I believe what some anti Virus and what Acronis does is use some feature of windows that stops startup loading etc while and they are loaded first. I have seen it also used in spybot search and destroy where it can reboot and spybot starts and until it is done other stuff wont load. Maybe there is a load area reserved in the windows registry for Anti Virus type software etc that allows them to load and until they exit nothing continues ?
I have seen this command "sc create newservice binpath= <pat_to_the_executable>" for a service which would load before a user logs in ?
I know you can use the file the WIN.INI [Load] or [Run] sections found in the Windows directory but not sure if it runs first
We know of these keys below the line but I think maybe this key maybe something to look at
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit
Shell Value - This value contains a list of comma separated values that Userinit.exe will launch. The default shell for Windows is explorer.exe, though there are legitimate replacements that have been made. When userinit.exe starts the shell, it will first launch the Shell value found in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. If this value is not present, it will then launch the value found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\\Shell
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\\Shell
The rest of the Autostart locations will now be processed.
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[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce]
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows]
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services
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RunOnce Local Machine Key - These keys are designed to be used primarily by Setup programs. Entries in these keys are started once and then are deleted from the key. If there is an- exclamation point preceding the value of the key, the entry will not be deleted until after the program completes, otherwise it will be deleted before the program runs. This is important, because if the exclamation point is not used, and the program referenced in this key fails to complete, it will not run again as it will have already been deleted. All entries in this key are started synchronously in an undefined order. Due to this, all programs in this key must be finished before any entries in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\...\Run, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\Run, HKEY_CURRENT_USER\...\RunOnce, and Startup Folders can be loaded. The RunOnce keys are ignored under Windows 2000 and Windows XP in Safe Mode. The RunOnce keys are not supported by Windows NT 3.51.
Registry Keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx
Run - These are the most common startup locations for programs to install auto start from. By default these keys are not executed in Safe mode. If you prefix the value of these keys with an asterisk, *, it will run in Safe Mode.
Registry Keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
All Users Startup Folder - For Windows XP, 2000, and NT, this folder is used for programs that should be auto started for all users who will login to this computer. It is generally found at:
Windows XP C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Windows NT C:\wont\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
Windows 2000 C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
User Profile Startup Folder - This folder will be executed for the particular user who logs in. This folder is usually found in:
Win 9X, ME c:\windows\start menu\programs\startup
Windows XP C:\Documents and Settings\LoginName\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
RunOnce Current User Key - These keys are designed to be used primarily by Setup programs. Entries in these keys are started once and then are deleted from the key. If there is an exclamation point preceding the value of the key, the entry will not be deleted until after the program completes, otherwise it will be deleted before the program runs. This is important, because if the exclamation point is not used, and the program referenced in this key fails to complete, it will not run again as it will have already been deleted. The RunOnce keys are ignored under Windows 2000 and Windows XP in Safe Mode. The RunOnce keys are not supported by Windows NT 3.51.
Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
Explorer Run - These keys are generally used to load programs as part of a policy set in place on the computer or user.
Registry Keys:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run
Load Key - This key is not commonly used anymore, but can be used to auto start programs.
Registry Key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\load
AppInit_DLLs - This value corresponds to files being loaded through the AppInit_DLLs Registry value. The AppInit_DLLs registry value contains a list of dlls that will be loaded when user32.dll is loaded. As most Windows executables use the user32.dll, that means that any DLL that is listed in the AppInit_DLLs registry key will be loaded also. This makes it very difficult to remove the DLL as it will be loaded within multiple processes, some of which can not be stopped without causing system instability. The user32.dll file is also used by processes that are automatically started by the system when you log on. This means that the files loaded in the AppInit_DLLs value will be loaded very early in the Windows startup routine allowing the DLL to hide itself or protect itself before we have access to the system.
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows
ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad - This Registry value contains values in a similar way as the Run key does. The difference is that instead of pointing to the file itself, it points to the CLSID's InProcServer, which contains the information about the particular DLL file that is being used.
The files under this key are loaded automatically by Explorer.exe when your computer starts. Because Explorer.exe is the shell for your computer, it will always start, thus always loading the files under this key. These files are therefore loaded early in the startup process before any human intervention occurs.
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ShellServiceObjectDelayLoad
SharedTaskScheduler - This section corresponds to files being loaded through the SharedTaskScheduler registry value for XP, NT, 2000 machines. The entries in this registry value run automatically when you start windows.
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\SharedTaskScheduler
The following are files that programs can autostart from on bootup:
1. c:\autoexec.bat
2. c:\config.sys
3 . windir\wininit.ini - Usually used by setup programs to have a file run once and then get deleted.
4. windir\winstart.bat
5. windir\win.ini - [windows] "load"
6. windir\win.ini - [windows] "run"
7. windir\system.ini - [boot] "shell"
8 . windir\system.ini - [boot] "scrnsave.exe"
9. windir\dosstart.bat - Used in Win95 or 98 when you select the "Restart in MS-DOS mode" in the shutdown menu.
10. windir\system\autoexec.nt
11. windir\system\config.nt
