Mike Lin has two software programs that I have been using for several years, and that I recommend to both clients and friends for use on their computer systems.

The first is Startup Monitor. This software is a program that runs in the background and notifies the user when any program tries to register itself to start when Windows starts up. It is a simple way to stop those annoying types of programs that may try to install themselves without your knowledge. It is also a great way to warn you the user, if this occurs. The program itself is quite small [60kb] and uses minimal resources. Mike states that Startup Monitor works on all versions of Windows, but that he has not been tested on Vista as of yet.
Mike Lin’s Startup MonitorMike’s other program is Control Panel Monitor that adds a handy applet to Control Panel itself. With this program you can stop or start any program that runs at startup. It is a handy tool to diagnosis startup problems when things do not function properly. This tiny program [59kb] performs the function of the Msconfig used in the Run command. This program also runs with any version of Windows and Mike indicates it runs on Vista as well, from the reports he has received.

Control Panel Monitor

Both of these programs are very useful and I highly recommend them. And the best part is that both are Free.

[tags]startup monitor, control panel monitor, free, software [/tags]