Ive been reading on the web about the application and there are a lot of reports of this being spyware and a lot saying that this is nothing to worry about. Im a little confused if this is or is not spyware. Can anybody what the program is?

It's just another toolbar scam. They often can be spyware and this one has a reputation of being "un-installable" (meaning that it will not allow you to uninstall it from the control panel). I would highly recommend not installing it. If you want all of the things that it has just bookmark the sites it has on it, since all it does is offer your a bunch of links and a Bing search bar below your url input. Although, if you really want a toolbar, try yahoo: http://us.toolbar.yahoo.com/.
or google toolbar: http://www.google.com/toolbar/ie/index.html
Since these are the most common web browsers they will not be a virus.
Hope that helped

Here's a early PCHF thread on how the OP fixed his StartNow Toolbar problem...

thanks!

I will mark this as solved, and close it up for you...