Startup Cop

Startup Cop • Download • Demo

Continued from Introduction

To install Startup Cop, run the supplied Install.exe program. To uninstall Startup Cop, use the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. Before uninstalling, you should enable all start-up items. Startup Cop's main window is organized into three tabs named Startup programs, Save profile, and Restore profile. Before discussing the details of Startup Cop's operation, however, we need to study the locations from which Windows draws its list of start-up programs.

Start-up Locations

Windows loads start-up items from three locations in the Registry, two lines in Win.ini, and two menu folders. Observation reveals that it always loads the seven groups in the same order. Here are the seven locations, in order of priority, with the names given them by Windows 98:

Registry (Machine Service)
Each value in the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-\SOFTWARE-\Microsoft-\ Windows-\CurrentVersion-\RunServices defines a start-up item. The value's data string is the command to be executed at start-up.

Win.ini (Load=)
The value of the Load= key in the [Windows] section of Win.ini consists of one or more start-up program names, separated by semicolons. Neither long filenames nor command-line arguments may be used.

Win.ini (Run=)
The value of the Run= key in the [Windows] section of WIN.INI consists of one or more start-up program names, separated by semicolons. Neither long filenames nor command-line arguments may be used.

Registry (Machine Run)
Each value in the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE-\SOFTWARE-\Microsoft-\ Windows-\CurrentVersion-\Run defines a start-up item. The value's data string is the command to be executed at start-up.

Registry (Per-User Run)
Each value in the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER-\SOFTWARE-\Microsoft-\ Windows-\CurrentVersion-\RunServices defines a start-up item. The value's data string is the command to be executed at start-up.

Common Start-up Group
Each shortcut or URL shortcut in the common start-up group (by default, C:\Windows-\All Users-\Start Menu-\Programs-\StartUp) is launched at start-up. This group does not appear on the Start menu, and may be entirely absent in some Windows installations.

Start-up Group
Each shortcut or URL shortcut in the Start menu's start-up group (by default, C:\Windows-\Start Menu-\Programs-\StartUp) is launched at start-up.

Note that although Windows NT retains the Win.ini file for compatibility with older programs, it does not use the Load= and Run= lines in Win.ini itself. If you manually add items to the Load= and Run= lines in Windows NT's Win.ini file, they won't appear in Startup Cop's list. That's because the [Windows] section of the Win.ini file is mapped to the Registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER-\Software-\Microsoft-\ WindowsNT \CurrentVersion-\Windows. Under Windows NT, the Load= and Run= items appear as string values within this Registry key; they are rarely used.

Next: The Start-up Programs

Published in the 4/20/99 issue of PC Magazine.