App link in Windows startup folder

Question

Hello:

I keep putting a link to an app .exe file in ...

C:\Users[user]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\

... and it (the link) keeps disappearing.

It has been there before, without problems. Suddenly, it's disappearing every time I turn off the computer.

Would anyone have any clue as to what is going on.

I have Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

Thanks,

Hans L

Moved From: Windows / Windows 7 / Other Windows apps

Answer 1

Hi Hans,

There are different factors that can contribute as to the shortcut link that you created for an app keep on disappearing from the startup folder in Windows 7 when you reboot or switch your computer. One possibility is the compatibility settings used on the affected application need to be modified. For us to resolve your concern, kindly answer the questions below:

• Were there any recent changes made or updates installed on your computer prior to the issue occurring?
• We would also like to verify what is the application that you would like to put in the startup folder that keeps on disappearing?

We look forward to your response to our queries.

Answer 2

Yesterday, I set Compatibility for ClipCache to Windows 7, which did not work. I tested again today, setting it to Vista (Service Pack 2), and that seems to have solved the problem. Thank you , Jordan and Lem, for your help so solve this.

Hans L

Answer 3

Lem, you are right ... I have  some interesting issues :-) (I seem to be the only one in the world who is prompted, every time I open Facebook, to turn on Facebook notifications, with no way to turn the prompt off :-(

I have activated the Audit. However, I could not find any Task Scheduler info on maintenance, but if it is weekly, it is not the culprit.

I will report back. Thanks for your tips.

Hans L

Answer 4

Thanks for your reply. I have installed so many programs lately, that it is not useful to mention them all, I believe. Also, I do not remember the date when the problem started (~ 3 weeks ago?).

The app is ClipCache, www.xrayz.co.uk. It is no longer developed, but it has worked fine for years before this mishap.

Hans L

Answer 5

You do run into some interesting problems.

I've seen a few reports of the same behavior you describe but unfortunately, none of them reported successful fixes.

A possible reason that was mentioned more than once is the "system maintenance" task built into Windows 7 that, among other things, checks for broken shortcuts and if found, deletes them.  If, for example, a shortcut points to a network resource, it might appear as "broken" if the network resource isn't available when the shortcut is checked. 

That system maintenance task, however, is only supposed to run once/week -- so it shouldn't delete your startup shortcuts on every reboot.  You can see the scheduled task and the last time it ran in Task Scheduler.  It's under  Task Scheduler Library > Microsoft > Windows > Diagnosis

I also came across a suggestion to turn on Auditing for Deletions.  I've never used this feature, but it looks like it might well help you figure out what's going on.  Here are some articles describing how to implement deletion auditing:

http://www.intelliadmin.com/index.php/2008/03/use-auditing-to-track-who-deleted-your-files/

http://sogeeky.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-audit-and-track-file-deletions.html

Good luck, and if you figure it out, please post back to explain.