See which applications are set to launch at startup, disable entries and add new ones, get notifications if an application tries to put a startup registry on your system. All these are offered by the Startup Patrol application which is offered by SterJo Software for free.

The more applications are set to automatically launch at startup, the longer it will take your PC to boot. So if you do not want to wait a long time for your computer to boot up, you must manage all the startup entries. There are numerous applications that let you perform this task – one that deserves your attention is Startup Patrol, which is offered for free by SterJo Software. This application will let you view and manage a list of startup items and it will monitor the startup registry and notify you when an application tries to put a startup registry on your system.

• Getting the application up and running

The system requirements for running Startup Patrol are quite low: 512MB of RAM memory, 3MB of hard drive space, Windows operating system (XP, Vista, or 7). To install the application on your Windows-powered machine you will have to download a very small executable, run it, then click through the setup wizard. If you don’t want to install the application, you can also get the Startup Patrol portable edition.

Startup Patrol is available for download here.
The portable version of Startup Patrol is available for download here.

Please note that during the Startup Patrol installation process you will be asked to get some additional software

• Startup Patrol Interface and Functionality

On its interface the application presents a list of all the applications that are set to launch at startup. Above there’s a bar with buttons to access the functionality Startup Patrol has to offer. Use these button to delete startup items, disable items, add items, execute them, and more. And way at the top, where it’s usually located, there’s a traditional File Menu.



Right click an entry on the list and you will be presented with a context menu that lets you disable the selected item, delete it, execute it, and access its properties.



From the Options menu you can set Startup Patrol to run minimized and automatically launch at startup.



When an application tries to add an entry to the startup registry, Startup Patrol will detect it and will display a notification. Here’s what shows up when you set Skype to run at startup.



So to sum it up, Startup Patrol lets you manage startup entries and notifies you about new entries to the startup list. This SterJo Software-developed application is free for personal and commercial use.

Additional information on SterJo Software is available here.