How to Change Your Start-up Programs in Gnome Linux

Many computer users have a standard set of steps they take when starting up their computer. First they'll check to see if they have any new emails, then they'll want to see what the weather is supposed to be like that day, and then maybe they'll want to see how their favorite sports team fared the evening before. Other people like to start up a blog-reading program and read all their latest feeds.

What if you could "program" your computer to always start up the programs you want to use, whenever you start up your computer? With Gnome Linux, you can achieve this, in a couple different ways.

The easiest way is to mouse up to the System Menu, then down to Preferences, and finally to Sessions. This will bring up your Sessions Preference Panel, which - at least in newer versions of Gnome - has three tabs: Startup Programs, Current Sessions and Session Options.

If you want your computer to start up using applications you currently have running right now, simply go to the Session Options tab and click the large button that says "Remember currently running applications," which will save your session in memory, so the next time you boot up, anything you have running right now will be started up as well. You're all set!

If, however, you want a few more programs to automatically start up (or there are programs currently running that you do NOT want to automatically start the next time you boot up), there's another way of going about it.

Go back to the first tab (Startup Programs), and you'll see a list of all the programs scheduled to start up along with the computer. For me, that list includes a Network Manager, a Quickstarter for OpenOffice and the Tracker search tool, among other items. To add to this list, hit the Add button. You'll be shown a new dialog, asking for you to fill in the Name of the process you wish to start.