How in the Tech

Process Windows Startup folder sequentially

By Adam Myers ⋅ September 3, 2009 ⋅ Tags: Customization, Windows

Do me a favor and look at how many applications are set to launch automatically at Windows login by browsing to your Startup folder. If you are like most there are at least a handful of applications there and there are likely others that are set to launch through the Windows Registry. There is a direct correlation to delays and responsiveness of Windows at first login and the number of items set to load initially. This is because Windows will process these application launch requests in parallel – basically causing a heavy drain on system resources, specifically the hard drive. Wouldn’t it be better to process the contents in a serial fashion, and perhaps by priority as well?

DelayedExec is a free windows application that utilizes the .NET framework to provide a delay between the launching of each application on Windows login. Once installed, it displays a list of all applications set to launch. From the list, you can designate which programs should be launched serial, or one after another, and how much of a padding or delay between launches that should occur. The list is processed in order, top to bottom, so you can control the priority by moving processes up or down.

On my system, the IM client Digsby and Windows Live Folder Sync are fairly heavy applications that really impact performance until they are up and running fully. I still require both of the applications to execute automatically but it is not vital that they are up and running in order to get onto other tasks on my computer. With DelayedExec I can delay their launching until everything else is up and running, and then process each application sequentially.

One word of warning, because DelayedExec requires making Registry changes it must be run as a user with administrative rights. In Vista, you must execute the program as administrator or you will get a permissions error when you go to save your changes. It would be nice if the application provided the UAC prompts in Vista upon launch, but that is really just nitpicking on a great windows freebie.