Manage Autorun Process and Services in One Single Tool!

msconfig not displaying enough information to suit you?  Task Manager won’t stop process from running automatically at boot or login?  Sysinternals has a tool to display and control processes launched automatically, including Logon, Explorer shell extensions, Internet Explorer, Scheduled tasks, Services, Drivers, Winlogon notifications, KnownDLLs, AppInit, Image Hijacks, Boot Execute, Codecs, Sidebar Gadgets, Network Providers, LSA Providers, Print Monitors and Winsock Providers.  It runs on Windows XP and later Microsoft Operating Systems.

The utility can be used to reveal malware processes, and identify “left-overs” trying to start processes after an anti-malware scan has detected and removed the offending software.  (Obviously, not all the automatically started processes are malware. Some, like RealPlayer and Adobe processes just don’t need to start until you actually use the programs).

Another useful part of the tool is the ability to check the auto-launched files for the appropriate publisher signatures.

You may download the utility for free from Microsoft Technet Sysinternals here.  An interesting article on the utility is available at Tech Republic.