Do you remember the Startup folder, where users and administrators - and also malware and other malicious software - could put shortcuts in order to execute certain programs on system startup? Since Windows 8 - with the Start menu gone for good - that folder was quickly forgotten in favor of more robust, service-based approaches, to the point it was nearly forgotten.
Despite all this, the folder is still there, up and "running": it's just that the new GUI is designed in a way that prevents us to accidentally stumble upon it like we were used to. Here are its upated filesystem paths.
Startup folder for a given user only
The shortcuts and programs placed in this folder will be executed right after the current (or a specific) user's login phase.
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%AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup |
Which usually corresponds to:
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C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup |
Startup folder for all users
The shortcuts and programs placed in this folder will be executed right after the login phase of any user, including Guest.
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%ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup |
Which usually corresponds to:
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C:\ProgramData\<Utente>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup |
Now you know where to place a shortcut for your favourite software... and also where to look for malware files.
