autostart

auto- +‎ start

autostart (third-person singular simple present autostarts, present participle autostarting, simple past and past participle autostarted)

1. (transitive, intransitive, computing) To start automatically.

autostart (countable and uncountable, plural autostarts)

1. (computing) (An instance of) automatic starting.
   • 2011, Rogier Dittner, David Rule, The Best Damn Server Virtualization Book Period, page 807:

     When you utilize this option, the autostart and autostop options are added to the virtual machine's vmx file. You can also take this a step further and define the startup and shutdown order of the virtual machines […]

2. (computing) A program or application set to start automatically.
   • 2006, Dave Kleiman, editor, Winternals Defragmentation, Recovery, and Administration Field Guide, →ISBN, page 104:

     Vundo installs two autostarts—one a WinLogon Notify and the other a BHO—that reference the same randomly named infective DLL file.

   • 2008, Steve Bunting, EnCE: The Official EnCase Certified Examiner Study Guide, 2nd edition, →ISBN, page 510:

     EnCase 6 has a new folder “Main” and is utilized as an autostart. Inside the Main folder is the Tool Menu Plugin script that loads on startup […]

   • 2011, Mark E. Russinovich, Aaron Margosis, Windows Sysinternals Administrator’s Reference‎, 1st edition, →ISBN:

     This category of autostarts comprises packages that define or extend user authentication for Windows, via the Local Security Authority (LSA).