Hidden Start

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.


Hstart is very small (~40 Kb), but it allows you to:

    * start multiple applications in the specified order synchronously;
    * start console applications without any windows in the background;
    * start non-elevated applications from elevated scripts and batch files (new in v3.0);
    * handle UAC privilege elevation under Windows Vista and above;
    * set the working directory and priority class of the created processes;
    * show success and error messages after command execution.

Hidden Start is downloadable from http://www.ntwind.com/software/utilities/hstart.html.