Starting HCA each time Windows Starts

SUMMARY

In order to start HCA each time Windows starts several steps need to be configured.  This technical note described these steps. 

One reason for having HCA start when Windows starts is to have HCA Power failure recovery work when your computer is not backed up by a UPS

Some of the steps contained here are very dependent upon the version of Windows you are using.  Rather than try and document here all the information for different Windows versions (and keep that information up to date as Microsoft changes their knowledge base) sometimes references are given to Windows support web sites. 

Step 1.

If your computer requires a password when it starts, it is necessary to have Windows automatically logon and not stop at the Windows logon password dialog

By doing this you will no longer have password protection to your computer.  Take this into account when deciding if this is appropriate for you. 

For Windows XP and 2000, setup for auto logon is very clear:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q310/5/84.ASP

For NT 4 follow this procedure:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q97/5/97.ASP

The older versions of Windows have less information and what is available is less clear.  Information for Windows 95 and 98 reference a program called TweakUI which was at one time available on the Windows web site - and may still be.  If you have it or can find it and you use Windows 95 or 98 it appears to work well.

Windows 95
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/default.asp?url=/TechNet/archive/win95/securlog.asp

Windows 98
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows98/usingwindows/work/articles/002Feb/password.asp
 

Windows Me
Finding information for Windows Me is very difficult. Here is some info:
http://www.microsoft.com/WINDOWSME/using/workingefficiently/articles/passwords.asp

The problem with what this technical article is that it doesn't really provide what you need to know. We used the procedure outlined in the XP and 2000 info given above and it sort of worked but not always.  We then found this article that referenced another registry setting in the network tree.  Once we added the AutoLogon in the RealModeNet key it seemed to work fully.
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q141/8/58.asp

Step 2.

The next step is to have HCA start when Windows starts.  Again, each OS has a different procedure for this but in the Windows help file you can find what you need to know.  Look in the Windows help file for "Start a program each time you start Windows", and follow the directions.

For Windows XP, these directions are:

To start a program each time you start Windows:

1. Right-click the Start button, and then click Properties.
2. On the Start Menu tab, click Classic Start menu, and then click Customize. This changes the style of the Start menu.
3. Click Advanced.
4. In the Start Menu folder, find the shortcut to the program you want to start each time you start Windows, and drag it to the Startup folder located in the Programs folder.
    

Step 3.

Steps 1 and 2 got Windows to start and HCA to start.  Now you have to work within HCA to have it load your design file, and become Active.