Auto startup in Win 8.1?

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Where do you put programs you want to auto-start in Win 8.1?

I have tried dropping a program into the STARTUP folder but it won’t start. The startup folder I am using is:

UsersNAMEAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup

The program is called RealTemp and shows the CPU temps in the tray. Under Shortcut –> Advanced, I set the properties to run it as an administrator. I also tried running the compatibility troubleshooter. Which seemed to work and I saved the settings. But when I rebooted, the app still won’t start on its own. It WILL run if I manually start it.

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That’s the correct location for the Startup folder for the currently logged on user. For all users it’s:
C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartUp

See: http://www.softwareok.com/?seite=faq-Windows-8&faq=206

There has to be something wrong with your shortcut. I have an item in the first Startup location and it runs.

By manually running the program, did you try double clicking on the shortcut in the startup folder?
Jerry

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I would guess the shortcut has a problem. Can you create a shortcut on the desktop that successfully starts the program and then move or copy it to the startup folder?

Joe

--Joe

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The program will run out of the User startup folder if I double click it.

I will try turning off admin priv and see what happens then.

The eightforums link is helpful. Thanks.

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I removed admin privileges but this did not auto start.

I tried moving from the user startup folder to the global startup folder. Did not auto start.

I tried with and w/o compatibility but made no difference, app wouldn’t auto start.

Looked in event logs but saw nothing related to this app.

Nothing seems to work other than double-clicking to start the app.

Here is the link if anyone has the time to try this on their machine:
http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

Since this app doesn’t look like it is being updated anyway, maybe I will replace it with something else.

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…

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/th…altemp.194854/…

Link seems bad.

OP might want to try http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

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Try this. It works for me.

C:UsersyournameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartupyourprogram.exe

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Try this. It works for me.

C:UsersyournameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartupyourprogram.exe

I used a shortcut in that folder and it did not work for me. Have not tried using the full program yet.

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If you put the program.exe file in the startup folder, try putting the exe file in a different folder and create a shortcut in the startup folder.

Joe

--Joe

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If you put the program.exe file in the startup folder, try putting the exe file in a different folder and create a shortcut in the startup folder.

Joe

I have the shortcut in the startup folder.

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OK, it seems the only way to make Realtemp work in Win8 seems to be to drive it from the Task Scheduler.

However, I don’t understand WHY it won’t work in either of the Startup folders (and why Windows doesn’t issue some sort of informational msg on screen or in the event logs when it refuses to allow it to start).

Is the problem UAC? I have been thinking of disabling UAC as I don’t personally see much use in it. Would doing so solve this problem and allow the program to run from the Startup folders?

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…I have been thinking of disabling UAC as I don’t personally see much use in it…

In my experience working on customers’ Vista and later computers turning off UAC temporarily should not cause problems. But leaving UAC off permanently is a very bad idea.

It is quite possible UAC is blocking the program you are trying to run from the Startup folder. Have a look at ElevatedShortcut from http://winaero.com/download.php?view.38

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In my experience working on customers’ Vista and later computers turning off UAC temporarily should not cause problems. But leaving UAC off permanently is a very bad idea.

It is quite possible UAC is blocking the program you are trying to run from the Startup folder. Have a look at ElevatedShortcut from http://winaero.com/download.php?view.38

I turned off UAC, put the shortcut in the global startup folder and gave it admin privileges. Now it seems to work!

So it seems like UAC had something to do with the problem. BUT why didn’t it show any msgs as to what it was unhappy about? Or at least log a msg to the event log?

And why does starting it as a task apparently not cause a UAC problem?

BTW: THe software I used to disable the UAC is called “TweakMe!”. Has a lot of available controls.

P.S. Just had a thought – I have RealTemp (and many other pgms) installed on a partition named E:. Possibly that might cause Windows UAC a problem? It wouldn’t surprise me if MS has hardcoded something somewhere that required install on the C: drive to eliminate problems.

As to why I use the E: partition (before someone asks), I have many hundreds of freeware/shareware applications installed/to install. I want to keep them separated from the primary system files on the C: partition. This is my organization for many years and I see no good reason to change now.

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If you can get it to work in Task Scheduler (see the post on page 1), you won’t have to run with UAC turned off.

I don’t need UAC. It is annoying and apparently, does not inform one when it blocks things. UAC is just another MS patch that isn’t designed very well. Most everyone just checks yes/ok to every popup. Perhaps MS’s new CEO will effect a change to how MS manages Windows security.

In 20 years of PC computing and on the net, I have never gotten a virus or even a piece of spyware. I will also be using Comodo AV and firewall, which also pops up msgs if something attempts to change system modules.

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