StartupList

Every time we enjoy a long browsing session on our PC, we could lose track of just how many programs are running in the background.  They can either be system-related programs, apps that we have intentionally opened but switched tabs from, apps that go into the system tray instead of being dismissed or even apps that started upon system boot in the first place.

The problem with all these apps is that they eventually pile up and lead to a drop in overall performance, so a background program monitor like StartupList can quickly come in handy.

You might be surprised what it finds, as it can be even more efficient in finding hidden processes way better than Msconfig, making it commonly used to troubleshoot malfunctioning systems, trojan infections, new spyware breed and the likes. The UI is relatively simple, as it is mainly made up of a long list of programs, each of them displayed in a tree-like fashion, each of them with all sub-processes being shown as well, along with the users that program is set to run for. One limitation of this tool is that it is merely for observation purposes since, despite the fact the program can identify all active processes running in the background, it cannot be used to manage them, like you would using the Task Manager.

While this tool can only show you what programs are running in the background, it has a set of tools that allow you to use it together with an actual task manager.  For example, each active process' node, subnodes, path and subpaths can be copied to a clipboard, where it can be, in turn, used as a pathway for other third-party task managers.

Most modern versions of the Windows OS come with complex process identifiers and process managers preinstalled, making this tool more of an option for those that are still using older OS. More so, the fact that all it can do is observe makes it rather useless unless you use it together with other programs.