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Getting programs to start automatically

I am not a fan of having lots of programs automatically startup. I want to be in control, so even programs I use all the time, I don't want to startup automatically. However, some of my clients want their contact manager or browser or other programs to run whenever they turn on their computer. Here's what you do.

If  you copy a shortcut from the start menu or desktop (not the whole program, just a shortcut), then copy it to your Windows startup folder. Then it will run whenever you start the computer. All the files in the Windows startup folders are run at startup, hence the name. There are actually at least two startup folders. One for all users, and one for a specific user. So if more than one person logs onto your computer you could use the all users startup folder to have it start for everyone, or a specific users folder for only that user.

So where is it?

Windows 7 and Vista (assuming installation on drive C) For a specific user: C:\Users\(username)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\ For all users C:\Users\(Public)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\

Windows XP (assuming installation on drive C) For a specific user C:\Documents and Settings\(username)\Start Menu\Programs\Startup For all Users C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup



Date: December 2010


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This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

 
 
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