Having a Taskbar app start up in 7?

[Noels]

Hi all,

I'm stumped on a small problem...

I have a small taskbar app that I would like to start up on boot and show up in the taskbar area. It does reside in the Notification area, and even though I have selected "Show Icon and Notifications," it still won't start and show after boot. I have to manually start it each time.

In XP, I can open the taskbar utility on the Start menu and add the app so it will start up in the taskbar area on boot. But I can't figure out how to do that in Windows 7... I have even tried pinning it to the start menu, but still have to start it up each time - it won't start automatically on boot.

BTW, the app is called Moon Phase...

Can someone give me a heads-up on this seemingly simple problem?

Thanks, Noels

 

[Jonathan_King]

I have never tried this before, but you can try dragging the program into C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup.

You could also open up a copy of regedit, and navigate to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

Right click in an empty space in the right pane, and select Create New>String Value. Name it what you want, and then right-click on it and select Modify. Then point it to the path.

For example, to run a program from my desktop, I would try "C:\Users\Jonathan\Desktop\programname.exe". Include the quotes.

Disclaimer: I have not tried either of these. I have no idea if they will work or not.

 

[osholt]

The easiest way to do this is to copy and paste a Moon Phase shortcut into the startup folder in the Start Menu on your account. Any application (or shortcut to an application) is automatically opened after login when it is in this folder.

Oli

EDIT: Jonathon's way to quick for me, good work.

 

[whs]

The startup folder you find if you type shell:startup into Start/search and hit Enter. Then drag the shortcut into the folder as they said and close the folder.

 

[Lordbob75]

You could start it from the Task Scheduler as well.
Brink has a good tut here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/12444-task-scheduler-create-new-task.html

~Lordbob

 

[Noels]

Hi Folks,

Sorry to take so long responding - my wife has been sick and I had to shut down...

After several attempts, I finally was able to get the Moon Phase shortcut into the start up folder and set Properties/Compatibility as Windows 95. I checked msconfig, and it is there and apparently starting up, BUT, after several restarts, it still will not show up in the taskbar area. Turns out there are 2 Moon Phase icons in the notification area and I can't seem to get rid of one - so there may be a conflict there...

I think I'll try removing all instances of the app and start all over. I'll keep you up on the results, but it may be later today - we're off to the Doctor's office.

Thanks so much to all of you and for bearing with my dragging this out. I thought I would be finished by now

Noels

 

[severedsolo]

try removing it from the taskbar and then letting it start on boot, once its started pin the running instance to the taskbar, it sounds like 7 is treating them as seperate instances of the application

 

[Noels]

severedsolo,

How do I remove the icons from the taskbar? The 2 Moon icons are selected as "Show icons and notification" but still they don't show up, and I can't figure out how to delete them...

Thanks for your help, Noels

 

[severedsolo]

by taskbar... do you mean the notification area? (the bit you see when you click the ringed bit on my screenshot) or the taskbar? which is where your pinned/running apps go. because it sounds to me like your describing the notification area, perhaps it would be easier if you screenshot what you mean

 

[Jonathan_King]

What you could do is hide the icon.

It won't get rid of it completely, but you would have to click the arrow to show it.

 

[Noels]

severedsolo, Sorry - yes, I do mean the notification area (used to be Taskbar in XP, on right side); there are 2 Moon Phase icons in it and I see no way to delete them - the program doesn't reside in either the Control Panel's Add/Remove applet nor the Registry... I have otherwise removed the program from the computer altogether, but those icons remain...

Jonathan, I have already disabled them (selected "Only show notifications" in the customize box), so they won't show, but I was concerned that since there were 2 of them, they were creating a conflict together, and that's why the program wouldn't work properly before...

Seems to me there should be some way to remove unwanted icons from the notification area (especially dupes) - or am I wrong about that?

I may just go ahead and re-install the program and try again. If it doesn't work then, I'll abandon it.

Thanks again, Noel

 

[Jonathan_King]

You can reset the notification area. It will remove all your other icons too, but if you're interested, http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/13102-notification-area-icons-reset.html.

 

[Noels]

Martin, yes, sorry, I did mean the Notification area... In any case, there are still 2 of the icons there, even after all other traces of the program are gone - nothing to remove in Control Panel/Add & Remove and nothing in the registry, just those 2 icons in the Notification area. I figured there should be some way to remove them, but I guess not...

Jonathan, I did change the Notification area so the icons won't show up, but they never did show up anyhow, even with the "show" option, which was my original problem

I'll try to re-install the program to see if it will work, and if not, I'll abandon it for the time being...

Thanks for all your help again, Noels

 

[Noels]

Jonathan,

Thanks for the Notification Area reset program - that did the trick!! Those icons are gone. And I'll store that app away for possible future use...

BTW, sorry for the double posting, didn't realize my post went to Page #2 - I feel silly for that to happen!

Anyhow, now I'll try to re-install the Moon Phase program and see what happens...

Noels

 

[Jonathan_King]

Great, I'm glad that tutorial helped you. Credit goes to our resident tutorial writer Brink.

 

[Noels]

Thanks Jonathan and thanks Brink. I appreciate your help.

I did re-install the program and it's still being contrary, so I guess if I want to use it, I'll have to manually start it each time I boot up. I pinned a copy to the Start menu, so it's in a convenient place. I think the trouble is that it's a Windows 95 app, and even though I've set the compatibility in each location, Windows 7 doesn't seem to like it.

Enough time for this small problem, eh?

And thanks again to each and every one who has helped me . This forum has a great group of members!!!

Noels