Ashampoo StartUp Tuner description
Finds and displays all programs started automatically by Windows

Ashampoo displays programs which start automatically with Windows and permits you to edit the entries that launch them.You can deactivate entries to prevent programs from being launched, reactivate them if you decide you need them or delete the entries entirely so that the programs cannot be activated again (this doesn\'t delete the programs themselves).

You can also edit the command lines with which the entries are started and add new entries. StartUp Tuner finds and displays the entries from all of Windows\' auto-launch locations, including the Startup folder in the Windows Start, the WIN.INI file and the registry sections for both the current user and all users. Both activated and deactivated entries are displayed, giving you full control over your startup configuration.

Automatically-launched programs are often useful applications like virus scanners and firewalls. However, Windows\' auto-launch facilities are also used by annoying and even malicious programs and viruses that just waste system resources

or actively cause damage. If you find a dubious entry in the list like HOHOHO.EXE you should deactivate it with StartUp Tuner and then restart Windows and test all your normal applications.

If everything seems to be working okay and nothing you need is gone (for example icons in the taskbar) then it may have been a malicious program. You can also conserve system resources by deactivating programs you don\'t need.\"

Lots of programs saved in your computer do exactly as they please. Many
applications consider themselves to be so important that they trigger an
auto-start command in the system without being requested. That means that
every time the computer is booted up, they are started together with
Windows, which isn\'t always the user\'s intention. As a result of this, the
start sequence becomes considerably longer - and manually shutting down most of the unwanted windows immediately afterwards because they simply aren\'t needed, certainly isn\'t fun.