Access Connections - Autostart Programs - Always Twice

Question

Hi,
I'm using AC for automatically starting programs (Outlook, Firefox) in my work environment. It's done by a cmd file that works great.
But: It really often happens (maybe always), that the cmd file is beeing executed twice, so I'm seeing two windows for each started program. This is a Bug, right?
Can anybody help?
Thx in advance
Axl
AC: 5.72
Win 7 32 Bit

Answer 1

I believe I have found the cause.
I noticed the same thing happening when I switched to a Profile...each of my "Start applications automatically" commands was being executed twice.
I used RegEdit to explore the Registry (careful, changing Registry values can be hazardous to your computer's health), by navigating to key \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lenovo\Access Connections\Locations\ProfileNameGoesHere\AdptList, where I saw two Adapters (Adpt00 and Adpt01) - one for the WAN Adapter and one for the WLAN Adapter.
Each Adapter has the same set of keys...
AvayaProfileSettings
BrowserPxySettings
StartupAppList
VpnSettings
(except the WLAN Adapter also has a "SsidList" key).
Our commands are stored under StartupAppList. Each custom command has its own key, called App00, App01, etc. Within the AppNN key are several keys; you will recognize your command as the value to the key called "m_szAppName".
Even though the Access Connections app only lets you configure commands at the Profile level, it stores the commands in the Registry at the Adapter level (and there can be multiple Adapters per Profile). So if you have two adapters for the Profile (WAN & WLAN), the commands are stored twice. And therefore (incorrectly) executed twice when you switch to that Profile.
You can use the following steps to see if your Access Connections behaves the same as mine. Carefully using RegEdit, navigate to
\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Lenovo\Access Connections\Locations\,
then choose the name of a Profile that is giving you problems,
then navigate to AdptList.
You'll see 2 Adapters (Adpt00 & Adpt01). Navigate to Adpt00 then to StartupAppList. You'll see an AppNN entry for each of your commands for this Profile.
Now navigate to the same key path, except make it Adpt01 instead of Adpt00. You'll see the same number of AppNN keys.
Now, using the Access Connections app, edit that same Profile. Add an additional dummy application to run...something safe like Notepad.exe (navigate through the folders/menus to select it). Save your changes.
Now go back to RegEdit. Hit [F5] to refresh your Registry display. You will now see a new AppNN entry, for the Notepad command. Go into it, and look at the value for key "m_szAppName". It will have a path ending in "\notepad.exe" - the app that you just chose.
Assuming you were just looking at the "Adpt01" key, navigate to the equivalent key path under "Adpt00", and you will see the same new AppNN key, the same new "m_szAppName" entry, with the same value (a path ending in "\notepad.exe").
If you "connect" using this Profile, Notepad will start twice.
So...the solution?
My problems probably started when I wanted to "do the right thing" and convert a Profiles from being simply a WLAN-type profile to a "Best Available Network" Profile, which allows it to use the LAN adapter as well. Doing so enables both the WAN adapter and the WLAN adapter...each of them has a check mark by it when you edit the Profile in the Access Connections app.
My solution was to go through all my Access Connections Profiles (if you see Profiles with Type "Multi" instead of "WAN", "WLAN", "Modem", etc., the "Multi"s are the ones you want to select), edit them, and un-check the Adapter that I don't need for that Profile. If I only connect using WiFi, not with Ethernet cable, then I deselect WAN.
If you have a Profile where you actually do use multiple Adapters to connect to the network, and you run special commands when connecting to that network, and you want the same settings to apply regardless of which Adapter you are using, you still might consider making a 2nd copy of your exiting Profile. Turn one into a WAN-only Profile, and the other into a WLAN-only Profile. Of course, if you ever edit something (like change the default printer, for example), you'll have to make the same edit to each of the Profiles in the set.
Hope this helps. I don't think this was intended behavior by the Access Connections Developers, but being a Developer myself, I know how easy it is for small design problems to sneak into some well-intentioned software.
Thanks
Steve
Access Connections 5.62 Build B1CX57WW
T43 WinXP 2 GB