Best Free Startup Manager

Great article and helpful as always. I've been using Starter for a couple of years now, it's been an excellent replacement for StartupCPL which I used all the time in XP. One of its useful features is the ability to add a startup item from running processes rather than having to navigate to the relevant directory.

I agree that Autoruns is rather heavy for everyday use but it's still a great app when you need to check out entries that Starter doesn't cover. Also System Explorer has a very useful module for autoruns.

Anyway I just logged in to mention that the Codestuff website sadly appears to be no more so the link on this page no longer works. Starter can still be found on the usual freeware sites but I haven't been able to find the actual developer anywhere which is a shame and the program's built-in updater no longer makes contact. Would love to hear any news of what's happened to Codestuff if anyone knows.

Fwiw I've also found that Startup Delayer now works fine (has been updated I think) in W7 both x86 and x64 if you don't mind playing around with it a little, i.e. it doesn't always find all the autoruns so they need to be added manually. Still a great program and helps to ameliorate W7's annoying habit of not loading all the systray icons properly, especially on aging machines.

The one thing i'm looking for is not discussed here. I'd like a startup manager that lets me decide the order in whitch programs start so as to make sure my security software is working before windows connects to the internet and before any other potentialy dangerous program has a chance to run.

I don't really like seeing my firewall's splash screen after my online game updater's tray icon, it makes me nervous.

Autoruns is great for diagnosing issues but is overkill for tweaking startup.

Starter is great - thanks for the suggestion. It allows much faster net searching to make a choice.

Starter has a choice to search Sysinfo.org which is no longer maintaining their database. They refer you to:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_search.php
Decent place for searching your Startup programs.

The Nirsoft one suggested in comments is a little too basic.

Used to use Startup Inspector but it's been dying off.

I've used Codestuff's Starter for a year or so. It's clean and does a great job. It will, with a right click, let you check out a starting app on the web helping me understand what and why an app is starting. Often I find I don't need it to run period. There are several additions other than startup it gives. Great program with consistent updates.

Really confused that you list autoruns as having no portable version. It's a standalone without an installer. By definition, that's portable. Your portable apps editor, Ratzo, lists it as the pick in the best portable startup manager category.

Don't get me wrong, yours is a fine article. Gizmo probably should remind some of the editors that a standalone without installer is basically a portable. Yours isn't the only category where I've seen confusion on this issue. I think some of the editors don't realize that a developer won't say, "here's our portable version" if the program is a standalone. Because they figure it goes without saying.

No big deal, but please correct this the next time you do a rewrite.

I've been using Soluto up until now, and I was really happy with it, but since a week(ish) ago it started messing really bad with the startup so I had to sadly let it go. I'll try Autoruns now.

Starter is now portable.

[Moderator's note : link to direct download of file removed. Not allowed.]

I have Winpatrol on all of my computers. It's amazing how many times the little Scotty dog barks and alerts to something wanting to add itself to the startup.

What is the reason to mention Nir Sofer's StartUpRun here?
Nir Sofer tells on the page of StartUpRun that the program is obsolete. It has not been updated in 7 years. Nir Sofer recommends to use WhatInStartup for Win2000 and higher.
Am I missing something?

This article by housecurrupt is excellent and so are the reader comments.

I've recently been using WinPatrol but I will check out the other ones in time.

My messenger program called Skype had been crashing on startup...I tried everything under the sky to fix that to no avail...finally, I deleted it as a startup program and now my Skype works when I give my 'puter at least five minutes to load up its various start programs.

Please note that I also had to uncheck the "Start Skype automatically in Windows" option within the Skype program.

I check my software programs for options within them to start or not start automatically when Windows loads up.

Unfortunately, I've seen some programs that don't have such an option and will preset itself to automatically start when Windows loads up. Any suggestions or advice?

U still didn't review Startup Delayer...
http://www.r2.com.au/software.php?page=2&show=startdelay

There still doesn't seem to be a solution that allows you to control what will startup at startup. All the solutions seem to be enable/disable items then reboot. I want to load different subsets depending on what I am loging on for. E.g working with music load everything related to music and nothing that will be scanning the disk and interuppting the music. I would like to see an app that enables you to save various subset selections and "startup profiles" and then select which to use during the logon process. This to me seems far more logical than controlling startup after startup by rebooting.

I ran across a new startup manager, Soluto, that is very good. Tells you how much time it takes to startup each item and tells you if it can be delayed/eliminated, or if you should leave it alone. Made very significant bootup time reductions on my Win7 x64 system, from >5 min to <1 min. Just installed it today, but it looks like a great tool.