Another bout of lazyness...

CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄ƷDer Millionendorf- Icrontian
edited March 2004 in Science & Tech
So, I was opening My E-mail Client, My Chat client, and My web client all at once, when I realized that I open those three things all at once several times a day.

Wouldn't it be nice if I could have one shortcut that would open all three of these programs at once... It would save me two clicks!

Is there any way to do this without writing a batch file? (can you even write a batch file to run in windows?! (I mean really, who comes up with this crap... (... Oh yea...)))

Anywho, I tried a couple things, and couldn't figure anything out, so I thought I'd ask.

Comments

  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited March 2004
    why do you want to do it w/o writing a batch file?
    @echo off

type the paths of the executables here
c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore.exe, for example
    save as openstuff.bat, you're good to go
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited March 2004
    CBDroege wrote:
    So, I was opening My E-mail Client, My Chat client, and My web client all at once, when I realized that I open those three things all at once several times a day.

    Wouldn't it be nice if I could have one shortcut that would open all three of these programs at once... It would save me two clicks!

    Is there any way to do this without writing a batch file? (can you even write a batch file to run in windows?! (I mean really, who comes up with this crap... (... Oh yea...)))

    Anywho, I tried a couple things, and couldn't figure anything out, so I thought I'd ask.

    Well, if you are like me, you COULD drag them to the startup folder for your user ID.... :D IE CAN open on Windows startup, to a blank page (setting home page to 'about:blank' is one way to force this) or to a home page. Ditto OE. Ditto MSN Messenger, most IRQ clients, most IRC clients, and Trillian. Then you close or minimize what you do NOT want open on screen, and you can even start them minimized if you want. OE CAN pick up email while minimized, so can Thunderbird and Opera and Mozilla.

    Or, you make the bat like as above, save, drag a shortcut to the bat to desktop. Click shortcut, shazzam and open sesame for as many apps as you list.

    John D.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited March 2004
    Don't we all spend time trying to KEEP windows from opening a bunch of stuff at start up????
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2004
    edcentric wrote:
    Don't we all spend time trying to KEEP windows from opening a bunch of stuff at start up????
    Normally I'm right with you on that. If I had five bucks for every hour I've spent cleaning out all of the garbage from friends and relatives comps I'd have enough to replace my aging piece of junk.

    One way I did find it useful to load things on startup was at work. I always had Outlook, IE, and Filemaker Pro (a database system, for those not familiar with it) open. Couldn't get much done without them.
  • ishiiiishiii Cold lake, AB, CA
    edited March 2004
    I like the .bat file idea.
    Very useful for opening several web pages all at once.

    Is it possible to force the window to be maximised?
    This is what I got
    @echo off

    c:\test\1.url
    c:\test\2.url
    c:\test\3.url
    And they all open in there own IE window but there not maximised.
    ideas?
  • CBCB Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Der Millionendorf- Icrontian
    edited March 2004
    Ya Ya, I know this stuff. I don't want a batch file, or start-up.

    I don't want start-up, cause my computer is always on. I close these windows, and do something else, then I want all of them open at once again.

    I don't want to use a batch file because I'm irrationaly opposed. It's not that I can't (In DOS days, I created GUIs for my systems, made entirely out of batch files and ASCII pages :D ). For some reason, I just don't feel like it. I know that that may be a very womanly thing for me to do. but that's why I said I am irationally opposed, ya?

    Anyway, I really just want to know if there is a feature of the existing windows short-cut system which can deal with this...

    ishiii wrote:
    I like the .bat file idea.
    Very useful for opening several web pages all at once.

    Is it possible to force the window to be maximised?


