AFTER, v1.00

Requirements:

Windows95 or Windows NT 3.51, or above.

Description

This program postpones execution of another application by a number of seconds, and allows the programs to be cancelled before they are executed.

Its main use is in the "Startup" group. If you have a lot of programs in the startup group, making your boot-up very time-consuming, you can replace the program names with an AFTER command. In this way you could (for example) load your mail program 10 seconds after starting up, your ICQ program after 15 seconds, your Office Fast-find program after 20 seconds, and so on. If you're in a hurry and don't want to load one of them, just right-click the icon and select "Cancel", and the program won't be loaded at all. If, on the other hand, you want to load one of them immediately, right-click the icon and select "Run Now", or double-click the icon.

Instructions

To install: Copy the AFTER.EXE file into a directory in your path (the Windows directory is great).

To uninstall: Delete the AFTER.EXE file from the directory in which you copied it.

To use: Create a new shortcut with the command "AFTER 10 program.exe", where '10' stands for the number of seconds (10 seconds in this case), and 'program.exe' is the full name of the program you want to run, or the document you want to open. If the file name contains any spaces, enclose the entire name in double quotes.
If you want to replace the programs in your startup group, remember to delete the old shortcuts after you've created the "After" shortcuts.

When executed, the program will display a "stopwatch" icon in the taskbar (near the clock) and start counting. When it reaches the number of seconds specified, it will launch the file. If you move the cursor over a stopwatch icon, it will display the application name it will execute, and the number of seconds remaining. If you right-click the stopwatch icon, you are given the options to run the program now, to pause, or to cancel the program altogether.

Here are some examples:

AFTER 10 "c:\program files\Exchange\exchng32.exe"
AFTER 15 c:\windows\MailCheck.exe
AFTER 20 "c:\windows\Things To Do.txt"
AFTER 25 MyShortCut.lnk

Disclaimer

You can only use this product if you accept that it is an unsupported product, without any warranty. You use it at your own risk. If there are states or countries which do not permit this kind of non-liability, you are expressly forbidden to use this product in such locations.

License (freeware)

This program may be copied and distributed freely if:

• It is not modified
• All files are included
• No fee is charged for it
• It is not included as part of another product

Known issues

• You can only specify a file name (Application or document) as a parameter. If you want to specify command-line arguments to a program, create a shortcut and "run" that shortcut instead.

Future Enhancements

Here's what I might do in future:

• Alter the program to display each application's icon instead of the standard 'stopwatch' icon.