Windows 10: Windows Startup Configuration?

Hello! I've been thinking... Now with virtual displays and such, it would be really handy to be able to do some startup configuration.

For example, on my first display to have opened the internet, on the second to have opened all the different messaging apps that I use (skype, discord, whatsapp, facebook), on the third to have opened vmware (and possibly even another OS) and so on...

Now I know there's no way of doing that out of the box (but I may be wrong), but still... Is there any way I can have a startup configuration on my windows machine now?

Thanks.

:)

 

Startup sound on windows 10 won't play

Microsoft began to depreciate the startup sound starting with Windows 8, including Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. Windows 10 was not designed to play a startup sound. Starting with Windows 8, Windows has included the Fast Startup feature. I do not recommend
you disable Fast Startup like AndreJA said, because disabling Fast Startup will make your PC startup slower.

 

Windows Startup

Hello

I'm currently running the latest windows update 1709 for x64 system KB4074588 and my startup seems to be slower than how used to be, is there anything I can do improve it? , my hard drive and RAM are being used at less than a third of its capacity.

 

Stardock makes a $5 third-party program called Fences that sounds like it does exactly what you need. The only thing I'm not sure about is the monitor allocation aspect of it, but there's a user forum for Fences on their Website where you can look around to find that answer (or if you can't find it, post a query to get the information you need).
HTH,
--Ed--

 

Do you use Fences? From their description of the program, it doesn't look like it can start programs on boot and place them on specific desktops. It seems to be just a tool to organise desktop icons. *Smile

 

No, I do not use Fences now, but I did use it on Windows 7 and 8 in a single-monitor configuration. My understanding is that once you've set things up the way you want them, that's how they stay from one reboot to the next, as long as Fences loads during startup and its configuration data remains consistent. That's how it worked for me on those other OSes, too. I just haven't tried it on a multiple monitor set-up like yours. I *think* it will work, but I am not sure, as I already said. However, I believe I gave you the means to find out for yourself, if you're interested. For me, spending $5 is a minor enough expense that I would try it out and eat the loss if it didn't work for me. If you're not inclined to risk that capital, then you'll have to keep researching.

That said, I did find an interesting post on the Stardock User Forums that seems to indicate it can be forced to behave properly on multiple monitors. The post is entitled "Fences on Multiple Monitors" and includes precise UI instructions on how to configure the software to "store fence sizes and positions on a per-screen-resolution basis." This certainly sounds like what you're looking for to me, but I repeat: I have NOT done this myself.

This does not address your concern about starting programs at boot time and positioning them on specific screens. There are other utilities that can do this kind of thing including some PowerShell scripting items mentioned in this 6/16/2014 SuperUser post "Set (Many) Programs' Window Size/Position." Obviously you'd have to script the application launches, then place and position them as you'd like them to be, within the context of whatever PowerShell script you used for that purpose. I find repeated mention of a program named Autohotkey and a WinMove command that appears able to do what you want.

Again, HTH. Please ignore my input if it doesn't help.
--Ed--

 

I did say "virtual displays" and I did say "have them opened" and I did say "startup configuration".

Am I that hard to understand? My question clearly does not ask about desktop icons! And you say "there are other utilities that can do this". I'd be happy if you'd post some of those utilities. A powershell script / command is hardly a utility. And those scripts do not address virtual desktops. And what if I'm not a programmer? 'Cause with programming, I'd probably do it faster in C++ with some Windows APIs. But I don't have time to write code for that.

Thank you for your reply though. It's good to see that nowdays people are still willing to help...

 

You're welcome. If I were in your shoes, I'd look into the SuperUser Item I posted, and see if the PowerShell/Autohotkey combination can do what you need it to. Otherwise, I can't find any purpose-built software that does exactly what you want it to do. Best of luck in your continued search.
--Ed--

 

As far as I know there is no other way to make an application to open on a specific virtual desktop than to first add a new virtual desktop, then open application on it. An application will always open on virtual desktop which is currently open. As it is impossible to make Windows to start with additional virtual desktops, it makes what you want to achieve impossible using Windows native virtual desktop feature.

Some years ago back in Windows 7 I tested a third party virtual desktop application Dexpot (Dexpot | Virtual desktops for Windows). I am not sure if you can make it open additional virtual desktops at start, but at least as far as I can recall it had a feature to allow you to set applications open on specific virtual desktop. I remember the app worked quite nicely.

Checking Dexpot site now to see if the app even exists today (wasn't sure) I found out that it's quite pricey, €24.95 ($26.45 / £21.15), PayPal being the only payment option for customers outside European Union. Your local time shown under your avatar puts you to UK, Ireland, Portugal or Iceland, you can also select an invoice by email if PayPal is not an option to you.

 

Dexpot is free for home/non-commercial use.

 

I did not know that. My apologies.

 

I use Dexpot on my Win7 machine and love it. Have a new Win10 machine and want to use Dexpot there. However their Web site says 1) the latest version was released in 2014, 2) there are apparently problems using it on Win10, and 3) the publisher announced an update in Feb 2016. I can't find any news since then. Anybody have an idea on where Dexpot is?

Harvey

 

Thanks for the pointer, Kari, and for your update on strange doings at Dexpot, Maddaze.
Always glad to learn about new tools (to me, anyway).
--Ed--

 

I've been running Dexpot and Windows 10 Pro for over a year now and have had only minor problems. To wit, occasionally Dexpot does not fully start up at boot time, so I have to manually start it.
While I wish it would play a bit nicer with Fences, I think it has made itself just about indispensable now.