For 300 points I am taking on all who dare!
I would like to be more knowledgeable and have better control over the WinXpHome/Pro “Startup” programs. I have a single user machine with me as the user/administrator. Over the course of many installs/reinstalls of the 1) OS, 2) Software products and their iterations and, 3) Interminable Windows Updates many of these changes plant themselves firmly on the “Startup Line”. It makes no difference whether they deserve to be there or not, they just ARE!
The more astute computer user “carefully” guards the installation process and attempts to ward off these intruders, by deselecting or stopping the installation of Quick launch, Desktop or Startup Icons or some combination when appropriate. Often this solves the problem of overtaxed resources, sometimes not.
The methods I’ve become aware of to Stop, Pause, alter, or Remove these culprits seem to vary based on what level of sophistication and familiarity the “Instructor/adviser or Forum” appear to have. Some programs already removed or stopped in the Start sequence seem to have minds of their own, such as Realsched.exe, Justched.exe or Wfxsnt40.exe and its sister Wfxswtch.exe. And, install themselves if you use them once or not at all. Sometimes you can find their home and correct the issue, many times not. These are just samples of those that particularly bother me, others must have their favorites as well!
So for the purposes of this discussion let us make the assumption “Caveat Emptor” for the less adventurous or knowledgeable. I’m looking for serious but usable information.
I have read the suggestions of EE Familiars: Gemarti, PeteLong, Sramesh2K et all and with some variations I have concluded the most common methods I am aware of are:
a) Use MSCONFIG from the Run menu and uncheck the undesired start programs (assuming that they are not required to make the system operate correctly). This however puts you in the Selective Start mode. This appears to be a temporary solution and will invariably come back later. Many advisors offer this solution first & foremost.
Unsatisfactory.
b) Use Services.msc from the run menu and uncheck the undesired start programs (same caveat as above), though many of these changes become undone with the next startup/reboot of your machine. If however, you are knowledgeable enough to select the correct disable sequences in the appropriate panels, you may succeed using this method.
Better
c) Use Regedit from the run menu and go into the correct Registry Tree and search for the culprit here. This is where it gets serious for all of us but the weak kneed. A few Forums and sites suggest reaching into on of the following Trees:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Softwar
The instructions generally advise deleting the offending registry entry and moving on. How do you determine which registry needs action? One? both?, Which processes?, Is this a case of wearing both a Belt and Suspenders?
Some Advisors argue against deleting the entry, deleting the key, move Icons to Temp folders or suggest putting some sort of “REM” remark to prevent activity from occurring. (Is that possible?)
Others avoid the registry like it’s diseased. The suggestions/recommendation
Of course there are always numerous Start-up Utilities that abound on the Internet which offer to accomplish your goals, each espousing its respective virtues, but isn’t that jumping from the frying pan into the fire? Something else to sit in the start-up box?
Am I looking for “one size fits all”? maybe, or better yet just something that is more to the permanent shade of fixes, yet with the opportunity to be undone in the future.
As a full time member I seek the guidance from the best resource on the NET.
So let it be written, so let it done!
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One more advantage of running under a Limited account is that, the Limited accounts can't install ActiveX controls (that means, spyware can't install activex controls when you're browsing). This prevents unwanted toolbars, plugins, browser helper objects, desk band items from being installed. But there are chances that the search settings get modified, but don't bother as it affects only the limited user account's profile. :-)
Certainly, working directly into the registry is a dangerous thing, but once you've mastered it, there's not much that can stop you.
First thing to do before even thinking about deleting a registry key is beeing sure what that keys reffers to. In here we are talking about run keys, so you need to know what the reffered program is.
They value of the run keys always specifies what .exe, or .dll it's calling, so you can search your computer for that file, giving you an hint of what's it for. You can also search the net for that same .exe/.dll file.
Most spyware/adware/viruses start up from these reg keys, so it is a good place to start when you're up for some cleaning.
Then, when you're most certain that you'd like to delete that key, a good practice would be to export the key, creating a reg file, just in case you were wrong ;) (Which is the equivalent of your REM)
Though you have to keep in mind that even if the program doesn't run at stratup... its still installed, so don't expect it to be gone forever!
Steph
I have found that one of the easiest programs to use for this Spybot v1.3.
http://www.safer-networkin
When you are installing the program it gives you the option to use a program called TeaTimer and this prevents or warns you when something is trying to change something in your registry. You can then allow and or deny the change.
Now in Spbot if you go to the Mode and select advanced mode then go to the Tools and then select startup. In here it give you the option to deselect stuff from the registry and all the usual startup places. Now you are correct sometimes a regular user cannot figure out what should be disabled or not and I am not sure I can address this with a good answer.
