Startup Tricks

Startup Tricks

I have a couple of programs that start up when Windows 95 boots but they have no shortcuts in the Startup folder. What's going on?

There are actually four ways to launch an application when Windows 95 starts up. The most common technique is to place a shortcut to the program in the Startup Folder. You can also use the "traditional" approach of placing the program's specification on the RUN= or LOAD= line in the win.ini file (not recommended these days).
The sneakiest method involves placing an entry in the Windows 95 registry at

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

This is what is usually going on when a program is run "mysteriously" at startup. It's the Windows 95 equivalent of the old win.ini technique.

Thanks to Jim Gunn for pointing this one out.

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