AO: program arguments reset on every modification

[Meddly]

Hello, hope you are doing ok!

This is a bit of an edge case, but I'll report it anyway.

Some programs provide useful startup arguments for their launch.

Random example: PureText. The /N argument is provided (among others) to hide its tray icon. For programs handled by Autorun Organizer, I've found that the most reliable way to make sure these arguments are retained and applied, are to enter them directly within Task Scheduler/DelayedItemsByChemtableSoftware/ProgramName/Actions. It works.

The problem? If any minor change is made to this program from the AO UI after adding arguments, say, delay the program's startup, or even change the delay from 5 to 6 seconds, the argument section is gone. It's being reset, and you need to manually enter it again. Not the end of the world, but not exciting either.

The greatest feature addition would be the ability to enter arguments directly via the AO UI. However, since this something probably meant for advanced users, it'd also be nice to simply NOT clear these arguments, where they exist.

[Chemtable Software]

Hello,

Thank you for the detailed report — this is an interesting edge case, and we appreciate you bringing it to our attention.

Until a more direct solution is implemented in Autorun Organizer, you can partially work around the issue as follows:

• Enable automatic startup in PureText.
• Manually add the desired argument to the corresponding autorun entry in the registry at:

  Code: Select all

  HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

  For example:
  "C:\PureText\PureText.exe" /N
• Delay the startup entry using Autorun Organizer as usual.

Since the original autorun entry already contains the argument, AO will preserve it when adjusting the delay. However, keep in mind that if you later disable and re-enable the program's own "run at startup" option, the argument may still be lost — but this method still may be more convenient than manually editing Task Scheduler tasks each time.

We'll keep your suggestion in mind for future improvements — particularly the idea of adding argument editing directly in the AO interface or at least avoiding the reset when modifying delays.

Thank you again for your thoughtful feedback!

[Meddly]

Since the original autorun entry already contains the argument, AO will preserve it when adjusting the delay.

Thanks for the workaround suggestion, but I'm afraid it doesn't work. The moment you delay the entry with AO, the argument is instantly deleted from the registry.

[Chemtable Software]

Thank you for the follow-up.

We’re not able to confirm this behavior from our side. By design, arguments are preserved and should be carried over to the delayed task when you change the startup delay in Autorun Organizer. We’ve just tested this ourselves, and it appears to work as expected.

Are you sure the issue isn’t caused by PureText itself recreating its autorun entry and stripping out the arguments you manually added?

[Meddly]

Sometimes, the argument might persist for a session but if for example you log out/in, and change the delay, the argument goes away from the registry. Confirmed it several times.

Perhaps PureText itself is indeed doing this, I can't say. Disabling PT's auto-start entry from its Tray icon/Settings, also takes it away from AO so perhaps it's more "aggressive" in its handling of the auto-start option.

In any case, not a major problem.

[Meddly]

Also found out that using "Launch" in the AO UI, actually uses the registry entry instead of the Task Scheduler task.

So, "Launch" via AO UI brings up the PureText tray icon (because the /N argument is gone from the registry), while either:

a) Normal Windows boot
b) Manually going to Task Scheduler/DelayedItemsByChemtableSoftware/PureText/Run

...will start PureText without its tray icon, because the /N is present in Task Scheduler (unless you change something via AO UI again).