Part of ActivClient security software from HID Global (who acquired the original creators ActivIdentity Corporation) which "allows organizations to move beyond simple passwords and deploy the best strong authentication solution for their environment. Choosing from a range of credential options, including smart cards and USB tokens, organizations can authenticate users to a wide variety of desktop, network, mobile, cloud and productivity applications"

ActivCard Gold smart card-based authentication and digital signature client software. ActivCard changed their name to ActivIdentity and were subsequently bought by HID Global

ASUS Splendid "is a breathtaking innovation that brings the video viewing experience on PC to the next level. Built into the driver of ASUS graphics cards, Splendid Video Enhancing Technology detects activation and usage of video applications and automatically optimizes image quality for the best visual result"

Part of the Ad-Aware Security Toolbar add-on from Lavasoft - which "protects you from dangerous websites. By checking in real-time URL against a constantly updated list of suspected malware and phishing sites, Ad-Aware Toolbar lets you explore the web safely"

Part of older versions of the range of internet security products from Quick Heal - including Total Security, Internet Security and AntiVirus. The exact purpose of this entry is unknown at present but it appears to be associated with incomplete upgrade/update downloads. Also included by vendors who use the Quick Heal engine such as Omniquad and iQon

Part of the ActivDriver driver updates for Promethean's ActivBoard range of interactive whiteboards

Accélérateur de débit Alice customized user interface for Slipstream - internet acceleration through compression/decompression techniques, intelligent cacheing on the server side, and real-time conversion of large/high-bandwidth images to less bulky pix

Adobe Reader and Acrobat Manager (ARM) - update/download manager added with Adobe Acrobat/Reader from version 9.x. Recommended that you leave this enabled due to potential vulnerabilities and exploits that may be used by malware writers. The file is located in %CommonFiles%\Adobe\ARM\1.0

ADSL USB modem related

ADSS is part of Access Denied security and privacy software (Access Denied Security Server) that monitors power status and provides some other services for Screen Guard. Important to keep its running while using Access Denied

ASUS Data Security Manager provides password protected data encryption on ASUS notebooks

AhnLab V3 antivirus updater - leave enabled unless you manually update on a regular basis

ALi AC97 Sound driver

Part of Acer eRecovery - with which you can "create recovery media, reinstall Windows without using CDs or DVDs, or just reinstall drivers and applications." This entry isn't normally running but once eRecovery starts it's used to re-install the software included with the system

Part of Acer eRecovery - with which you can "create recovery media, reinstall Windows without using CDs or DVDs, or just reinstall drivers and applications." This entry isn't normally running but once eRecovery starts it's used to re-install the software included with the system

Anonymizer Anti-Spyware - now discontinued

AMD Dual-Core Optimizer - "can help improve some PC gaming video performance by compensating for those applications that bypass the Windows API for timing by directly using the RDTSC (Read Time Stamp Counter) instruction"

Monitoring part of Eset's NOD32 antivirus

Part of the now discontinued Tiny Personal Firewall