    I don't think so. UIM, batch files still use the old command.com syntax, which was developed before windows existed, so there would be no 'maximise window' command, unless Microsoft incorporated it later (which I don't see why they would do...).
  • shwaipshwaip bluffin' with my muffin Icrontian
    edited March 2004
    I dunno if this may be helpful...it's visual basic code to run whatever program you input into the box. I've tested it, it's safe. If you know VB, you should be able to write some program.
  • ishiiiishiii Cold lake, AB, CA
    edited March 2004
    for what its worth
    if anyone else was trying to do what I was, I did make it work
    Now my morning smoke only needs one click to go with it
    @echo off


    start /max http://www....................com
    start /max iexplore -new http://www.................com
    start /max iexplore -new http://www.........................com
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited March 2004
    Replace "PATH TO PROGRAM #N" with the programs you want started then save to a file with a .vbs extension 
    Dim ss
Set ss = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
ss.run "PATH TO PROGRAM #1",1
Set ss = nothing
Set ss = Createobject("WScript.shell")
ss.run "PATH TO PROGRAM #2",1
Set ss = nothing
Set ss = Createobject("WScript.shell")
ss.run "PATH TO PROGRAM #3",1
Set ss = nothing
  • dodododo Landisville, PA
    edited March 2004
    Alright, how about this:
    Is there a way to specify where the window opens? (Like on a second monitor)

    ~dodo
  • a2jfreaka2jfreak Houston, TX Member
    edited March 2004
    There might be . . . google for it (that's vbscript that I pasted) as I don't know off-hand.
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited March 2004
    CBDroege wrote:
    Ya Ya, I know this stuff. I don't want a batch file, or start-up.

    I don't want start-up, cause my computer is always on. I close these windows, and do something else, then I want all of them open at once again.

    I don't want to use a batch file because I'm irrationaly opposed. It's not that I can't (In DOS days, I created GUIs for my systems, made entirely out of batch files and ASCII pages :D ). For some reason, I just don't feel like it. I know that that may be a very womanly thing for me to do. but that's why I said I am irationally opposed, ya?

    Anyway, I really just want to know if there is a feature of the existing windows short-cut system which can deal with this...





    I don't think so. UIM, batch files still use the old command.com syntax, which was developed before windows existed, so there would be no 'maximise window' command, unless Microsoft incorporated it later (which I don't see why they would do...).

    Look at Sun Java 2 (subrev 3 or 4).... It can open Windows, call subapplets which can run programs, and specify the Windows parms to Windows and Linux and Solaris soon as Java and Linux compatibility will be in Solaris 10 as extensions.... It can also gen mouse events as well as deal with them.

    Problem with what you want, is you want to choose to open particular set of apps you want open, right??? THAT is very individualized. So, likelihood of finding a program that opens YOUR choice set of apps with an icon click presupposes a program to do it.... OR a vb batch scripting.... OR a Sun Java Jar of custom beans in CLASSES.... Or a Python script, or a Ruby Script, but those live mostly in Linux boxes. Now, if Windows could be made to run a folder of programs by clicking a folder full of icons, that would be nifty, but it does not do that yet NATIVELY without changing users or a power mgt event.

    So, you COULD set up users with start folders with the icons in, and change users to run each set (Fast User Switching service facilitiates this), but that is kinda cumbersome. Unless you are event set oriented-- unfortunately, Windows is a RANDOM event handler....

    User:.............Apps run at startup......
    CB-Surfer.......IE or Opera or Firefox .8, OE or Thunderbird in startup
    CB-Artist........PSP and Corel Draw and OOdraw in startup
    CB-Business....OOo 1.1 and Quicken or Quickbooks or Peachtree in startup

    Try defining user as a logical function-based user, set up users for each group you want, define user name so you know what set gets called.... Then fast-user-switch.

    Stuff common to all users gets stuck in the All Users subfolder of Documents And Settings tree.... So, it will start for ALL users. Things like Folding@home, unless you have that as a service that runs for all users....

    Sometimes, it helps to look at the user structure of Windows SIDEWAYS, edge on, backwards, then upside down and inside out, see how the user tree can be functional as well as security and physical. I have tried variants on that theme with 2000 and XP Pro, they get set up as admin.... By doing it this way, you can define what comes up maximized, what comes up minimized, and what comes up normally (by doing a visual script gen of startup registry entries tied to IDs that might as well be virtually functional instead of virtually physical)....

    ME, I KVM multiple boxes, and use KDE with 6 desktops on one box about one-quarter to half the time.... :D

    John D.
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