Booting up your day

Written by Larry Schneider
Thursday, 19 January 2012 01:00

Dear Larry,

When I start Windows on my computer, I have to wait a long time before it’s ready to go. I’ve been told this is because my computer has been set up to run a number of different programs automatically. How do I make changes to this list? —L.N.

Dear L.N.,

To those of you who are not sure what we’re talking about here, consider this: Do you find yourself performing some of the same tasks each time you start Windows? For example, do you always open your e-mail program to check for new mail? Do you regularly start your calendar software to keep track of the day’s events? Perhaps you always start your word processor and open your journal to record the previous day’s happenings, or you open the book you’ve been writing. Maybe you always start your financial software to help you keep track of where the roller coaster is heading today. Whatever your set of circumstances may be, it’s easy to understand how gaining control over what opens automatically with Windows can get you off to a more productive start in the morning.

If you want to add a program or document to the startup list, your best bet is to take advantage of the Windows Startup folder. Any icons or shortcuts that reside in this folder will automatically be executed each time Windows is started. The easiest way to access this folder is as follows: Click the Windows Start button with your right mouse button, left-click All Programs, right-click Startup, then left-click “Open.”

You might find that the Startup folder already contains shortcut icons for programs that currently “autostart” with Windows. If you know for a fact that you want to remove one or more of these programs from the startup list, you can safely delete the corresponding shortcut icons in this folder. (Don’t worry — copies of the icons exist elsewhere should you later change your mind.)

If you’d like one of your documents to open automatically with Windows, place a shortcut to that document in this Startup folder window. You can accomplish this by doing the following: (1) Open the folder containing the document icon you want to open at startup. (2) Right-click the icon, then left-click “Copy.” (3) Return to the Startup folder, right-click the white space of the folder window, and then left-click “Paste Shortcut.”

If you desire simply to launch one of your existing programs when Windows starts, the steps are quite similar: (1) Locate the icon that starts the program you want to run when Windows opens up. Note that the icon may be on the Windows desktop or somewhere in the Start Menu. (2) Right-click the icon you identified in step 1, regardless of whether it’s on the desktop or in the Start Menu. (3) Left-click “Copy.” (4) Return to the Startup folder, right-click the white space of the folder window, and left-click “Paste Shortcut.”

This is Larry Schneider, logging off.

Larry Schneider is the owner of Accent on Computers, a Greenwich-based consulting firm catering to individuals, businesses and professional offices. PC and Mac services include computer setup, training, troubleshooting, virus resolution, networking, Internet, database and programming. Call 203-625-7575, visit Accentoncomputers.com, or send e-mail to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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