Ever felt the need to start an application during Windows startup every now and then but not all of the time ? Maybe you want to quickly start and play the new game that you recently installed, or just browse through your emails as quickly as possible without having to go the extra mile and start the application manually.

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Every software that is starting during system startup is delaying the system boot process. You might not notice an increase if the software is small but there are applications like those from Norton for instance that can delay it by more than a minute. It is therefor always a good idea to check which softwares are starting during Windows startup and get rid of any that are not necessary.

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You might have noticed a process with the name ctfmon.exe when opening the task manager wondering what it was doing and if it was malicious or harmful in any way. A quick search on the web revealed that it is a Windows process for advanced text services. You furthermore might have noticed that this process activates itself again even if you use msconfig to disable it from starting with Windows.

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Startup Control Panel and Startup Monitor are actually two programs not just one. The first, Startup Control Panel, is a 59K freeware that scans various paths and registry entries for programs that are run at startup. This is great if you need a quick basic overview, if you need an in depth overview try autoruns from sysinternals. Startup Control Panel lists three registry entries and two paths, those are the locations where most programs are autostarted.

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