Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Autoruns VS Ananicy Cpp

Compare Autoruns VS Ananicy Cpp and see what are their differences

Autoruns logo Autoruns

See what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots and you login.

Ananicy Cpp logo Ananicy Cpp

Ananicy rewritten in C++ for much lower CPU and memory usage.
  • Autoruns Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-16
  • Ananicy Cpp Landing page
    Landing page //
    2025-12-29

Autoruns features and specs

  • Comprehensive
    Autoruns provides an exceptionally detailed view of all programs that start automatically with Windows, including those in startup folders, Run, RunOnce, and other registry keys.
  • Ease of Use
    The interface is straightforward and user-friendly, making it easy even for less experienced users to manage startup programs.
  • Free of Charge
    Autoruns is available for free, making it accessible to anyone without financial constraints.
  • Updated Regularly
    The tool is regularly updated by Microsoft, ensuring compatibility with new versions of Windows and incorporating the latest features and bug fixes.
  • Portable
    Autoruns does not require installation and can be run as a portable application, adding convenience for IT professionals who need to manage multiple systems.
  • Advanced Features
    It includes advanced options like virus total integration, allowing users to check startup items against multiple antivirus engines.

Possible disadvantages of Autoruns

  • Complexity for Novices
    While the interface is user-friendly, the vast amount of information presented can be overwhelming for those who are not familiar with Windows internals.
  • Risk of Critical Changes
    Modifying or disabling certain startup items without proper knowledge can lead to system instability or prevent essential services from running.
  • Lack of In-depth Documentation
    Although there is documentation available, it may not be sufficient for users who require more detailed instructions or case-specific guidance.
  • Manual Process
    Autoruns does not provide an automated way to clean or optimize the startup items; users must manually review and make decisions.
  • No Real-time Monitoring
    The tool does not offer real-time monitoring or alerting capabilities; it can only provide a snapshot of the current startup configuration.

Ananicy Cpp features and specs

  • Automatic NICENESS
    Ananicy Cpp automatically adjusts the niceness of processes, which optimizes their CPU usage according to the priority level that it determines best for system performance.
  • Improved System Responsiveness
    By prioritizing critical tasks and deprioritizing less important ones, Ananicy Cpp can help in maintaining a more responsive system.
  • Customizable Rules
    Users can define custom rules for different applications to control their scheduling behavior, providing a high degree of customization for performance tuning.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, it's freely available for anyone to use, modify, and contribute to, which fosters a community-driven approach to development.

Possible disadvantages of Ananicy Cpp

  • Complex Configuration
    Setting up and configuring Ananicy Cpp may be complex for users who are not familiar with system-level process management.
  • Limited Use Case
    Ananicy Cpp may not significantly benefit users on systems with ample resources and low load, as the niceness adjustments are more impactful in resource-constrained environments.
  • Potential Compatibility Issues
    There could be compatibility issues or unexpected behavior with certain software that may not respond ideally to changes in process priority.
  • Limited Documentation
    The documentation available might not be comprehensive enough for new users to easily understand and effectively use Ananicy Cpp to its fullest potential.

Analysis of Autoruns

Overall verdict

  • Autoruns is considered a good tool for both IT professionals and advanced users who need a deeper insight into what processes and services are set to start automatically on a Windows computer. Its detailed interface and robust feature set make it a preferred choice for system diagnostics and optimization.

Why this product is good

  • Autoruns, developed by Microsoft, offers a comprehensive way to manage and understand the programs that automatically start on your Windows computer. It provides detailed information about what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and it allows for easy management of these startup processes. This can be invaluable for troubleshooting issues related to system performance, security threats, or simply reducing the clutter of unnecessary programs.

Recommended for

  • IT professionals
  • System administrators
  • Advanced Windows users
  • Security analysts looking to detect and disable malicious startup items
  • Users seeking to improve system performance by managing startup applications

Analysis of Ananicy Cpp

Overall verdict

  • Ananicy Cpp is a solid, lightweight auto-nice daemon that improves system responsiveness by automatically managing process priorities, and it's a well-optimized C++ rewrite of the original Ananicy with better performance and lower resource usage.

Why this product is good

  • It's a C++ reimplementation of the original Python-based Ananicy, offering significantly lower CPU and memory overhead
  • Automatically adjusts process nice levels, ionice, scheduling policies, and cgroups to improve system responsiveness under load
  • Uses configurable rules, making it flexible and easy to tune for specific workloads
  • Open source and actively maintained, with community-contributed rule sets available
  • Helps keep desktop environments smooth even during heavy background tasks like compiling or file indexing

Recommended for

  • Linux desktop users who want better system responsiveness under heavy load
  • Power users and enthusiasts comfortable configuring daemons and rules
  • Gamers or creators running demanding foreground applications alongside background processes
  • Users of resource-constrained systems who need a lightweight alternative to the original Ananicy
  • People running distributions like Arch, CachyOS, or other performance-focused setups

Autoruns videos

How to use Microsoft Autoruns

More videos:

  • Review - Make Your Computer Boot Fast for Free with AutoRuns | Autoruns Review
  • Review - Using Autoruns to optimize your computer & find viruses

Ananicy Cpp videos

No Ananicy Cpp videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Autoruns and Ananicy Cpp)
Utilities
100 100%
0% 0
Command Line Tools
92 92%
8% 8
Monitoring Tools
96 96%
4% 4
OS & Utilities
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Autoruns seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 306 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Autoruns mentions (306)

  • Microsoft wants Windows Update to handle all apps
    When I was using Windows many years ago, there used to be Sysinternals Autoruns[1] which could control your context menu entries. I have no idea whether it continues to work under Windows 11 though. [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Office is too slow, so Microsoft is making it load at Windows startup
    Autoruns utility still exists. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Booting an OS from a Preserved .E01 (EWF) Disk Image File Using Arsenal Image Mounter
    For example, when I want to actually run malware on the investigation target environment and observe its behavior, or when I want to run investigation tools (like Autoruns). - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Firefox 127
    To Firefox's credit, they are the last major browser to inject themselves into our computer's startup (and at least they are providing notice and a way to disable it). I find it not only annoying but arrogant how most other software companies assume our lives revolve around their particular tool. So much so that, obviously, we must want their software to leech our time, bandwidth and power running its setup... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • The Windows Context Menu โ€“ Is It a Lost Cause?
    Also Autoruns from SysInternals ( https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/autoruns ) "Explorer" tab lets you un-check / check individual entries. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
View more

Ananicy Cpp mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Ananicy Cpp yet. Tracking of Ananicy Cpp recommendations started around Dec 2025.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Autoruns and Ananicy Cpp, you can also consider the following products

Process Explorer - The top window always shows a list of the currently active processes, including the names of their owning accounts, whereas the information displayed in the bottom window depends on the mode that Process Explorer is in: if it is in handle mode you'lโ€ฆ

Ananicy - Ananicy - is Another auto nice daemon, with community rules support (Use pull request please)

Tron Script - Tron is a glorified collection of batch files that automate the process of cleaning up Windows systems.

htop - htop - an interactive process viewer for Unix. This is htop, an interactive process viewer for Unix systems. It is a text-mode application (for console or X terminals) and requires ncurses. Latest release: htop 2.

Tech Tool Store - Tech tool store is an IT professional application which contains more than 600 free technician tools packed in a simple, fully featured interface.

Process Lasso - Process Lasso is NOT yet another task manager.