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I have been having a lot of problems with an app I use all the time. It is set to auto-start (the app is in the Startup folder) and it frequently crashes after it starts. When I start it manually after all apps have loaded, it always starts without problems.

The app developers have not been able to find the cause.

I am wondering if another app that starts around the same time is the cause of these crashes. Does anyone know how I can find out when apps and services load after starting up? I would take it out of startup. However, if I do that and forget to start it, then I have to wait for the other computers and mobile devices I have to sync up…

Thanks very much,

John

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What is this app?

What is logged in event logs for the reason it crashes?

What Os are you running it on and instead of using start-up, can it run as a service?

You could always have a script that is scheduled to run at login, delay the application running for 5 minutes to give the other processes time to start.

The startup folder isn’t the only way to automatically start something.

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Hey John, if you’re thinking of delaying the app startup instead of removing it entirely, that’s actually a smart move. You can use Windows Task Scheduler to launch the app a couple of minutes after you log in, giving everything else time to load first. That usually helps when a program crashes because it’s trying to start too early.

Here’s a simple PowerShell script you can use to create that delayed startup task:

powershell

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# Edit this line with the full path to your app:
$appPath = "C:\Path\To\YourApp.exe"  

$taskName = "DelayedAppStartup"
$delayMinutes = 2  # Change this if you want a longer delay

$delaySeconds = $delayMinutes * 60

$action = New-ScheduledTaskAction -Execute $appPath
$trigger = New-ScheduledTaskTrigger -AtLogOn -Delay (New-TimeSpan -Seconds $delaySeconds)
$settings = New-ScheduledTaskSettingsSet -AllowStartIfOnBatteries -StartWhenAvailable

Register-ScheduledTask -Action $action -Trigger $trigger -TaskName $taskName `
  -Settings $settings -Description "Launch app with delay after user logon" `
  -User "$env:USERNAME" -RunLevel Highest -Force

Write-Host "Scheduled task created to launch your app $delayMinutes minutes after login."

Just replace the file path with the one for your app. Run PowerShell as Administrator when you do this. It’ll create a scheduled task that waits a couple of minutes after login before launching the app.

If you ever want to remove the task, this command will clean it up:

powershell

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Unregister-ScheduledTask -TaskName "DelayedAppStartup" -Confirm:$false
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disable all startup apps

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If your app crashes during startup but works fine when started manually, it may be launching too early—before required services or other apps are ready. First, check the Event Viewer (eventvwr.msc) under Windows Logs > Application to see when and why the app crashes. To fix it, you can delay the app’s startup using Task Scheduler: create a task that runs the app at logon, and set a delay of 30 to 90 seconds. Then remove the app from the Startup folder.
You can also check for conflicts by disabling other startup apps in Task Manager, restarting, and re-enabling them one by one to identify the problem. If you’re testing and don’t want to forget to start the app, set a reminder using Task Scheduler or a sticky note at login. This approach gives the system time to load everything else before your app runs, which may prevent the crash.

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