Autoruns vs Defraginator

Autoruns shows programs and drivers configured to run during Windows boot, login, or when certain built-in Windows applications start. It reports startup items from locations such as the Startup folder, Registry keys, Explorer extensions, services, scheduled tasks, and Winlogon entries. Users can hide signed Microsoft entries to focus on third-party items, inspect startup images configured for other accounts, and disable an entry or delete its configuration. Scan options include signature verification and VirusTotal hash checks; submitting files not previously scanned requires the upload option, and VirusTotal features require accepting its terms. The download includes Autorunsc, a command-line version that can output CSV or tab-delimited data, verify signatures, and scan an offline Windows system. The Autoruns and Autorunsc download is listed as 3 MB, and Microsoft offers a Sysinternals Live option. Autoruns costs nothing, with no limit on installation or use on devices owned or supported by the user, but no redistribution license. Microsoft says Sysinternals tools are provided as is without official support and points users to a community forum.

Defraginator is a desktop utility for making selected ROM and firmware `.bin` images contiguous on removable storage. It detects mounted volumes that appear to be removable, scans them recursively, and checks matching files’ physical layout. You can enable or disable target sizes of 256 KB, 512 KB, 1024 KB, and 2048 KB; files outside those sizes are not in scope. The app needs a single free gap at least as large as the file. It reports available free space and, on Windows, the largest contiguous block; on Linux and macOS, that largest-block figure is unknown. Windows moves clusters in place and requires administrator rights. Linux and macOS rewrite files into newly allocated space and check their physical extents; the Linux FIBMAP fallback requires root, while the listed macOS operations run as a normal user. The project says it restores the original after an unsuccessful rewrite and reports success only after verifying contiguity. Keep the card connected during work. Defraginator is free and GPL-3.0 licensed; building it requires the .NET 10 SDK.