NOTE: StartRight is no longer in development and will not function in Vista or above.
StartRight will manage the execution of programs that are automatically started by the operating system at logon time. Instead of executing many programs at once (causing your OS to spit and sputter and attack your hard drive), StartRight will give the OS time to execute the program before running the next program. The OS should become much more responsive almost imediately after logon.
Those of you that have a dozen system tray programs (and you know who you are), might want to give this a try.
Features:
- program executing ordering
- custom delays
- Auto-Tune delays based on CPU usage (optional)
- new item notification (optional)
- automatically disable all new programs (optional)
- pause or stop program execution (optional)
Jackass JoeJoe's StartRight
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StartRight will manage the execution of programs that are automatically started by the operating system at logon time. Instead of executing many programs at once (causing your OS to spit and sputter and attack your hard drive), StartRight will give the OS time to execute the program before running the next program. The OS should become much more responsive almost imediately after logon.
Those of you that have a dozen system tray programs (and you know who you are), might want to give this a try.
Features:
- program executing ordering
- custom delays
- Auto-Tune delays based on CPU usage (optional)
- new item notification (optional)
- automatically disable all new programs (optional)
- pause or stop program execution (optional)
Instructions
Move the program to its permanent home and run it. Just press the Install button and StartRight will do its thing the next time you logon. It is highly recommended that you place StartRight in your "Program Files" folder, especially on NTFS systems because of security defaults. For NT/2k/XP users, Windows by default requires Administrator rights to manipulate the system's Run key and Startup folders (as well as StartRight's keys). You can adjust those settings if you need StartRight to work for users with lower security rights.
Full Uninstall: Press the "Restore" button, select "Yes" to remove StartRight's Options registry settings. You may then safely remove StartRight's files. For version 1.2.0 thru 1.2.2 please see the "Know Problems" sections at the bottom of this page.
Requirements
A Windows OS and Admin Rights. (not Vista compatible) Changes in 1.3.4
[Download Removed]
EDIT: I've removed the download, since this application is so out of date and will not function on Vista or above.
Fix: New Item notification may not be triggered
Fix: "Stop" button unreponsive durring sleep
FIx: Startup Control window not always on top
New: Improved delay timing
New: Abort delay when CPU usage drops low (currently 9%)
New: Regularly updated CPU status on progress window
New: Improved CPU usage sampling
Changes in 1.3.3
Fix: Restore failing for some Run key items
New: CPU percent display on progress window
Changes in v1.3.2
Fix: some "Current User" items executed under wrong profile
New: Protected Run Key item detection to auto-exclude some security programs
New: "Current User" data restored to original location
- includes offline registry hives
New: "Restore" window
- to show all items that are being restore and any errors
- selectively restore items, including disabled items
- automatically creates .BAT (Startup Folder items) and .REG (Run Key items) files of failed items for manual restore
NO WARRANTY
ANY USE BY YOU OF THE SOFTWARE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE
SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED FOR USE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE
SOFTWARE'S CREATOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY
KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT
LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE SOFTWARE'S CREATOR IS NOT OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE
ANY UPDATES OR UPGRADES TO THE SOFTWARE. ANY INCLUDED
SOURCE CODE MAY BE MODIFIED AND DISTRIBUTED FOR NON-PROFIT
USE ONLY.
ANY USE BY YOU OF THE SOFTWARE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE
SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED FOR USE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, THE
SOFTWARE'S CREATOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY
KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT
LIMITATION, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
THE SOFTWARE'S CREATOR IS NOT OBLIGATED TO PROVIDE
ANY UPDATES OR UPGRADES TO THE SOFTWARE. ANY INCLUDED
SOURCE CODE MAY BE MODIFIED AND DISTRIBUTED FOR NON-PROFIT
USE ONLY.
Technical Details
If you're having problems, it is highly recommended that you press Restore then press Install. This process fixes many problems created by previous versions of StartRight.
Your HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER's Run keys are moved to another location (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\JackassArswareOrg\StartRight\Run) and StartRight is placed in the system's RunOnce key. Your Startup folder shortcuts are moved into a subfolder called Startup beneath the StartRight.exe program.
Before you logon (Phase 1), StartRight is executed and moves any new automatically run programs for StartRight to manage. StartRight also adds itself to the RunKey. After logon (Phase 2) StartRight remove itself from the Run key and then adds itself back to the RunOnce key. It then executes each Run key item one at a time and then executes each Startup folder shortcut one at a time. If you move StartRight, you must first press the "Restore" button first and then press "Install" after you move it; otherwise, the managed Startup folder items will be lost.
If you're having a problem with a program not behaving, you can exclude that program. Run StartRight and click the Edit button. Select the program (or programs) that you want StartRight to exclude from managing. The next time you logon, the OS will start the program as it normally does.
Known Problems
The "Restore" button does not successfully remove the RunOnce entry for version 1.2.0 thru 1.2.2. If the StartRight.exe file is not deleted after running the Restore process, it will set itself to run again durring the next reboot. To stop this process,
1) press "Install"
2) press "Restore"
3) open regedit.exe and find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce and remove the value name "STARTRIGHT".
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Personal firewall software, like Norton Internet Security, will protect the system's Run key and keep StartRight from managing it - and make it unable to function properly. StartRight cannot operate with this option set on your firewall software.
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In version 1.2.5, StartRight crashes with an "Invalid Pointer" error on some systems trying to retreive the current CPU Usage statistics information. The crash has been fixed in 1.2.6, but the CPU Usage still returns zero percent usage.
Update: The problem has been narrowed down to a disabled page file or a disabled counter as described in this MS KB article