Good programs for helping you manage what programs start with windows?

[Darwin]

Well, haven't done anything with it yet (it's times like these when I realize how infrequently I reboot my computer anymore), but will try to play around and post back. Best place for info on real world usage of this is the forum that PC maintains for their apps. Each utility gets its own board. This version of Startup Cop's board can be viewed here.

[Darwin]

  Wow, I copied the shortcut for the StartupCop forum, posted it here, and then read the forum. Quite a read...! I'm having no trouble at all with it here (FWIW) but I'd read the forum for potential pitfalls.

[tomos]

Wow, I copied the shortcut for the StartupCop forum, posted it here, and then read the forum. Quite a read...! I'm having no trouble at all with it here (FWIW) but I'd read the forum for potential pitfalls.

-Darwin (September 02, 2007, 07:07 AM)

hmm, doesnt sound too encouraging....

[Darwin]

No - it doesn't! I haven't used it in any meaningful way yet (ie haven't disabled, delayed, or queued any of my apps) and have not rebooted since I installed it. As I use The Ultimate Troubleshooter and am very happy with it (replaced WinPatrol 2007 Plus a while back) I really don't have much need for it and I doubt I'll be keeping it around for long.

[Darwin]

I've been through shutdown/boot (not just restart) cycle and all is wel. Admittedly, I still don't have Startup Cop set to run at startup and it has not been set to modify anything... It opens up fine, though... I like the feature set but will be uninstalling as I have never found delaying apps starting up to help and my computer is running fine the way it is!

[J-Mac]

I'm one of the posters over in the PCMag Startup Cop Pro forum.  (jcmcgowan is my username there). I've been using SCP for a couple years now and up till now I loved it. However this latest version has been discouraging.

As you can see at that forum there seems to be a lot of issues with Version 3. Mine installed OK but kept terminating when I tried to configure it. (It does NOT carry over most settings from your previous installation). More of a concern for me, though, is the developer's comments. Everything is "normal", according to him.  For example SCP3 started using anywhere from 5% to 8% of my CPU resources all the time. When I posted asking about this, the developer replied that this is not much and he considers that to be "normal". Maybe in HIS world, but not mine!! Even Tim Smith - the moderator for PC Mag's utilities forum - posted back (after I asked him to comment) that he also felt that was unusually high.

Plus, the new version removed a lot of settings that were previously user-configurable, which is disappointing to me.

Anyway, without any response from the developer indicating that he plans to release an update to fix these problems, he instead keeps posting that he doesn't see a problem there. So I am looking for a replacement.

Anyone using Chameleon? Worthwhile?

Thanks!

Jim

[Darwin]

Ha, ha - sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but your comment about the 5-8% of CPU on the PCMag forum had me laughing this morning and it is sort of funny that it turned out to be you! Actually, what had me laughing was the assertion that this is normal and within acceptable limits. Not in my reality it's not.

The only other factor (other than a system that is running fine at the moment) preventing me from jumping at the Chameleon alternative is the fact that TUT (which I've mentioned in the other thread) cautions against using more than one application to manage startup. I'm almost tempted to install the demo and see what happens... if I fall in love with it it's the work of a moment to restore everything modified by TUT and use that app exclusively for running tasks and services (which is what I bought it for in the first place). However, that flies in the face of the fact that my system is running sweetly at the moment and I am loathe to apply a fix for something that is not broken!

So, I think you can be pretty safe at minimum trying Chameleon out - it sees very well regarded by other DC'ers.

[mwb1100]

A couple questions about PCMag utilities (Startup Cop in particular) - they used to come with source code, is that still the case?  Also, is it possible to download previous version s of the utilities (since Startup Cop 3 seems to be unstable at this point)?

[J-Mac]

No source code that I can find.  And I did ask for the previous version to be re-posted since Version 3 is buggy, but they never responded to that request.

Jim