From what I have understood after researching on Google, there are two ways of how a program can start on Windows:
- Manual (The user doubled clicked on the executable or shortcut file of the program)
- Automatic:
- Started by another program
Automatic startup can be due to 4 reasons:
- A service, that should be installed
- the windows registry
(HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) - a shortcut to it to the startup folder of start menu
- task scheduler
However, I found an invisible window called: UNCServer.exe running on my computer.
I want to stop it but I couldn't find the reason why it is running. I checked everywhere on all the bullets points mentioned above but there is no luck.
Assuming that the task is running right now on my computer, is there a way to know how a program has started on Windows?
Best Answer
If you would use ProcessExplorer, you can find how program started:
From menu: go to
View->Select column
then switch to tab:Process Image
and check box Autostart location.
This way you can reveal what mechanism program used to autostart.
Make sure to run ProcessExplorer as administrator.