Some users might want to skip loading these autostart programs from time to time to save some time to be able to work on the computer. The following solution works only when running Windows XP operating systems. Microsoft seems to have disabled the option in Windows Vista (and most likely kept it that way in Windows 7).

To start Windows XP without any startup programs press the [Shift] key while the computer system is booting. The key has to be pressed as soon as the Windows desktop background appears. This will prevent startup programs from being loaded automatically. It might take a few tries to get it to work.

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In modern GNOME desktops (I am using 2.24.3) setting up autostart applications is much easier than it once was. In early releases you would have had to write a script to tell GNOME to launch a specific app once the desktop was loaded. Now, like nearly every aspect of the Linux desktop experience, there is “an app for that”.

To create an autostart application you need to visit the System menu in the top panel of the GNOME desktop. In that menu you will find the Preferences sub menu. Within the Preferences sub menu you will see the Personal menu which is where the Sessions tool. The Sessions tool is where you add applications for auto start.

GNOME Sessions Window

Once in the Sessions window (see the image to the left) you will want to click the Add button. When the new window opens for adding the application you won’t find a list of applications to choose from…you actually have to fill out the necessary information manually. What you have to fill out is simple:

Name: This doesn’t effect the actual startup of the application, but it does help you locate your new application in the long list of startup applications.

Command: This is the actual command the new application uses to execute. The application should be in your PATH, if not use the full path to the executable (i.e. /usr/bin/firefox instead of just firefox).

Comment: This will be the descriptive text underneath the name of the startup program.

Startup Application

As you can see (in the image to the right) the configuration is quite simple. Once you have your application configured, click the Save button and your start up application is ready to start up the next time you log in.

Faster Route

If you do not want to take the time to create a new start up application entry or you’re not sure what the commands are for the applications you want to auto start, there is an easier way.

If you click on the Options tab from the Sessions window you will notice a button labeled “Remember Currently Running Application”. What this allows you to do is to open up the application you want to autostart and click this button. When you do this an entry for that application will be automatically created in the Sessions window.

WARNING: There is a bug haunting GNOME >= 2.24.1 that doesn’t allow the “Remember Currently Running Applications” feature to work. If you are working within a GNOME earlier than 2.24.1 you shouldn’t have any problem. Anything later than 2.24.1 this will not work. The GNOME development team is aware of the problem and is working to fix it.

Final Thougths

If you are like me there are certain applications that might as well start up as soon as the desktop is loaded. And fortunately the Linux desktop allows for such features.

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Delayed Exec is a free software program to delay the execution of startup programs. It displays all applications that are started during system start including their title, command and the user.

Applications can be moved into the delayed startup applications table where they will be executed in order using the delay interval specified by the user. The delay interval is set in milliseconds, the default being 15000.

The startup software is compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. It requires the Microsoft .net Framework 3.5. An alternative to Delayed Exec is Startup Delayer which does not require the Microsoft .net Framework.

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Capster could be your salvation. It’s a tiny application with a size of only five Kilobyte that creates shortcut links to applications or a batch file that you select in the main interface. The user can choose to automatically start the application if the Caps Lock key is on or off which does make a difference.

The Caps Lock key on my computer for instance is turned off by default and I had to press the key during startup (after the Windows Logo) to autostart the application that I had selected.

The Create Shortcut button creates the link which has to be added to the Windows Autostart folder.

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The Startup Control Panel scans five different locations for programs that are auto started from there. It checks several locations in the registry and the usual autostart folders in Windows. You will have to take a look at all registry entries and folders to make sure you do not miss a program. Most programs are usually listed in HKEY_Local_Machine folder and both Startup folders.

To disable a program from being auto started simply uncheck the program. Make sure you know what the program does before you uncheck it. Normally Windows does not need any programs started from these locations to be working correctly. It might however cause problems for third party softwares which probably won’t start anymore or show odd behavior.

The benefit of reducing the number of programs during Windows start is of course that the start itself will be faster. The system will also use less resources if you do not start programs that you might not need during the session. Does not make sense to load Office indexing for instance if you do not open Office at all.

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I can use the tool to start true crypt automatically when I insert my hard drive that has been encrypted by it, could start iTunes when I add my iPod and start a background virus scan if I, or someone else, connects a usb drive that is not known. Please note that the user who is adding the usb device has full control over the system which means that he could abort everything that you autostart. (like a virus scan)

The tool uses the following syntax which has to be added to a .bat file which has to be autostarted with windows.

USBVirusScan cmd /k %d:

A real example would look like the following. Say you do want to start the file antivirus.exe on drive c:\ whenever a usb device is connected. You would create a new bat file which is basically a text file with the .bat extension. Create the file test.bat in the same folder that usb virus scan resides. Add the following line to it.

USBVirusScan “c:\antivirus.exe” %d:

It is possible to add additional parameters. -c hides the command window, -i hides the tray icon, -e disables the exit menu.

I was not able to figure out how to create autostart entries that would use the volume name or volume serial number so I asked Didier the author of the software directly. The following paragraph is his answer to the question, thanks for being so quick to answer it Didier.

On my laptop, I have this entry in the Startup menu: “D:\Program Files\USBVirusScan\USBVirusScan.exe” wscript “D:\Program Files\USBVirusScan\tasks.vbs” %d %s ‘%v’ tasks.vbs will start TrueCrypt when I insert a USB-key with serial number “318606D2″ to automatically mount the TrueCrypt volume on the USB-key. If it’s my MP3 player that is inserted (volume name PackardBell), 2xEplorer is launched. And in any other case, a virusscan is executed. tasks.vbs:

dim WshShell

Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(”WScript.Shell”)

‘wscript.echo Wscript.Arguments.Item(2)

if Wscript.Arguments.Item(1) = “318606D2″ then WshShell.run “”"D:\Program Files\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt.exe”" /v ” & Wscript.Arguments.Item(0) & “:\d1.tc /lz /q”, 1, true

elseif Wscript.Arguments.Item(2) = “‘PackardBell’” then

WshShell.run “”"D:\Program Files\2xExplorer\2xExplorer.exe”" D:\MyDirsD\Temp\PodcastQueue ” & Wscript.Arguments.Item(0) & “:\”, 1,

true

else

WshShell.run “”"D:\Program Files\Network Associates\VirusScan\csscan.exe”" /target ” & Wscript.Arguments.Item(0) & “: /secure /quiet /log “”D:\Program Files\USBVirusScan\log.txt”"”, 1, true

end if

You would have to edit the path and serial volume number to make the script usable but I think it demonstrates the usage nicely.

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