Control of Startup Program Order

[Neil H]

I would like to be able to control the order in which WinXP (32b) loads
the various programs set to load at startup. I have tried various
utilities that I have found on the web and none of them that I have
found are successful at actually controlling the load order.

Can this be done from within XP? I have looked at the MSCONFIG settings
in the registry and there does not seem to be a way to define load order.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice,
Neil H.

 

[Ron Badour]

I don't believe XP has that capability so you will have to rely on 3rd party
software. Have you tried this one:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/startdelay.html

--
Regards

Ron Badour
MS MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

 

[SC Tom]

I would like to be able to control the order in which WinXP (32b) loads the
various programs set to load at startup. I have tried various utilities
that I have found on the web and none of them that I have found are
successful at actually controlling the load order.

Can this be done from within XP? I have looked at the MSCONFIG settings
in the registry and there does not seem to be a way to define load order.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice,
Neil H.

Here's one way of doing it:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/193888

and here's a non-MS explanation of the above:

http://www.petri.co.il/delay_services_in_windows_2000_xp_2003.htm

SC Tom

 

[Twayne]

I would like to be able to control the order in which WinXP (32b)
loads the various programs set to load at startup. I have tried
various utilities that I have found on the web and none of them that
I have found are successful at actually controlling the load order.

Can this be done from within XP? I have looked at the MSCONFIG
settings in the registry and there does not seem to be a way to
define load order.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice,
Neil H.

SC gave you probably the closest you can come with XP to controlling
that natively and especially the second link is informative. There ARE
some 3rd party apps that claim to do this too but I'd like to point
someting out to you.
Delay Starts are pretty good ways and the only realistic thing you
can do. BUT ... realize that, if you are going by the appearance of the
icons in the systray or onscreen hints:

-- Various things take longer than others to get fully started.
-- Thus, getting a particular task to start first does not mean it
will be the first to be completely loaded and ready to use, especially
if it takes it a long time because it has a lot of work to do. AV is
often something people are concerned about this way.
-- The ones to finish loading first are generally the smaller, faster
programs, regardless of whether they start first or much later in the
process. Many programs are trying to load in parallel during boot so
the shorter ones have a decided advantage of being up and ready first.
-- Appearance of the icon doesn't mean the program is fully initiated.
It simply means the program tossed up the icon for the systray.

So, it's when they FINISH loading that's important in most, not all,
cases. BUT, take AV for instance; it starts to load early in the
process but is one of the last to display its icon. However, it's
begining to do its job long before you see the icon. Cetain protection
mechanisms load first; all the gui and nicety stuff loads last. But
it's protecting you before you see the icon appear.

Unfortunately I can't find any of the links I got this info from so I
can't include links for verification; sorry.

HTH,

Twayne

 

[DL]

One could also ask, is there a particular reason for this?

 

[Neil H]

One could also ask, is there a particular reason for this?

The reason is a long explanation. I have a Gigabyte mobo whose BIOS
used to fully support all overclocking variables and now will not;
latest version installed and Gigabyte has no answers. So I have to use
their utility program, EasyTune5Pro, to overclock. It works ok within
its limits, not as many variable settings and it is the last to load at
boot. It is only my opinion but the computer seems to boot faster when
the BIOS was in control of these settings so I am trying to get their
utility to boot first or second so that the rest of the program loading
can take advantage of the extra speed provided by the overclocking.

Maybe Iam just to anal but it always bugged me that the BIOS "gave up
the ghost" so to speak and I am reduced to their meager utility.

Neil

 

[SC Tom]

The reason is a long explanation. I have a Gigabyte mobo whose BIOS used
to fully support all overclocking variables and now will not; latest
version installed and Gigabyte has no answers. So I have to use their
utility program, EasyTune5Pro, to overclock. It works ok within its
limits, not as many variable settings and it is the last to load at boot.
It is only my opinion but the computer seems to boot faster when the BIOS
was in control of these settings so I am trying to get their utility to
boot first or second so that the rest of the program loading can take
advantage of the extra speed provided by the overclocking.

Maybe Iam just to anal but it always bugged me that the BIOS "gave up the
ghost" so to speak and I am reduced to their meager utility.

Neil

You can always re-flash with the old BIOS file if it was done correctly.

SC Tom

 

[Neil H]

You can always re-flash with the old BIOS file if it was done correctly.

SC Tom

Tried it several times with 3 different old BIOS files, no luck; but
good thought!

Neil