Want a specific program to start when Windows starts? Maybe you created your own program or downloaded something from the Internet. In any case, adding a program to Windows XP’s startup is relatively easy.
There are basically two ways to do this. The first is to add a shortcut to the EXE file to the Windows Startup folder, and the other is to use scheduled tasks. In this article, I will explain how to use both methods.
Add programs to the startup folder
This is my preferred method because it is very simple. To do this, go to the following directory on your computer:
C: Documents and Settings User Start Menu Programs Startup
User can be either All users or a specific user. If you want the program to run for any user who logs on to the system, navigate to the All Users folder. If you only want to run it for a specific user, select that user and navigate to their startup folder.
Now go ahead and find the program that should start when Windows starts. Make sure you find the EXE file. Now just right-click this EXE file and select “Create Shortcut”.
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Now just grab this newly created shortcut and copy and paste it into your startup folder. It should look like this:
This is it! Now restart your computer and you will see that the program will automatically start after logging into Windows! Pretty simple, eh!
Create a scheduled task
The second way to add a program to startup in Windows XP is to create a scheduled task that launches the program.
Open “Start” then “Control Panel” and click “Assigned Tasks”.
Click Add Scheduled Task to create a new task.
The wizard will start. Go ahead and click Next. The first thing you need to do is select the program you want to run at startup. The list appears automatically, but you can also click the Browse button and select a specific option.
Click Next and then choose when you want it to start. In our case, we will select “When I login.” You can also select “When my computer starts up”, but that means it can boot even before you enter Windows.
Click Next and then enter the password for your administrator account. Make sure to enter the password, otherwise the task will not start.
Click Next, then click Finish. This is it. Your task will now appear in the list of scheduled tasks. Restart your computer and the program should load normally.
So these are two easy ways to add startup programs to Windows XP! If you have any questions, please leave a comment here and I’ll try to help. Enjoy!
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