However by using Spybot when you deselect the program from the startup you can always go back and reselect it again. So this solution gives you the ability to not delete the entry from the registry and re-enable it.
That is my 2 cents.......
I should have made myself clearer.
While improved security will be - A- benefit of controlling whats installed in the startup, I am looking for the realistically most effective(best?) method to remove items that may find their way into the registry(startup). I am well aware of the various startup utilities available to achieve this after the fact, including Spybot(which i use).
I'm searching for the better of the methods available. I make it clear in my request that I'm moderately confident in delving into the registry to undo these Installs, and if thats the best method so be it....I may be looking for the Holy Grail. So tell me so!.
Are the resources used up by one of these Startup utilities worth it? Or create more complications than their benefits?
I understand the need for "expert" advisors oF these forums to provide the solutions that benefit MOST USERS, UNDER MOST CONDITIONS, but what do the Experts do THEMSELVES THATS DIFFERENT? If its not different, then what are the professionally accepted best demonstrated practices?
I make reference to 4 programs that load themselves when not needed. Norton is notorious for that, but Real player is close and now with the installation od Firefox .92, the Java applet (justsched.exe) just hangs on. I can't get rid of it from the startup. My understanding is this item is used to look for undates, nothing else. I want to determine when updates are searched for and thereby kill this item. I can't seem to find it?
In response to Sramesh2k, using a limited account ( set up second user) would prevent(limit)external access to the registry thereby detouring these Buggers. There appear to be instances where "legitimate" programs such as Sun Java installs applets you won't know about until after the install, such as my case. Am I to Understand that the "second User" then has only "search, sort, review, surf access"?, what of e-mail, transferring of files, Sites with Active sound & motion?
I think were headed in the right direction for a solution to my query... I await your further responses.
I personnally use spybot and the TeaTimer as it tells me when anything is trying to write to my registry.
As for justsched.exe I am not sure what you mean. I don't think it comes with Firefox. I am running Firefox right now ( fed up with IE) and I don't have that in my startup or as a process running anywhere.
Please elaborate more on this as I think this is something else, but I guess I could be wrong. What version of Firefox?
UPDATE TO ABOVE DETAILS:
I uncovered that Justsched.exe is the Sun Java auto-update program that beds itself in the start-up process. It can be stopped via the windows add/remove process where it asks if you would like to change something before you remove it. I scoured the choices in the Java control panel and "auto-update" is buried in there. Ergo: I unchecked it, one problem solved.
Symantec Winfax Pro: Removed via the Registry entries for Wfxsnt40.exe and its sister Wfxswtch.exe. It no longer appears in either startup and shows disabled in Services.Msc, however operates just fine when called upon. Ergo: problems 2 & 3 solved.
So far I still have problems with realsched.exe hanging in. Again, this is just a auto-updater that sits in the background.
It doesn't show itself until you use Realplayer, then it won't go away unless you deselect from the process tab from the Windows Task Mgr. I think that I may delete it entirely and then reinstall, allowing control over options selection.
I still have my eye in the direction of SRmesh2k 's idea of setting up another user acct. Right now, I have Adminstrator and one for me.
Any comments out there?
MODERATOR OF THIS PARTICULAR BOARD
I have not received any further response to my questions... How do we proceed? I'm not confident that the answers provided were complete ENOUGH to my satisfaction. or completely addressed the issue.
Please review the strings and respond and advise me what my options are with regard to issuing points.
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: sramesh2kPosted on 2004-07-28 at 09:26:51ID: 11658348
Hi ginovino,
XP does not require any startup application (unlike the 9x systems). At the very least, you must have your firewall and anti-virus at startup. One way you can guard the startup is to check for options within the application itself. Well built application provides you the option to disable running at startup. Some do, some don't have the option.
Secondly, the RUN keys can be protected using registry permissions. Denying Write access prevents any application from adding their entry at startup, but you will need to undo the changes again if you want to add a Legit application to the list.
Another option is to use a third-party Startup monitoring utility which will notify you if an apppication/trojan/spyware
Finally, use a Limited account for normal operation. This is the best of all the advice I can give, coz I (we) have seen enormous cases where the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE RUN and Userinit are altered by spyware and causing all sorts of problems in Windows (spyware just uses your credentials to access the HKLM registry keys). This means, if you're using a limited account, trojans and other malware can do very less harm (in comparion)
One good utility for managing Startup is Autoruns, from www.sysinternals.com