System Tray start-up

Curry_Queen

Hi everyone

I have about 5 or 6 programmes that are set to run on start-up, e.g. ZA, AVG, MS Antispyware and a couple of things I use regularly for easy access, but I've noticed recently that when I reboot my PC, not all the icons are appearing in the systray every time. It often takes several reboots for everything to load up as it should, which can be quite frustrating, especially if I'm in a hurry!

If the icons are absent does this mean the programme has failed to load, or is just a case of a missing icon? ... and if so is there anything I can do about it, other than keep rebooting until they all appear as they should.


Also, on a slightly different but related issue, my son's PC has the same problem with AVG and MS Antispyware starting up when he switches the PC on and logs into his account (again missing icons in systray) so I'm worried that he's not always protected when he's online, unless he or I remember to start them manually. When I log onto my admin account on his PC though the icons usually appear straight away

Wombat

There was a post about this a few weeks ago. Are you/your son running Windows XP? And do the PC's just have the 1 user account set up on it (all the icons don't always appear on a second account, even though the programs are running)?

To see what's running, hold down CTRL + ALT + Del (only press these keys once - pressing again closes your PC down).

I'll try and find the other post.

Wombat

Here you go:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=75918&highlight=start+icons

Curry_Queen

Ok, well thanks to C_S's suggestion to disable UPnp User Interface on the other thread, that's taken care of the problem on my PC :T

But ... on checking son's PC for some reason this was already disabled

Now I've never done it as this is the first time I've ever heard of it, and he can't access Control Panel to mess around with any settings anyway, unless he's clever enough to know how to restore access to it from his account ... but I know he's not ... yet!

So does anyone have a suggestion how to resolve this one a different way as the two main programmes I'm concerned aren't starting up are AVG and MS Antispyware and I can't find either in task manager either (although I'm not sure what the MS Antispyware one is called) but they are both set to launch on start-up

As soon as either programme is selected from the start menu then the relevant icons show immediately in the systray! :rolleyes:


Edit: we're both running XP Pro SP2

Wombat

I think I would follow the advice here:

http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-2007815.php

Have you scanned your son's computer for viruses etc. which might have disabled AVG and the MS Anti-spy?

John_Gray

You may be confusing two things -

• the programs which start up when you power up and log on
• the icons which appear in the system tray at the bottom right of the screen

Startup programs do not have to put an icon in the system tray when they run. The system tray is somewhat unreliable, anyway -- icons which are usually there sometimes disappear for no apparent reason. They may come back later. Sometimes there is a program setting to cause an icon to appear. Sometimes it works! You can also cause "unused" icons to be hidden.

There are a number of programs which will show you what programs start up at poweron/logon time.

• Starting Task Manager and looking at the Processes window immediately after logon will show you lots of processes, including those programs you are interested in.
• Running MSCONFIG (from Start -> Run) will display startup programs in the Startup tab.
• Running Spybot - Search & Destroy in "Advanced Mode" and looking at Tools -> System Startup gives a nice list of programs, and information is sometimes available on each.
• SysInternals has a totally comprehensive program called AUTORUNS, which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know!

There are many other "startup program listers" that you could track down via Google...

Summary: a program can be running even if there is no corresponding icon in the System Tray.

John

Wombat

Don't think there's any confusion, John. Curry_Queen has opened the Task Manager and AVG isn't running.

Curry_Queen

I've scanned for virus and spyware etc, even using a couple of online ones in case anything had prevented AVG updating, but nothing shows up. Oh well, I've wasted more time than I had to spare messing around with it so I'm just going to leave it for now and have to remind son to load these programmes manually when he starts the PC up.

Thanks for all the help anyway :T

John_Gray

Sorry, I had missed that point in the second message. Most of my original message still applies. I presume that any virus which disables the starting of antivirus programs was not present and/or has not returned.

If the question is: how can I cause a program (AVG, for example) to run at start-up time, I can think of three possible solutions:
a) save any configuration information, uninstall and reinstall the program. There's a good chance this will reinstate the Run-at-Startup capability.
b) copy the program's shortcut to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup which is from where some other programs get started.
c) look at the registry keys in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run in the machine which works. Duplicate the AVG key and value (if present) into the same area on the registry of the non-working PC. Not for the faint hearted.

Points b) and c) will not BOTH apply; AVG will use the one or the other.

If you don't want to spend any more time on the problem then there's no point me going into any more detail on b) or c). Just try a)...!

John

Curry_Queen

Thanks John, I'll give it a try later when I have some spare time. I will eventually get it sorted it's just that I should have been doing something else the other day instead of messing with the PC's, but you know what it's like once you get into it LOL!

I'm ok with messing about in registry entries so will have a look at that first I think and see what's in there