As I said (and Simon verified), that is the recommended method that I have found works 100% of the time.
I did read you had tried the normal methods as far as adding to start up (but that statement is general...there are dozens of ways to add different things to start up, but for a program window to open, that is the sure way to do it.)
Now that said, many programs have multiple icons that do different things (including starting as a background service in the system tray such as aol, quicktime and others love to do)
So I will walk through this
1. in your start menu all programs list find the icon for the program that when you click it the program window opens.
2. right click that and select create shortcut
3. now in your start menu in the same place you see the original program icon you will see a shortcut to that program
4. drag that new icon to the start menu startup folder
5.for an added tweak, right click that new shortcut that you have moved to the startup folder and select properties, go to the shortcut tab if not already there and make sure normal window is selected and not minimized (in fact you may want to choose maximized)
I have never seen this fail in 14 years of being a MCP and MSCE for PROGRAMS....this is not the method for starting services.
Now admitted this may be a real oddball program I do not know about....or perhaps this is a rare case that the program needs administrative permission to run (does she need to click the uac prompt when she starts the program manually?), in that case also click the advanced button while on the shortcut tab in properties and make sure run as administrator is checked (in fact if she has difficulties clicking the mouse you may want to turn odd UAC altogether to make it easier on her...that can be done in user config in the start menu
The very last thing I can think of is the program needs a service (or services) running to open, and those services are set to start on demand.
I really doubt that would be a problem. But it is possible that windows start up is processed before service load and thus the request for the service is not completed properly.
If that is the case, which I doubt, then you can set those services to auto start also. First thing is to find out what service...After windows fully boots, open your task manager and go to the services tab...check carefully every service that is running. Now open the program you want manually...and check the running services again to see if anything new is there (remember services tab not processes)
If you do see the program starts a service, go to the start menu and type services in the search box, at the top of the menu find and click services.
Scroll down to find the service (or services), and if the one(s) you need are set to manual change to auto (right click the service and select properties and the option will be there)....but as I said I seriously doubt the service option will be necessary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NY Jester
MP..I think you may have missed what I said about it. I have it in the start up folder..its not what I need I need the program to actually open and start ready to use without clicking etc. Thats why I tried to make that as clear as possible. Guess some just look past whats written. 
Ed_ she is running Vista and has MS so it's physically hard for her to open alot of things. Just trying to make it easier for her. |