RGdot

Tag: startup

  • Freeware Xyvos System Explorer

    Freeware Xyvos System Explorer

    Xyvos System Explorer is a simple process viewer that provides potentially useful information. The information provided is divided into three sections or tabs.

    Xyvos System Explorer

    The first tab is the process explorer which is a simple version of the Windows’ task manager. It provides extra information about the processes. The path to the program, the process ID (PID), description, company name and whether or not it is digitally signed.

    The TCP/UDP Connections is perhaps more useful in providing a glimpse at which applications are accessing the internet. This may prove useful when trying to make sure malware is not attempting to dial out of a system. The path to the process, the protocol used and the local and remote addresses are given as is the state of the port or connection (listening, etc.)

    The AutoRun Entries tab is a look at startup processes and is a simple alternative to MSConfig or other startup viewers. The process path, again, is potentially useful information.

    Xyvos System Explorer should run on all Windows versions and is a single small executable.

    Note: You may notice 1e100.net addresses if you monitor your outgoing processes. It is “a Google-owned domain name used to identify the servers in our network.” that Google uses to monitor safe sites and warn you about potential attack sites. See http://support.google.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=174717

  • Startup Discoverer: Freeware Tool Displays Startup Information

    Startup Discoverer: Freeware Tool Displays Startup Information

    startupdiscoverer

    Startup Discoverer is a simple, portable and no-install tool that displays any program that automatically loads when a Windows computer starts. It categorizes startup entries into one of 19 groups. These 19 groups, such as User Startup, BHO (Browser helper Object) Runs and Winlogon, display either in blue text, meaning the group has programs or applications associated with it, or in black, meaning the group is empty. It is possible to save any or all of the groups’ lists to a text file or to print them.
    More features, such as editing or deleting startup items would be welcome but a utility like Startup Discoverer does a good job providing important troubleshooting and useful information at a quick glance.

  • What Is In Your Startup?

    What Is In Your Startup?

    One of the important ways to keep a system running well is to be aware of the programs that are run or launched when a system is started. The small yet highly useful Startup Control Panel was featured on RGdot earlier this year but another software from the excellent Nirsoft collection deserves a mention as well.

    WhatInStartup is described by its author as

    This utility displays the list of all applications that are loaded automatically when Windows starts up


    WhatInStartup
         This 47KB zipped download displays the name of the item that is started. The kind, that is if it is a registry item or a file in the startup folder of the system. And also the version, company name and perhaps most useful the location and the command line used to launched the item.
    Two additional features that set apart WhatInStartup is the ability to run the program from another drive and to permanently disable items. The former feature is helpful because WhatInStartup can be used when a Windows system or partition is not working and therefore one can load WhatInStartup from another instance of Windows to check on startup items on the non-working system. The latter feature makes sure that when a user disables a startup item it can not add itself back to the startup list later. This can potentially be extremely useful when a piece of malware insists on reappearing even when deleted. It is also worth noting that the permanent disable feature can be disabled within the program if the user so chooses and as usual with programs from Nirsoft the program comes a with a collection of command line parameters that control many of the behaviours of its programs and in this case includes working with the permanent disable feature.

    WhatInStartup works on any system running Windows 2000 and up, including Windows 7.

  • Know Your System Better With Startup Control Panel

    One of the ways to see which process(es) and program(s) are taking over your system is to look at which starts along with your computer. Windows Start menu has a Startup shortcut that shows the often legitimate programs that start for the current or all users.

    Startup Control Panel and StartupMonitor by Mike Lin add to the arsenal of useful and simple tools that give computer users a better picture of their system. They provide powerful yet lightweight means of viewing, controlling and detecting possible resource hogs and even security threats.

    StartupMonitor at a 60KB download runs in the background and is only seen when a program wants to add an entry to the system’s startup. Sometimes such an entry may be necessary, may be a program such as a calendar has to be visible or running all the time, in which case the change or addition can be accepted with one click. At other times the program may be suspicious or not wanted, when for example a program wants to call home to retrieve updates automatically, and here a simple No click will do the job. StartupMonitor will add an entry to the Windows Start menu to stop it running, if needed.

    Startup Control Panel at a 34KB executable (to be installed) or a 59KB zip file (run straight after unzipping) download on the other hand has an interface.  It is divided into tabs that let the user view virtually all entries in the system’s startup. The tabs are Startup User which shows the items for the current user, Startup Common which shows the ones for all users, Run Once which are those that can occur when a program or report is installed or generated and needs to run at the next system startup only, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE for the registry entries affecting all users when programs add a startup entry to the Windows registry and HKEY_CURRENT_USER for the registry entries affecting the current user.

    Each entry can be viewed in the control panel and unchecked to not run or simply be deleted to not be seen and be sent to the program’s Deleted tab. Much like looking at the aforementioned Startup shortcut provided by Windows some of the tasks acheivable by the StartupControl Panel tools can be done when accessing Microssoft’s own MSConfig but Startup Control Panel offers a more complete picture of what is happening. One additional feature is that it is possible to send an entry to other tabs via one right click. Sending to different tabs simply means, for example, that a process can be sent form Startup User to Startup Common and therefore allowing it to run for all users.

    Startup Control Panel and StartupMonitor are two extremely worthy free downloads from Mike Lin.