Hidden Start

Hidden Start - run apps in the background

Console applications and batch scripts are regularly run at Windows startup and in schedule. The main inconvenience of this is that every application creates a new console window which flickers on the screen. Hidden Start (or Hstart) is a small startup manager that allows console applications to be started without any windows in the background and much more.

Hstart is usually started by entering the following command line:
hstart /NOCONSOLE "batch_file_1.bat" "batch_file_2.bat" "batch_file_3.bat"

Hstart is very effective if you are using console utilities for everyday tasks: daily backups, automatic source code compilation and code signing. Please read the examples section below to see how it works out.

Hstart is very small (~12 Kb), but it allows you to:
start multiple applications in the specified order synchronously;
start console applications without any windows in the background;
set the working directory and priority class of the created processes;
handle UAC privilege elevation under Windows Vista;
show simple messages after command execution.
Using Hstart, it is also possible to run batch files in the background and save console output into a log file:
hstart /NOCONSOLE /IDLE /D="E:\Backups\"
"cmd.exe /c "E:\Backups\backup.bat > backup-log.txt""

It is very effective if you are using console utilities for daily backups. The command line switch /IDLE means that the backup process will run with the lowest priority class, and /D="" sets the starting directory of the batch file (necessary if it uses relative paths).