Startup Guard

Being permanently aware of your computer’s behavior is an essential aspect if you want its performance to reach peak levels. What with many processes being initiated behind closed doors, an application such as Startup Guard, which monitors all the programs that run at startup, can ensure that you benefit from your PC’s potential to the fullest.

It is not by accident that this app sports an unsophisticated interface, since this comes to confirm its very purpose of decluttering your startup process. Following installation, which should pose no difficulty even to inexperienced users, the tool’s first reaction is to offer to check all the programs currently set to auto-run. Subsequently, the app minimizes to the systray, where its presence is barely felt.

Still, we have noticed that, despite the fact that it claims to create a desktop shortcut if you decide this is of any use to you, it does not seem to do so. Nevertheless, the tool remains easily accessible, without being intrusive in any way.

Right-clicking Startup Guard’s icon prompts you to choose whether you want the tool to load automatically with Windows, and that’s about it in terms of customization. The amount of user interaction required by this lightweight app is quite reduced, and your sole responsibility is to decide what actions to take against the scanned processes.

On the downside, note that, once you have approved several programs using this tool, you are not allowed to reconsider your decision, and you can only check the total number of apps currently auto-running.

Since the app detects in real time exactly which applications try to run without your knowledge, you are always in control of their activity and ready to block the unnecessary ones. This leads to the conclusion that you can easily manage the initial boot-up time, and consequently get faster reactions from your PC.

You should be protected from sneaky worms, adware, spyware, Trojan horses, and other malicious files whose modus operandi is based on hiding infected processes at Windows startup from the clueless user.

To wrap it up, Startup Guard is an approachable software solution that simplifies the process of monitoring and managing the programs running at start-up, which comes to the aid of those who want to easily spot any peculiar intrusions on their PC without the burden of a complicated interface.