Changing the order of automatic program startup at boot time

[Matt Whiting]

How do I change the order that programs start at boot time? The reason
I ask is that my NAV software seems to start late in the process as I
always get a warning from the security center that says I don't have
antivirus protection and then a few seconds later NAV fires up and the
message goes away. It appears that NAV doesn't run until after several
other applications have been started. Is this by design or by chance?

This system was upgraded recently from ME and NAV was one of the first
programs to run under ME.


Matt

 

[Guest]

WIth AV programs, it's important that you reinstall it AFTER upgrading to XP.
THe core of the programs are different in ME than XP. So uninstall/reinstall
your AV, then reboot. That'll probably make a difference with it loading as a
service.
--Kelly

 

[Brian A.]

AFAIK you can't set any specific order. However, if you wish you can stop the
alerts.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Security Center.
On the left click "Change the way Security Center Alerts Me".

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Stan Brown]

How do I change the order that programs start at boot time?

There is one way, and only one, that works reliably: put all your
desired startups in a script or batch file and then make that script
or batch file the only startup as far as Windows is concerned.

You will see a lot of well-meaning suggestions to use various
undocumented or unsupported behavior, but the above is he only method
you can count on. For more details and explanations, see
<http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/12/25/45926.aspx> and
particularly Raymond Chen's comments therein.

 

[Jim Byrd]

Hi Matt - You should read (and perhaps print out/save for future reference)
mskb article Q179365 here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q179365

which will tell you the order in which things get loaded.

Two additional resources which have useful information relating to startup
issues are:

How to Delay Loading of Specific Services
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;193888

HOWTO: Control Device Driver Load Order
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q115/4/86.asp

There are several third party programs which offer to set startup order.
However, they generally depend upon undocumented OS features which cannot be
counted upon to remain stable, so they should only be used with great
caution, and definitely not in any mission critical situation. In addition,
the particular programs being started may by their startup interactions at a
specific time substantially change the order in which they arrive at their
"ready to be scheduled to execute" states. For example, TreeWalk which is a
local DNS server available here: http://www.ntcanuck.com/ has the ability
to block malware, bogus DNS servers and adserver URL's when set up to do so.
In this configuration the amount of time it takes TW to start up will depend
on the number of URL's it has to load from filter.conf at startup which, in
turn, will vary from time to time as various blocking lists are updated.
This, in turn can substantially affect the startup relationship between
those other programs which depend upon TW and those that don't in a
multi-tasking environment. (Nobody ever told you this stuff was going to be
simple! ) The bottom line is that you need to be very, very careful
here.

 

[Matt Whiting]

WIth AV programs, it's important that you reinstall it AFTER upgrading to XP.
THe core of the programs are different in ME than XP. So uninstall/reinstall
your AV, then reboot. That'll probably make a difference with it loading as a
service.

I did reinstall it after upgrading, not by choice but because the
upgrade to XP hosed the NAV installation so that it wouldn't run and I
could neither uninstall it (the procedure failed) nor reinstall it (the
install procedure said it was already installed). I had to download 4
utilities from the Symantec web site to finally clean up the remains of
the original installation so that I could install from scratch. I can
try to uninstall and reinstall it again, but I'm wondering if that will
make much difference since it was already installed as one of the last
things I did after the upgrade.

Matt

 

[Matt Whiting]

AFAIK you can't set any specific order. However, if you wish you can
stop the alerts.

Start > Settings > Control Panel > Security Center.
On the left click "Change the way Security Center Alerts Me".

That seems like a somewhat risky solution, but certainly effective.
Maybe it doesn't matter that NAV seems to start late, it just seems that
you'd want the AV software to be one of the very first things that executes.


Matt

 

[Matt Whiting]

There is one way, and only one, that works reliably: put all your
desired startups in a script or batch file and then make that script
or batch file the only startup as far as Windows is concerned.

You will see a lot of well-meaning suggestions to use various
undocumented or unsupported behavior, but the above is he only method
you can count on. For more details and explanations, see
<http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/12/25/45926.aspx> and
particularly Raymond Chen's comments therein.

Thanks, very interesting reading there.

Matt

 

[Matt Whiting]

Hi Matt - You should read (and perhaps print out/save for future reference)
mskb article Q179365 here:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q179365

which will tell you the order in which things get loaded.

Two additional resources which have useful information relating to startup
issues are:

How to Delay Loading of Specific Services
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;193888

HOWTO: Control Device Driver Load Order
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q115/4/86.asp

There are several third party programs which offer to set startup order.
However, they generally depend upon undocumented OS features which cannot be
counted upon to remain stable, so they should only be used with great
caution, and definitely not in any mission critical situation. In addition,
the particular programs being started may by their startup interactions at a
specific time substantially change the order in which they arrive at their
"ready to be scheduled to execute" states. For example, TreeWalk which is a
local DNS server available here: http://www.ntcanuck.com/ has the ability
to block malware, bogus DNS servers and adserver URL's when set up to do so.
In this configuration the amount of time it takes TW to start up will depend
on the number of URL's it has to load from filter.conf at startup which, in
turn, will vary from time to time as various blocking lists are updated.
This, in turn can substantially affect the startup relationship between
those other programs which depend upon TW and those that don't in a
multi-tasking environment. (Nobody ever told you this stuff was going to be
simple! ) The bottom line is that you need to be very, very careful
here.

Will do. I don't need it to be simple, just possible! I'm an old
RSX/VMS guy so I'm not afraid to muck with an OS, but I've never done
much with Windows and don't understand it like I did the old DEC OSes.
And even with the Cutler influence, there are still a lot of differences
between the Windows OSes and the old DEC OSes. I still wish Windows
would institute file versions...

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Brian A.]

I only see a risk if one fails to notice the icon for NAV is missing or has
the "Do not enter" (red circle w/line through it) sign on it in the systray.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Jonny]

Gee, Brian. What do think the notification was directed at? You or some
like you who pays attention. I think not.

 

[Brian A.]

I think not.

Quite apparent!


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375