StartUp V 1.1 Windows Startup Program Manager. OVERVIEW StartUp Manager is a utility that grants you more control over the Windows Startup sequence (i.e. group). As you are probably aware, placing entries in the Windows Startup Group - either by drag-n-drop from the Windows File Manager or clicking on File/New/Program Item in the Program Manager - causes those programs to be started automatically when you invoke Windows. I have found that though I usually want the programs in the Startup group to execute, there are a variety of occasions that I would rather they did not. That's where StartUp comes to play. By placing programs that you want to be invoked each time Windows is started in StartUp's program list rather than the Windows startup group you can skip them by simply pressing RETURN/ENTER before the StartUp count-down timer expires. For example: Suppose you want Windows File Manager, Notepad and cc:Mail to run whenever you run Windows. First, run STARTUP.EXE. Then select the Options menu pick and set the 'Number of Seconds to Wait' to 30. Now, locate and drag-n-drop WINFILE.EXE from Windows File Manager to the StartUp window. Locate and drag-n-drop NOTEPAD.EXE on the StartUp window. Locate and drag-n-drop CCMAIL.EXE on the StartUp window. Exit the StartUp program. Exit Windows. From this point on, whenever you run windows, StartUp will be invoked because it is in the Windows startup group. After StartUp begins, you will have 30 seconds to press RETURN/ENTER to bypass running File Manager, NotePad and cc:Mail. If you do nothing, at the end of 30 seconds, StartUp will run the 3 programs in the order listed. In addition to the ability to skip all the programs listed to be executed at Startup you can: o Have StartUp prompt you before executing each program. o Have StartUp sound a beep when executing each program. o Cause a specified amount of time (in seconds) to wait after execution of any program in the program list. o Control the style of Window by program. o Specify replaceable parameters by program. For instance, you might want a program to start which requires a UserID and password. You can cause either or both to be requested each time a program is invoked by StartUp. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To get to this point you have unzipped startup.zip to a diskette or hard disk directory. To install StartUp do the following: 1. Double-click on SETUP.EXE in the directory to which you have unzipped StartUp. Or, select File/Run from either the Windows Program Manager or File Manager. Type the drive and directory to which you have unzipped STARTUP.ZIP followed by SETUP.EXE. Ex: c:\temp\setup.exe. NOTE: You may see a message indicating that a .DLL file is in use and cannot be copied. Do not be alarmed. Simply acknowledge the message and continue. For instance, you might see "Warning: cannot copy file C:\TEMP\DDEML.DL_ scince the dest file is alreay in use". This is not a problem, just press ENTER or click on OK to continue with installation. 2. You will be prompted to enter the location to which StartUp will be installed. 3. After StartUp's component files are installed, a program item will be added to the Window's Startup group. 4. Then, StartUp will execute with an initialize parameter so that it can build it's initial list of startup programs from the WIN.INI load and run statements. 5. If the 'load' and/or 'run' WIN.INI statements contain program references a backup copy of WIN.INI will be made to WIN.IBK in the \WINDOWS\ directory, and the 'load' and 'run' statements will be emptied. 6. At this time, StartUp is unable to reconize existing entries in the Windows startup group. Therefore you will need to Add each program entry using the StartUp Add menu pick. Note: drag and drop is not available from Program Manager to StartUp at this time. StartUp only supports drag and drop from File Manager. We intend to add these features to a future version of StartUp. Delete all entries from the windows startup group except for StartUp. Make certain that your Window's startup group contains only the single program entry for StartUp! Otherwise you may encounter problems when Windows invokes programs and then StartUp invokes them as well. To prepare Startup Manager for initial use subsequent to installation do the following: 1. Remove all entries from the Windows Startup group except StartUp. StartUp should have been automatically added during installation. 2. If StartUp does not appear in the Windows startup group you can add STARTUP.EXE either by drag-n-drop from File Manager or by double-clicking on the startup group icon and then clicking File/New/Program Item from Program Manager. 3. Run STARTUP.EXE. 4. Add entries for each program you wish to invoke at Windows startup by using drag-n-drop from File Manager or clicking on the Add menu pick. 5. Click on the Options menu pick. Specify the interval in seconds to wait before invoking the list of programs. This is the amount of time that Startup manager will give you to decide that you do NOT want to invoke the programs. If you click on the Stop or Exit button, the programs will not run. Otherwise at the end of that interval they will be automatically invoked. 6. Exit STARTUP.EXE. From this point on, whenever you start Windows, Startup manager will invoke the programs in it's list, unless you take action before the interval expires. Note: StartUp can accept 2 parameters: STARTUP.EXE /EDIT will cause StartUp to begin in edit mode. No count-down time sequence is invoked. This mode can be used so that you can edit program entries and options without worrying that the timer might get to zero and start the programs in the list before your are ready. -OR- STARTUP.EXE /INIT will cause the StartUp .INI file to be recreated with no entries. The StartUp .INI file contains entries for options and programs in it's list.