Ways programs are quietly started at Windows startup time.

Have you ever wondered where to find the places that start up a program when Windows starts?

Here are three places you may not be aware of:

Start Menu.

This is the Startup folder that was in the Start menu on older versions of Windows. It's still there on Windows 8.x.
c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\start menu\programs\startup

Registry.

32 and 64 Bit Windows
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

64 Bit Windows only (32 bit apps are in here)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run


Windows Task Scheduler. (Control Panel/Administrative Tools/Task Scheduler)

Windows 8.x/7: Expand the left panel - Task Scheduler (Local)/Task Scheduler Library/Microsoft/Windows/TheAppOfInterest

I hope this helps next time you are trying to locate where a program is being started when you start Windows.