IDEA: Simple Pop-Up to Advise When XP Boot Process Has Finished

[offie999]

Admitting that I probably have more little utility programs lurking in my Windows XP boot-up than I should, I find that I often start using the system without knowing that the boot-up process has not yet finished.  As a result, the first few actions taken - opening applications or whatever - often hang up briefly while the boot-up finishes its work.

A simple solution would be a small pop-up window (or whatever equivalent a good programmer can develop) to show a message on the screen simply saying something to the effect:  "BOOT PROCESS HAS COMPLETED" or "YOUR SYSTEM IS NOW READY FOR USE" --- you get the idea.

In addition, a bit more complicated perhaps, would be to expand on it and provide a simple alert - very simple - should any of the start-up processes or applications fail to properly boot-up.  Something like "BOOT PROCESS HAS COMPLETED - No Errors" or "BOOT PROCESS HAS COMPLETED - Avira Anti-Virus Failed to Load Properly" would provide notice that perhaps I should consider rebooting the system.

Perhaps something in a simplified format already exists - but I think a simple utility of this type would be very useful to those of us who keep a fairly complex system with many start-up processes or applications slowing down the boot-up process.

Thanks in advance to all your ideas and efforts.

[Paul Keith]

Not quite but it does occasionally pop-up:

http://www.soluto.com/

[cranioscopical]

A simple solution would be a small pop-up window (or whatever equivalent a good programmer can develop) to show a message on the screen simply saying something to the effect:  "BOOT PROCESS HAS COMPLETED" or "YOUR SYSTEM IS NOW READY FOR USE" --- you get the idea.

Thanks in advance to all your ideas and efforts.

-offie999 (March 07, 2011, 10:42 PM)

This might work for you, also, it's easy enough to adapt. If it doesn't perform as expected there's little chance that it will be changed at this point, so don't be too disappointed

IdleRun by Skrommel

IdleRun v1.2

Run a program when the CPU is idle.

Features:
- Run a program or show a message
- Change settings using Settings in the tray menu
- Shows CPU usage in the tray

To show when Windows is finished loading, just place a shortcut to it in your startup folder!

Changes:
- 20070112 - v1.0: Added affinity to make it work properly on dual cpu/core systems.
- 20070118 - v1.2: Retrieves the number of processors for correct calculations on multi core systems..

[skwire]

@offie999: IdleRun is probably about as close as you're going to get since there really isn't a reliable way to tell when your computer is done booting.  I mean, the best one could do is to measure CPU and disk usage over time and, when it settles down, you can then make an educated guess that the computer is done booting.  In other words, the OS doesn't give a programmer any indication that the system is done booting.  Make sense?

[offie999]

Thanks for those early responses.

@skwire:  This is a classic example of the dangers of giving a layperson like myself a little bit of information !!!  I have always assumed the between the boot files (boot.ini and all the others, I guess), the initial set of processes and services and the user-defined start-up applications that the system knew exactly what it was doing each time it started up.  And, if it knew exactly what it was doing to start its self up it should know when those actions have been completed. 

Always amazing how we can assume something is so basic and simple and it turns out be just the opposite.

@PaulKeith:  Thanks for the suggestion of Soluto.  Will load it up to learn more about it but it seems not to apply as I already know what I want my system to do - that is to complete the "boot" and then tell me in some simple message that it has actually done that - completed the boot and its now ready for me to do my thing.

@Cranioscopial:  I'll look more closely at Idlerun on the theory that if the CPU is idle enough to run my user-defined message then it must have completed what I would call the "boot" --- I assume the first "idle" period would be immediately after the so-called "boot" so Idlerun could then kick in displaying my user-defined message.  That wouldn't tell me if there had been a minor problem in loading something (such as a given application waiting in the start-up), but it would at least tell me it has completed the "boot".
Haven't had my morning coffee yet so will take a closer look once the caffeine kicks in.

Again, thanks to all three of you.  Look forward to any other suggestions.

[timns]

I think it would be possible to know which services are due to be started, and also which applications. Once the OS reports that all those processes are running, it would be safe to infer the boot has completed. Adding a timeout to this may help to also tell you if something failed to start up in a spritely manner.

[Paul Keith]

Thanks for the suggestion of Soluto.  Will load it up to learn more about it but it seems not to apply as I already know what I want my system to do - that is to complete the "boot" and then tell me in some simple message that it has actually done that - completed the boot and its now ready for me to do my thing.

It does do this in a simple message. There should be a timer on your lower left hand side when you restart this program.

[MilesAhead]

You could also use the approach of using WinPatrol or another utility that has a Startup Delay function.  You could write a simple app using AutoHotKey, vbScript, AutoIt3 or freeBasic for that matter, that displays a MessageBox.  I know AutoIt3 has a time-out function on the MessageBox so it could disappear after a few seconds without having to click it.

Make this app the only one that starts delayed. Unless you are auto starting some big stuff a 30 second delay should be plenty.