How to track and maintain startup programs with PowerShell on Windows 8? I know how to use PowerShell cmdlets.

If you want to get a list of all startup applications on your Windows 8 with PowerShell cmdlets, you can use the "Get-WmiObject" cmdlet as described in this tutorial:

1. Start a PowerShell window

2. Run the following command.

C:\fyicenter> powershell
Windows PowerShell
Copyright (C) 2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

PS C:\fyicenter> get-wmiobject Win32_StartupCommand 
   | select-object -property name,command,location 
   | format-list > startup-programs-2.txt

3. Open startup-programs-2.txt in Notepad. You see a list of startup programs recorded in the file, as shown in the example below:

name     : OpenOffice.org 3.2
command  : OpenOffice.org 3.2.lnk
location : Startup

name     : Google Update
command  : C:\Users\xxx\AppData\Local\Google\Update\1.3.33.7\GoogleUpdateCore.exe
location : HKU\S-1-5-21-867...\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : McAfee Security Scan Plus
command  : C:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE~1\311~1.599\SSSCHE~1.EXE 
location : Common Startup

name     : Microsoft Office
command  : C:\PROGRA~2\MICROS~1\Office10\OSA.EXE -b -l
location : Common Startup

name     : Apoint
command  : C:\Program Files\DellTPad\Apoint.exe
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : SysTrayApp
command  : C:\Program Files\IDT\WDM\sttray64.exe
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : QuickSet
command  : c:\Program Files\Dell\QuickSet\QuickSet.exe
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : IntelTBRunOnce
command  : wscript.exe //b //nologo "C:\Program 
           Files\Intel\TurboBoost\RunTBGadgetOnce.vbs"
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : BTMTrayAgent
command  : rundll32.exe "C:\Program Files 
           (x86)\Intel\Bluetooth\btmshell.dll",TrayApp
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : IgfxTray
command  : C:\Windows\system32\igfxtray.exe
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : HotKeysCmds
command  : C:\Windows\system32\hkcmd.exe
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

name     : Persistence
command  : C:\Windows\system32\igfxpers.exe
location : HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

Keep this file startup-programs.txt in a safe place, so that you can compare it at a later time to see if there are any new startup programs are added in your system.

⇒ Disable or Remove Startup Programs on Windows 8

⇐ Track Startup Programs with wmic.exe on Windows 8

⇑ View Startup Programs on Windows 8

⇑⇑ Windows 8 Startup Programs