Running Windows 7, I'd like Internet Explorer to start automatically when I
log in. How do I do that?
As is evidenced by all the malware that does it, making something start when
Windows starts or when you login is actually pretty easy.
I'll show you one of the simplest approaches.
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The "magic" behind this approach is that there is a special sub-menu item in your All Programs menu called "Startup". Any shortcuts you place in that sub-menu will be run automatically when you login.
Click on the "Start Orb" (so called because they replaced the Windows XP "Start" button with the Windows logo in an orb):
Click on All Programs, and then scroll down until the Startup item becomes visible and right-click on it:
Click on Explore to open a Windows Explorer window on the contents of the Startup sub-menu:
Now, go back to the Start menu and locate the item for Internet Explorer - or whatever program you want to have start automatically. Right-click on the item and select Copy:
Now go back to the window that contains the contents of the Startup sub-menu, right-click in an empty space therein, and click on Paste:
Now you'll see the item in the window:
As well as in the start menu itself:
Now, when you login, Internet Explorer (in this example) will start automatically.
(In case you're wondering why the Windows Explorer window shows only a subset of what actually appears on the actual start menu, it's because I elected to "Explore" rather than "Explore All Users". "Explore" opens a window on the start menu that applies only to the currently logged in user. "Explore All Users" opens a window on the start menu that applies to all users on the machine. When the actual start menu is displayed the two are combined.)
I use a freebie called StartUP Delayer to delay the start of my login programs.
It allows me to space the start of these items for a more orderly startup of them.
http://www.r2.com.au/software.php?page=2&show=startdelay
It might be wise to delay startup of a heavy program like IE8 until after the computer completes boot to functional desktop.
Another method is the following:
1. Send a shortcut of the program .exe you want to start automatically to the desktop.
2. Type shell:startup into Start/search or Run and hit Enter. This brings up the startup folder.
3. Drag the shortcut from (1) into that folder. Close the folder. That’s all.