Windows 10: Startup folder -- Programs launch one at a time?

I have several programs / shortcuts in my startup folder. After I log on, it seems like anything in the startup folder is loaded one at a time (program 1 launches, program 2 doesn't launch until program 1 is opened, etc.). I have most of the same apps in my taskbar, and if I just quickly click on all of their icons, they'll all open simultaneously. I like using the startup folder since it's all automated, but having them load much slower is sometimes annoying. I wonder if manually creating a batch script to automatically open them all would be any faster.

Are my startup folder observations normal?

:)

 

Launch programs at startup VS. Launch Apps as Admin. Security policy conflict?

PCR, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but your suggestion addresses a piece of 1/2 of the problem, but doesn't actually look at this security policy / app availability conflict.

Does anybody have any suggestions or other areas where the same issue is being discussed? It seems unlikely that I'm the only person that is trying to run unsigned Desktop Apps at startup and still be allowed to use Windows Store Apps.

Thanks for your help!

 

Launch programs at startup VS. Launch Apps as Admin. Security policy conflict?

Hello,

I'm having a bit of trouble getting Windows 10 to behave as it ought.

I have a number of programs I need to have launch at login, without intervention from the user. Usually, that user is myself, using an account with Admin privileges, and the things I expect to launch are privacy and accessibility tools that I've purchased
or written over the years, in trying to make my computers more usable for somebody without the use of both hands. I'm not a professional programmer by any means, but having built computers and worked in the tech field for ~15 years now, I think I'm justified
in calling myself a power user at least.

The only solution I've found to make these apps launch- since neither adding shortcuts in the shell:startup folder/start menu, nor MSCONFIG setup worked out of the box (for unsigned, 'you didn't buy this from a microsoft approved vendor' programs)- was
to go into the Local Security Policy (Windows 10 Pro) setup, and disable the policy "Local policies->Security Options->User Account Control: Run All Administrators in Admin Approval Mode."

However, this promptly broke every App except Settings it seems. Launching the Store makes the screen flash once, and then the icon disappears from the Taskbar; whereas News, Groove Music, Movies & TV, Money, Edge, etc. all state "This App Can't Open:
<app name> can't be opened using the Built-In Administrator Account. Sign in with a different account and try again."

Well, I'm signed in as myself, not under the Administrator account. Yes, my personal account is in the 'administrators' group, and thus has elevated privledges, but this seems a bit convoluted and problematic. I get that UAC is very useful for, say, 98%
of users. But I have Pro for a reason, it shouldn't be SO restrictive that I have to start messing with Policies to get things to launch, and then turn right around and tell me 'oops! you've got too many priveledges! you're not allowed to do this, it might
break something!'

If Apps can't be launched by the Administrator, fine- no need to have knockoff 'SugarSmush' games with superuser rights- but if a member of administrators launches an App, why can't it just launch with 'default user' permissions or something? It seems rather
backwards that somehow my use of an account in 'administrators' calls the disabled Administrator account, but can't call the equally disabled 'DefaultAccount' for reduced permissions?

Just for grins, I tried a suggestion I'd found for solving the 'launching apps with elevated permissions' problem, which was to enable the local policy "Local policies->Security Options->User Account Control: Admin Approval Mode for the Built-In Administrator
account," but that policy seems to be hamstringed by the policy that allows the Startup folder to function uninhibited.

I don't know if this is even worth asking, but is there a way to fix this? Either something that I can do or something that can be fixed in Windows 10 to prevent this apparent conflict?

I'd like to get more out of Windows 10 than just a pretty upgrade to windows 7 with better underpinnings, by being able to use the Apps that have been built for this platform. Until this gets sorted, I guess I'll just use it like I've used 7, with Programs
only & no Apps.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

Hi, there's quite a bit going on in that phase, not all of it just your startup programs (as in Startup folder) launching. There are background processes, and with Win 10 things associated with the universal apps using resources too.

And of course, the Startup folder is not the only place where startups are specified. (use Autoruns (free) to explore).

Try launching the task manager as early as you can after logging on - CTRL SHIFT ESC and click the CPU tab to see highest CPU use at the top.

In the past, people have used startup delayers to delay the launch of non-essential startup programs so that the PC is more responsive.

 

CPU usage isn't very high after logging on when relying on the startup folder to launch my usual set of programs. There are a handful of autostart programs (ones not in the Startup folder) that launch in no time at all after logging in. I think I'll change what I have in my startup folder and turn them into autostart / autorun entries in the registry.