N | cli.exe runtime | ATI's Catalyst™ CONTROL CENTER. Required if you want to change graphics settings on a regular basis but you must have internet access and Microsoft's .NET framework installed. Note that this has "runtime" appended to cli.exe in the "Command" column of MSCONFIG. Recommend that start the program manually via Start → Programs → ATI Catalyst Control Center → Advanced → Restart Runtime as it can cause problems when starting Windows | 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