I've used the free
www.PCPitstop.com checks every month or two for the past five years with no bad side-effects but some occasional benefits.
One of the results from the Full Test, "Test Details", shows what programmes are running and what they are for. (Probably one of the mini-tests would give these details if you didn't want to do the Full Test.) Click on them for further information.
They give these links, too, which should help:
"These sites also have good information about specific running programs and what they do:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.htm
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm
http://www.3feetunder.com/krick/startlist.htm "