SNP Software




StartupMonitor

StartupMonitor and StartupMonitor64 are small utilities that run in the background and watch for applications attempting to register themselves to run at Windows startup.

The spiritual successor to Mike Lin’s excellent, but unfortunately neglected, StartupMonitor application for Windows, StartupMonitor and StartupMonitor64 provide the same functionality, but with a less intrusive interface. And, StartupMonitor64 provides native Windows x64 support.

Notice: This is beta software, and may contain bugs. If you find a bug, please report it on the SNP Forums.

System Requirements:

• Pentium-class processor or better
• One of the following versions of Windows is required for the 32-bit version:

       Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 4
       Windows 2000 Server or Advanced Server with Service Pack 4
       Windows XP Home with Service Pack 2
       Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2
       Windows Vista RC2 or better
       Windows 2003 Server Web, Standard or Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1

• One of the following versions of Windows is required for the 64-bit version:

       Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 1
       Windows Vista x64 Edition RC2 or better
       Windows 2003 Server x64 Edition

Changes in build 1.0.61019

  1. Support for Windows Vista (RC2 and higher only)
  2. Preferences panel added with the ability to:
    1. Set items as checked/unchecked by default
    2. Enable enumeration of global registry keys and services
  3. Fix for erroneous Windows service alerts on system startup

Questions and Answers

Q: Is this product related to Mike Lin's StartupMonitor?

A: No. This is a different application, released by a different publisher. The original StartupMonitor was the inspiration for this application. Mike Lin's program does what it does very well. However, there are three issues with Mike Lin's program which, while not particularly vexing when the application was released, have become unfortunate as time has gone on:

1. It has a very intrusive interface. If an application is trying to register multiple items, multiple dialogs pop up, requiring the user to make a decision for each.
2. It is very easy to accidentally allow a program to register itself to run at startup (for example, if you are typing when an alert pops up)
3. It does not work properly on the 64-bit versions of Windows.

SNP StartupMonitor was designed to address these three issues, while duplicating the functionality of the original application.

Q: What exactly do StartupMonitor and StartupMonitor64 monitor? And what do they not monitor?

A: StartupMonitor watches six registry keys (StartupMonitor64 watches nine) where applications can register themselves to run when the system starts up. Both applications also monitor the user's Startup folder in the Start Menu, and watch for services registering themselves to run automatically at startup if the user is logged in as Administrator.