configsys – Text File of Startup Items With Full Path

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I have 5.1.2600 SP 3 Build 2600 installed and in use.

I’ve long wondered if there is a simple way to display the contents of the “Startup” tab in the System Configuration Utility as a text file. I’d like something that readily shows the entire command path and location path for all the items listed, not just the beginning. The drop down cannot be maximized nor can the contents displayed by selected and copied to the clipboard. It would be ‘icing on the cake’ if the file showed which items are selected and which are not.

No, I don’t want to try to muck with the configuration by altering a text file, I just want a clearer understanding of what gets invoked with each startup.

Thanks

baumgrenze

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In the Tools, Startup section of CCleaner you can right click on the list of all startup items and select “Save to text file…” (default; startup.txt in My Documents).

This will include the full path and “No” in the first column if items have been disabled in MSconfig (or CCleaner).

Bruce

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Microsoft’s Windows Sysinternals has a utility called Autoruns (and many other useful utilities). All of the Sysinternals utilities are free, are supported by Microsoft, are relatively small downloads (Autoruns is only 525 KB), and run on Windows XP and up.

No installation is required for any Windows Sysinternals Utilities; these are standalone programs. Just save each to a directory and run from there. (Upon first run, there will be a license agreement, but that is all…)

Autoruns goes beyond MSCONFIG capabilities…

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Thank you both for prompt and informative answers. I already have CCleaner but can no longer remember why I downloaded and installed it. I will look into the Windows Sysinternals download. It sounds interesting. Yesterday I decided that paging down through the “Startup” tab in the System Configuration Utility and doing screen dumps to Word, and then trimming the margins and increasing the size of the image to make it readable yielded far to little useful information for the effort.

That said, I must observe that “time flies when you are getting old” and every minute spent learning a computer skill, secure in the knowledge that soon it will be obsolete because support for the software will cease, it will be vulnerable to hackers, and it is time for you to install the newest software, learn about the joys of ribbons, etc., if, in fact, your hardware is capable of meeting the demands of the ‘upgrade.’ One day soon those who write software will need to appreciate that behind me comes the great wave of ‘boomers’ who will soon develop the same outlook as mine. Like me, they will be more than happy to live with the same OS and productivity software just as long as it is maintainable and maintained. They will find that they prefer to ‘use’ their computers rather than ‘relearn how to use them’ under a new paradigm.

Sorry for the rant.

Thanks again,

baumgrenze

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That said, I must observe that “time flies when you are getting old” and every minute spent learning a computer skill, secure in the knowledge that soon it will be obsolete because support for the software will cease, it will be vulnerable to hackers, and it is time for you to install the newest software, learn about the joys of ribbons, etc., if, in fact, your hardware is capable of meeting the demands of the ‘upgrade.’ One day soon those who write software will need to appreciate that behind me comes the great wave of ‘boomers’ who will soon develop the same outlook as mine. Like me, they will be more than happy to live with the same OS and productivity software just as long as it is maintainable and maintained. They will find that they prefer to ‘use’ their computers rather than ‘relearn how to use them’ under a new paradigm.

I have to say that I agree with your remarks. Obviously, I can’t expect to run an ancient computer that boots the OS from a tape drive or 5.25″ floppy and expect it to do the same as a more modern OS on a state-of-the-art machine, but I wouldn’t throw out a toaster because a newer model came along that promises better toast, either. I still use legacy software daily because it does the certain things that I need. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. I have been using Sysinternals programs for years, though; even before Microsoft acquired them…

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