StartUp Order How do I change?

I would like to change the order in which my programs start up. My firewall comes up last and I would like it to start at an earlier point in time. Not sure where/how I can rearrange these.

Thanks,
Jorjab

WIN XP SP2 Media Center Ed

 

The firewall isn’t starting last, the icons in systray are just the user interfaces. Have a look at the list below and you will see that Services start before programs and your firewall/antivirus starts as services. You can move programs between keys 7 and 11 but don't change any others.

The start order is controlled by registry keys. This is the actual sequence, starting immediately after boot.ini has been read and ending with your program entries in Start > All Programs > Startup.

1.HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\BootExecute
2.Services are started
3.User (some) enters a password to logon to the system
4.HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\UserInit
5.HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell
Programs for ALL USERS keys start next:
6.HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
7.HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
8.HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx
9.HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunEx
Programs in CURRENT USER keys start next:
10.HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
11.HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
12.HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx
13.HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunEx
14.Programs in STARTUP FOLDER(S) are started last of all

 

Here is an idea for you. Get WinPatrol.
http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html
While it is a monitoring program to detect things being added to some areas of your system and startups, it also has the ability to delay some items in your startup.
After installation, click on the Startup Programs tab, right click on the items you want delayed, then select 'Move to Delayed Start Programs'. Then go to the Delayed Start tab, and set the time of delay.

 

Mark,
Thanks. I actually already have Winpatrol. Tried that but not really see any difference. However, did learn much more about what it can do for me.

By the way - can I turn off the windows splash screen with WinPatrol.


Burr,
Thanks,
in the registry it turns out that my firewall does NOT run as a service and shows up last in
7.HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run .

I use ZoneAlarm Pro and see no place in its options to make it run as a service.

I did run Task Manager to see what was running as soon as it would let me and my Firewall was there even tho did not see in Systray yet.

 

Zone Alarm does run as a service. The icon you see that loads in the system tray is just what BurrWalnut said. It's an access point to the user interface.

Look in your services (start>run>services.msc). It should be there but......, it won't be called Zone Alarm. It will be named True Vector service or vsmon service. Something like one of those anyway. Sorry, I can't be sure. It's been a while since I had Zone Alarm. However, I know for a fact that it does start as a service. It won't be called Zone Alarm service though.

 

If you are that worried about something penetrating the PC prior to the firewall starting up you could always disable the network card and manually enable it when startup has completed.

 

Zander - yes it is true vector for Zone Alarm and saw it in services -forgot about True vector when i was looking.
Thanks

Aggleton,

Not actually that worried , more just curious. In fact I actually do not connect to the network until I am all booted up. Always enable/disable when I logon/logoff. This is a habit I started a long time ago and is one extra step I don't mind performing.

Thanks everyone.

Jorjab

 

You don’t need to go through that absurd procedure. If you think about it, no self-respecting organisation would design a product that could be exploited at "˜switch on’.

 

this is at home and I don't trust Comcast.