| Article Index |
|---|
| Remove the Bloat with AutoRuns |
| The Events |
| Important Instructions |
| All Pages |
When Windows system events occur, such as Windows Startup, User Login, Application Startup and more, programs can be setup to automatically load. For example, when the User Login event occurs your Virus Scan software is automatically loaded. Malware often executes by hooking into one of these AutoRun events. The AutoRuns program developed by System Internals will help us turn some of these off.
When you startup the AutoRuns application (autoruns.exe), it will take a moment to scan your Windows system to determin all the automatically executed programs and what triggers them. Give it some time and let it complete its job.
When your system's been enumerated, go into the menu and turn on "Hide Signed Microsoft Entries". This will clear out some of the clutter so you can focus on what's important.
We should take a moment here to touch on how badly you can mess up your system if you're not careful. If you don't know what something is, then for goodness sake, don't touch it! It takes some time to become familiar with what should be, and what shouldn't be in the list. You can always search through google to see if it's okay to disable.
Next, we'll go through the sections of the application where you should focus your attention.
