Autoruns 14.1

Autoruns 14.1: The Ultimate Startup Control Tool

Autoruns 14.1 is a highly powerful and free utility from Microsoft Sysinternals. It provides the most comprehensive view of every program, driver, and system service that is configured to start automatically when your Windows computer boots up or when you log in.

It is often described as the "mother of all startup utilities" because it shows you far more automatic entry points than the standard Windows Task Manager or system configurator (msconfig).

What Does Autoruns Show You?

While most users know about the programs in the "Startup" folder, Autoruns delves deep into hundreds of locations, including the Registry, scheduled tasks, browser helpers, and shell extensions.

The program organizes all these autostart locations into clear, tabbed sections, revealing things like:

• Logon: Standard user-level startup items.
• Drivers: Device drivers loaded by the system.
• Services: All Windows services, including those hidden from standard views.
• Scheduled Tasks: Programs set to run at specific times or events.
• Codecs: Multimedia codecs that load automatically.
• Boot Execute: Code that runs very early in the boot process.
• KnownDLLs: Critical system files loaded by the kernel.

Why Use Autoruns?

1. Performance Optimization: By seeing and disabling unnecessary programs and services that launch automatically, you can significantly speed up your Windows boot time and overall system performance.
2. Malware Hunting: This is its most critical function. Malware, spyware, and viruses often hide their persistence mechanisms in obscure corners of the system (like strange scheduled tasks or unusual browser helpers). Autoruns makes these hidden entries obvious.
3. Troubleshooting: If your computer is behaving erratically, Autoruns helps you pinpoint if a newly installed or broken piece of software is loading automatically and causing the issue.
4. Verification: Autoruns uses Microsoft's code-signing verification to highlight items that are signed by trusted companies, making unsigned or unknown files stand out immediately as potential threats.

In summary: Autoruns 14.1 is an essential tool for advanced users, system administrators, and security analysts who need total control and visibility over everything that runs automatically on a Windows system.