Windows comes with a helpful yet lesser-known feature that can enhance system performance by identifying and disabling unnecessary resource-intensive applications. Often, when you install software, some apps automatically configure themselves to run at startup.

While this may be convenient, it can also burden your system without your consent or awareness. You can utilize the Task Manager to monitor running applications, but there’s a way to receive automatic alerts without manual intervention.

The Startup App Notification feature sends notifications whenever a new app attempts to add itself to the startup process. You can customize the type of notifications you want to receive, such as notification banners and alerts in the notification center.

Additionally, you can configure settings like sound notifications and priority. To ensure this feature is active, you can test it by pressing Win+R, entering “shell:startup” into the run box, and observing the Startup folder.

Dragging a program into this folder should trigger an alert, informing you that the program has been added to the startup list. At this point, you’ll have the option to modify this setting or delete the test program from the folder.