Chameleon Startup Manager Coming to Bits duJour 13 Niv 2009

[J-Mac]

I just noticed that Chameleon Startup Manager is coming to Bits on 13 Nov - this coming Friday. I used Chameleon Startup Manager 2.x up until Version 3 was released in May, and then I upgraded to Chameleon 3. Some new features, a completely new UI, and greatly improved utility and performance. I was at first put off by a number of the UI changes - mostly all due to my personal preferences - and I wrote to Evgeni, the developer, and told him. I was blowing off some steam and I figured I was just venting; after all, what developer is going to make significant user interface changes to a freshly released new version of his flagship software? Ha! Didn't he reply a couple of days later with a brand new build with all my wishes granted? Truly amazing performance by this developer!

Chameleon Startup Manager is a great program, a utility I don't ever want to do without. And, no - I am not paid or otherwise compensated for saying so. But since I'm very pleased with both the program and the developer, when I saw it coming up at Bits I thought I should post about it here.

Thanks!

Jim

[tranglos]

Thanks, J-Mac. Can I ask a couple of things?

a) Is is a .Net app? (There was once a similar, .Net-based startup manager whose name I forget.)

b) Does it quit after it performs the startup task, or do you keep it running all the time? What's the RAM footprint?

c) Does it handle starting services in addition to regular startup applications? I'm finding that removing all 20 items I have set to start with Windows doesn't shorten boot time significantly. XP spends most of the time at the "Welcome" screen, while it's loading drivers and services. I've achieved the single greatest saving by reconfiguring WebDrive so that it initiates its ftp connection at the very end of the startup process, for example.

d) Can it be used to start groups of programs at any time, rather than only at startup?

e) Does it have a feature to specify a custom group of applications that shouyld be launched only once, the next time Windows starts, and after that automatically revert to the default scheme?

Full disclosure: I've written my own startup manager ("delayer") that I just might polish up enough for a NANY release, but it's very basic, far from finished yet. On the plus side, it's very lightweight, and it supports feature (e) in the list above. Having designed my own delayer, I know that I'm probably not going to like anybody else's solution, since it's not going to be exactly like I want it to be Chameleon's feature set is impressive, though.

[J-Mac]

Thanks, J-Mac. Can I ask a couple of things?

a) Is is a .Net app? (There was once a similar, .Net-based startup manager whose name I forget.)

I don't think so, but I'm not certain. I already have the .NET framework - all versions - installed so it didn't need to ask me or install it itself.

b) Does it quit after it performs the startup task, or do you keep it running all the time? What's the RAM footprint?

It does not quit on my computer, but I don't know if it's possible to set it up that way. I keep the Startup Monitor running in my System tray. That monitors programs and if anything puts itself in your startup config it alerts you. You can configure it to automatically disable any program setting itself up to start with Windows, or you can have it notify you but permit the program to add to startup. It keeps any newly added programs in startup highlighted so you can see it and decide after the fact, if you have it set to allow programs to self-add.

RAM footprint on my computer for the Monitor is ~940 kb. That goes up and dpwn some but 940 kb is about the average.

c) Does it handle starting services in addition to regular startup applications? I'm finding that removing all 20 items I have set to start with Windows doesn't shorten boot time significantly. XP spends most of the time at the "Welcome" screen, while it's loading drivers and services. I've achieved the single greatest saving by reconfiguring WebDrive so that it initiates its ftp connection at the very end of the startup process, for example.

Yes, though the way it works, any programs and/or services that are set to start with Windows it will allow Windows to start them. However if you want to schedule when it starts, Chameleon takes over and handles those items. You can have it start x seconds, minutes, or hours after another item; start only when the CPU is at or below a certain level; start only after another specific program has started; a lot of different options there. And you can save different configurations and load then when you wish.

d) Can it be used to start groups of programs at any time, rather than only at startup?

Yep. Several or one at a time, using the various parameters I just mentioned above your last quote.

e) Does it have a feature to specify a custom group of applications that shouyld be launched only once, the next time Windows starts, and after that automatically revert to the default scheme?

I know that you can do that using a saved configuration. You can have several of those - unlimited perhaps, but I'm not certain of the "unlimited" part!

Full disclosure: I've written my own startup manager ("delayer") that I just might polish up enough for a NANY release, but it's very basic, far from finished yet. On the plus side, it's very lightweight, and it supports feature (e) in the list above. Having designed my own delayer, I know that I'm probably not going to like anybody else's solution, since it's not going to be exactly like I want it to be Chameleon's feature set is impressive, though.

Sounds nice! Still worth a look at Chameleon if you want/like the added features. If not then I'm sure yours will be most well-suited, particularly for your own startup!! (It had better be!)

Jim

[tranglos]

Thanks a lot, J-Mac! I've taken it for a test drive and just like I feared, it's not for me because it doesn't to exactly what I have in mind It's pretty neat overall though. And it doesn't use .Net.

(I have .net installed; probably all the versions that have ever been released. It's just that using a .Net-based app to speed up startup is a contradiction in terms.)

the way it works, any programs and/or services that are set to start with Windows it will allow Windows to start them. However if you want to schedule when it starts, Chameleon takes over and handles those items.

Indeed, and this is why I decided CSM is not for me. Since CSM leaves all the startup entries as-is unless you specifically choose to delay them, Windows will do the silly old thing trying to start all items at the same time, maxing out the disk and the cpu. Preventing this is why startup delayers were invented in the first place, I think.

Defining a specific delay for each startup item is a little too much, on the other hand. I prefer being able to set a small, constant delay between each two startup items (3 seconds or so), and setting the order of items, so that less important things start later. That's about all the configuration I want.

The problem with writing my own delayer though is that once you take over startup items, you have to do a lot more housekeeping - like CSM does. Currently my delayer only does the starting-and-delaying part. You have to manually move shortcuts to a folder where the delayer will find them, and manage those shortcuts manually. Not ready for prime time!

[J-Mac]

Knowing you, I'm sure it will get there, and get there well! 

Jim

[exjoburger]

I got it, and it looks pretty good. I just had to configure ZoneAlarm Security Suite to stop warning me about programs adding themselves to Windows startup.