My journey into the world of computers began when I was nine years old, thanks entirely to my mom. She brought home a PC from her workplace when the company upgraded its equipment and offered older machines to their senior staff. That machine was the IBM 5150, one of the earliest personal computers to make its way into American homes.

It ran entirely on a 5.25 inch floppy disk and felt both mysterious and exciting. I remember sitting in front of it for hours, reading through the manuals to figure out how to boot and install the operating system. Before long, I discovered another manual filled with instructions for a programming language called BASIC. That was the moment everything changed.

One of the first programs I ever wrote was a simple basketball game. The player could choose options like Pass, Shoot, or Dribble, while the defensive options included Steal or Block. The computer generated a random number to determine whether the action succeeded. It kept score and ended the game at 20 points. Another early project was a game based on the Greek myth of Medusa. She had multiple heads, and you had to guess which one to cut off before your health ran out. The games were simple, but for a nine year old, they were transformative.

That early curiosity became the foundation of a lifelong passion for technology. The IBM 5150 sparked my interest, shaped my education, and ultimately helped lead me to the career I have today.

The post Where It All Started: The IBM 5150 PC appeared first on Joshua Bellendir.

Why Would You Need This?

There are plenty of scenarios where this becomes useful:

• You have a computer acting as a media server for your game console.
• You are streaming movies or music from a PC to your phone or tablet.
• The machine sits in a closet or basement with no monitor or keyboard connected.
• You want to power it on and walk away without logging in.
• You access your PC remotely and need certain applications running before someone logs in.

In my case, I use an iPhone app that lets me remotely turn on my PC over the cellular network. Since no one is home to log into Windows and launch the application, I need Windows to do it automatically on startup.

How to Set It Up

The simplest way to accomplish this is by creating a scheduled task in the Windows Task Scheduler. You can do this in Windows XP, but the steps below walk through the process using Windows 7. The steps are very similar in later versions of Windows.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Open Control Panel
2. Open Administrative Tools
3. Launch Task Scheduler
4. Click Create Task
   (Do not use “Create Basic Task” because it does not provide the settings needed to start before login.)
5. Under the General tab:
   • Select Run whether user is logged on or not
6. Go to the Triggers tab:
   • Click New
   • Select At Startup as the trigger
7. Go to the Actions tab:
   • Click New
   • Select Start a program
   • Browse for the program you want Windows to launch during boot
8. When saving the task, Windows will ask for your username and password.
   • Enter your credentials so the application can run with your user permissions even when you are not logged in.

Test Your Setup

Restart your computer and wait at the login screen. Your application should already be running. If everything is configured correctly, Windows will start the program automatically the moment the system boots up.

The post How to Start a Windows Application Automatically When Your Computer Turns On appeared first on Joshua Bellendir.