system
A chat on subreddit /r/pcmasterrace
human
How do you determine what should and shouldn’t be starting?
gpt
experience.

honestly if you're not sure, probably dont mess with it. its why this isnt a built in tool and the task manager only gives you things windows can determine 100% is non-vital to its ability to function.

if you do choose to venture into autoruns.. just backup anything important and have a windows reinstall USB on the ready.

most stuff under login, explorer, internet explorer, and scheduled tasks will be safe to turn off (though this doesnt mean its something you'll want to turn off). most stuff under services is stuff you can probably turn off and the computer wont completely die, but some things may not work so check stuff before switching it off. Everything after services I recommend just not touching unless you're in there for trouble shooting purposes because something is already broken.

and mind you nothing you disable here removes it from the PC, it just stops the OS from starting that program/service/task from starting when you boot/login (or being on the schedule in case of the scheduled tasks).

it should also be noted that you should also check task manager. autoruns doesnt always seem to include the windows Apps (IE things from the windows store) so check both.

lastly. If you see something in the start up that you dont want at all, probably better to just uninstall it. for example a lot of pre-build systems come with a dropbox trial preinstalled. you'll see a number of dropbox entries under explorer and services.. better to just uninstall it all together if you're not actually using dropbox.