My Latest Program - Ultra Launcher

[toon_mad]

This program allows you to keep all your applications and games in one central place. The bonus to this though is you can define for each executable the priority of the process, and also how many logical cores the executable should use: (more information below)

Let me explain why I started this type of project..

I normally have my programs and games in the quicklaunch area of the Windows 7 taskbar. When this list gets large, the menu often becomes slow and takes up space.

Secondly, I've seen many people run into problems with some games. Problems where games might not run well on multi-core cpu's and they have to manually change the Affinity settings from the Task Manager to single core each time. That can be a nuisance, and non technical people might struggle with that. So my project handles those 2 things.

You can set the priority and how many logical cpu's the executable should use, then simply run it. No need to switch to Task manager or Alt+Tab out of games for fixes. It's a set once, forget and run program.

NOTE:
If anyone is testing/trying do realise this is at a early stage still, use at your own risk. Tested on Win7 x64 and seems to work well, but without testing on other platforms and computers other than mine bugs are likely.

DOWNLOAD (Winzip) Password is: overclockers
http://www.mediafire.com/?0ogwwswiratb6ap

Older Releases: (recent to oldest)
http://www.mediafire.com/?art5tj7fjjnmpi1
http://www.mediafire.com/?fv55r84cw5ld910
http://www.mediafire.com/?458hhkr5y99bh7y

 

[sachinbadiani]

Well done! What language did you use? What UI do you use? Dark UI?

 

[Mattius]

Can't say i see the point, but why let that stop you.

Good on you for giving it a go, program looks good, seems to work fine.

Do you warn users before changing the priorities too much? might be worth it, i've seen many a person with a little bit of knowledge of taskmanager freeze a server by doing that.

Keep at it! Its damn good experience! I still write little programs for myself even though i do it for a living just to try new things and keep my hand in with various languages.

 

[toon_mad]

Well done! What language did you use? What UI do you use? Dark UI?

Thanks

It is written Object Pascal and some low level Windows API.

The UI is made possible by some 3rd party VCL.

Can't say i see the point, but why let that stop you.

Good on you for giving it a go, program looks good, seems to work fine.

Do you warn users before changing the priorities too much? might be worth it, i've seen many a person with a little bit of knowledge of taskmanager freeze a server by doing that.

Keep at it! Its damn good experience! I still write little programs for myself even though i do it for a living just to try new things and keep my hand in with various languages.

Thanks for the message. Well I can see some people not having a need for this. For me it helps keep everything in the one place, also I set High process priority for games or other demanding applications. This is not normally possible unless opening the Task manager and finding the process, so time is saved there straight away.

Setting process affinity is more for compatibilty troubleshooting/tweaking etc if needed.

There are more things I could add to it, as you say messages to notify running as a different priority. Other things I could add are simple things such as system tray icon, close program when executing one from the list etc.

This was more a preview if anything, so more will be added.

Out of curiosity, what Windows version are you using and is it x86 or x64?

Thanks

 

[AHarvey]

What you need to add to it next is the ability to turn off all those processes that you don't need when running a game, just to free up some resources for those with older PC's.

I've never understood why Windows doesn't come with a "gaming mode" or "X, Y, Z mode" where at the click of a button your PC now becomes streamlined for 1 particular task.

 

[toon_mad]

What you need to add to it next is the ability to turn off all those processes that you don't need when running a game, just to free up some resources for those with older PC's.

I've never understood why Windows doesn't come with a "gaming mode" or "X, Y, Z mode" where at the click of a button your PC now becomes streamlined for 1 particular task.

Brilliant idea

For this to work effectively I think each program from the list should be able to define which processes to disable on run. Once the program has finished running the target, the disabled processes should attempt to be restored.

This principle could also work for Windows Services.

It will take some work and research for this but I will give it a go. The main thing is ensuring it's stability and safeness. It may also prove to be a problem on computers not running as Admin I don't know.

 

[Pho]

What about support for command line parameters, or different configuration options? E.g. the ability to run different command line versions of the same program (useful for utility programs).

 

[toon_mad]

What about support for command line parameters, or different configuration options? E.g. the ability to run different command line versions of the same program (useful for utility programs).

Good idea, will get round to that also some time

EDIT:
Command line parameters can now be entered (see updated screenshots of a parameter being called to cmd.exe).

 

[toon_mad]

What you need to add to it next is the ability to turn off all those processes that you don't need when running a game, just to free up some resources for those with older PC's.

I've never understood why Windows doesn't come with a "gaming mode" or "X, Y, Z mode" where at the click of a button your PC now becomes streamlined for 1 particular task.

Well I started making some progress on your idea. So far I have managed to populate all Windows Services into a list:

There is a lot more to do, but it's a start.

What I was thinking of doing was have an option in the Edit Program Window to allow using "Game Boost" or something. When this option is enabled, the Services module (2nd tab) will take effect.

The Services module should have the ability to select a profile (and also custom profile). These profiles will determine which Services should be stopped when the game is run, when the game has closed the Services should be started again.

I think I will move the Services list into a separate Window. Instead have a simple interface on the main Window.

As I say it's all messy really at the moment. It has been quite a bit of a task getting the Services list, and now there is more work needed to start and stop them.

Also will need to research common Windows Services so I can have them show up as notes in the Services Window. This will assist on determining which Services are safe to stop etc.

Will probably take some time trying to get this done...

 

[JimAroo]

Well the first thing you could do is Disable the Aero theme, as that takes up a good 200MB of system resources.

 

[toon_mad]

Ok, it's took ages to do and has not been easy but I have made some significant progress on this. As expected it is far from a finished stable program, but I share with you the latest

Several changes have been made, first off all completely redesigned the UI to make it easier to navigate. That and the old Skin Library was too buggy.

The second major change, as requested is the ability to turn off unwanted background processes. It will take me forever to explain how to use it until I write a proper Read Me or something, but the basics are covered like so:

- First from the Add/Edit program Window make sure Enable System Boost option is selected.

- On the Main Window select the 2nd tab (blue power icon). From this Window, click the System Booster Control Panel button.

- From this Window you have two tabs at the top - Rules and Services.

The Rules tab lets you manage Services. Here you can define whether a Service should be stopped when the program is executed, and once it has closed if the Service should be restored.

The Services tab lets you browse the Services from your computer. Click the Add To Rules List button to add the Service to the Rules List.

Now when you run the program, if System Boost was enabled the Rules defined will take action immediately. The best way to test this is by Stopping the Themes Service, and letting it restart on termination (you can visually see it in action then).

You may also manually Start and Stop a Service if you need to.

On first run of the System Booster Control Panel it will be slightly slower than usual. This is so the program can scan the Services on your computer and save the Status of each one to the Registry (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Ultra Launcher\Service Defaults). This allows you to know what the status of the Service was before any changes were ever made - useful if you need to revert back.

As I say, despite these major changes it will thoroughly need testing. You should use at your own risk. I have made a lot of changes and errors are likely expected. Assume responsibility for yourself Other than that I have had a play around launching some games with System Boost enabled etc and have had little to no problems.

Have a go, see the new screenshots and download link first post and let me know how you get on

Well the first thing you could do is Disable the Aero theme, as that takes up a good 200MB of system resources.

Well I will leave that down to you which Services you want to stop. In the System Booster Control Panel I have set Service Filters to allow "Safer" Services to be stopped.