Is there a way to pre-load apps you like during windows startup into RAM?

May 1, 2005 3:12 AM

Is there a way to pre-load apps you like during windows startup into RAM?

I have XP Pro SP2 and I want to have firefox in memory when windows loads up, to increase performance. I can get through regedit fine. How can I do this?

posted by Dean Keaton to computers & internet (8 comments total)

If you add Firefox to your startup apps, I believe XP will start including it in the boot prefetch process.

Windows XP prefetching works both at boot-time and at program launch time. It generates profiles that the Windows defragger will use to put all the required DLLs next to the executables on disk, so a defrag supposedly will help. I've never seen any data proving how much it helps though.
posted by grouse at 3:34 AM on May 1, 2005

Why don't you just put it into your startup folder, so it is loaded when you log in?
posted by curtm at 5:30 AM on May 1, 2005

I think he wants them loaded up even before you log in.
posted by furtive at 5:35 AM on May 1, 2005

While this isn't a general solution, the MinimizeToTray extension has a "turbo" option that will let you pre-load Firefox to the system tray at windows startup.
posted by zsazsa at 7:32 AM on May 1, 2005

Use XP's hibernate feature and just keep apps open. Then you have the added benifit of having insanely fast startup, too.
You only need to actually reboot once & a while (for me, about every week, but I beat my system into the ground) to clear RAM.
posted by devilsbrigade at 10:39 AM on May 1, 2005

This knowledgebase article on Increasing startup speed mentions that "Firefox does not have a Quick Launch feature similar to that for the Mozilla Suite. However, a third-party utility called Firefox Preloader is available."
posted by Alex Handcoding at 11:25 AM on May 1, 2005

Mozilla Firefox in a RAM Partition
posted by mr.marx at 1:15 PM on May 1, 2005

Is there a general way to preload any .exe file to your memory? See, I am using a 2.8 celeron laptop: It's like having a V8 with a clogged air filter and restricted exhaust. On the other hand, I have 768MB of RAM which definately helps.
posted by Dean Keaton at 3:31 PM on May 1, 2005