How to Launch a Program Automatically When a Computer Starts Up

Series Summary

Computers are complex machines built upon very simple principles. They perform arithmetical operations millions of times over to transform digital information moving at lightning speed into usable human data. A personal computer's job is to help a user create, manipulate, deliver, receive or delete media content. This is a simple, sterile definition that sounds uninteresting on the surface. Nevertheless, these fundamental functions mimic human ability in some surprising ways. Therefore, the computer is increasingly becoming an engine of the imagination, a platform for the digital life. In this free video series on computers, an experienced software developer offers information on caring for computers. Find out how to keep a laptop cool for optimum performance, and get tips on restoring a computer back to its factory settings. Use a variety of programs, and learn to help a computer run faster. Maintain and care for a computer using this helpful guide to PCs and laptops.

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Dave Andrews. Today I'm going to show you how to launch your program automatically when your computer starts up. Let's go to our computer. Let's just say we like for our program to start up immediately when I log in. I want that program to be notepad. So to make it start up immediately, click on your start button, go to all programs and then in this list of objects here find the startup. Let's right click on startup and click open. Now this is basically a folder that's in your start menu and you can put programs or files inside of this folder and they will be automatically opened once Windows logs on. So what we want to do here is create a shortcut inside the startup to our notepad program that automatically launch it. Let's click on our start button again. Let's do a search here for notepad. If you're using Windows XP, notepad can be found in the accessories menu of the start menu. So we'll take our notepad, right click on it and say send to and then click on desktop. Now we have an icon on our desktop for notepad but we want to move it into the startup folder. So just click on it, hold your mouse down and drag it over into startup. Now that this notepad program is located inside of startup, whenever I log into my computer, notepad will open up automatically. My name is Dave Andrews and I've just showed you how to make a program launch automatically when your computer starts up."