Any way to make task manager autostart?

[Grall]

I'd like to have the windows task manager minimized already in my systray when I boot up my system, but I've never figured out a way to do it. I'm far from certain there is, but surely the task manager itself should be an executable residing somewhere on the drive? Then it can't be inconcievable that there's a command line switch as well that makes it start in minimized mode...

Anyone have any concrete infos on this, wether it's doable or impossible? Thanks in advance.

 

[Simon F]

FWIW I downloaded Microsoft's "Process Explorer" (basically the task manager on steroids) and simply put a shortcut to it in the programs->startup folder.

 

[Grall]

I know of that one, but it doesn't put a CPU load icon in the systray from what I remember. I haven't used process explorer in years, but it didn't back then at least...

 

[DJ12]

surely doing the same with the task manager (taskmgr.exe) in the windows/system32 folder will have the same result?

 

[Simon F]

I know of that one, but it doesn't put a CPU load icon in the systray from what I remember. I haven't used process explorer in years, but it didn't back then at least...

Yes it does.

 

[Grall]

Yes it does.

Interesting. I assume it can be made to start up minimized, as it seems the built-in taskmgr.exe (thanks DJ12!) doesn't support any switches at all from what I can see. It just silently opens and pops to the front when invoked regardless of whatever extra characters are fed to it on the command line...

Does process explorer also have those nice built-in graphs and stuff over memory and CPU load? I can't remember...

 

[Blazkowicz]

here is it :


making use of a built-in windows feature to run apps minimized .
though I have a bug on that install. It used to work flawless on other systems, but on that particular one the task manager has a ghost presence in the taskbar after booting, I have to summon it from the systray or ctrl-shift-esc and minimize it again.

my previous windows 2003 and XP SP2 didn't do that. or maybe my computer is too damn fast I dunno.
If I quit task manager, or even close everything, then load the shorcut, I have no bug. how weird

 

[Grall]

Schweet tip! Gonna try it out at once.

*testing*

Wheee! It works purrrfectly!

 

[Tokelil]

Does process explorer also have those nice built-in graphs and stuff over memory and CPU load? I can't remember...

While Task Manager is nice enough, Proces Explorer has much more information for those that needs it. (And does a little debugging etc.)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/86148/ProcessExplorer1.png
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/86148/ProcessExplorer2.png

 

[Grall]

Process explorer is rather overkill for me. It is more powerful in some ways though, I've stumbled upon processes that the regular task manager was either unable to kill, or else simply refused to terminate - I was unable to determine which since no error messages or anything appeared. The task simply would not die when told to.

Process explorer however killed the offending program without fuss. (As I recall it was probably internet explorer that had hung in some way - perhaps because of flash being a bitch as usual, it was too long ago since it happened...)

 

[Blazkowicz]

I tend to use taskkill (under the command line)
taskkill /F is nice, it's like kill -9 under linux.
it does the same job as the task manager when proposing to force quit an application that doesn't respond.

it even saves me when the display is garbled (a Worms world party bug). I launch a command prompt blindly, alt-enter into fullscreen mode, then I can tasklist/taskkill at will
BTW I have UnxUtils and openssh installed. so I have all the grep, less, sed etc. commands, and can ssh and scp just fine. plus cmd.exe defaults at 80x43 size and my shortcut at C:\ , etc.

all little details that make windows more enjoyable.
I would have ubuntu 9.10 as the main OS (or would try arch linux, etc.) if not for wanting great compatibility with games and strong drivers.

 

[Simon F]

While we're on the subject, I've just tried setting process explorer to run on start up on my new vista-based laptop and, on each boot, the damned thing keeps asking me if I want to run this program. Setting/clearing the "don't ask me" checkbox in the dialogue box does nothing. What's more bewildering is that Microsoft don't even trust their own software!

Does anyone know in Vista how to get it to accept that I know what I'm doing (at least in this instance )?

 

[entity279]

While we're on the subject, I've just tried setting process explorer to run on start up on my new vista-based laptop and, on each boot, the damned thing keeps asking me if I want to run this program. Setting/clearing the "don't ask me" checkbox in the dialogue box does nothing. What's more bewildering is that Microsoft don't even trust their own software!

Does anyone know in Vista how to get it to accept that I know what I'm doing (at least in this instance )?

You have to use the task scheduler to launch process explorer at start-up. Check the run with administrative rights (or something like that) and no UAC message will appear.

 

[Richard]

What's more bewildering is that Microsoft don't even trust their own software!

In the context of code security and credentials, is there any such thing as "own" software? Trust no-one.

 

[Simon F]

You have to use the task scheduler to launch process explorer at start-up. Check the run with administrative rights (or something like that) and no UAC message will appear.

Thanks. Been using XP (or Win2k) for such a long time so naively assumed the same the same approach would work.