Restarter - Help & Support

FAQ

Q:I want to start my application and at the same time, automatically have it monitored by Restarter. Is this possible?
A:Yes, this is one of the main functions of the Restarter application. See the documentation section "Building a Shortcut" for information on how to do this.
Q:Can i start more than one instance of the Restarter?
A:Yes, you can start as many as your computer can handle, though you can not monitor the same program more than once.
Q:If I want to run multiple instances, must I run the Restarter from another location?
A:No, but it is recommended that you only run one instance at a time from each directory. If you run multiple instances of the "same" Restarter.exe, they will read the same settings and write to the same log file and that may cause confusion when trying to interpret the log entries.
Q:I am getting an error or warning message in the status window about something, but it is not very specific.
A:Only brief messages are displayed in the status window. To get more details about each event, you will have to enable logging to file. In the logfile you will find detailed messages.
Q:I am getting a message saying "WARNING: FAILED TO COLLECT ALL DATA AT POLLCOUNT ##" and then a moment later a message saying "PollCount ## - ALL REQUIRED DATA COLLECTED" What does it mean? Should I be concerned?
A:These messages are in most cases generated because a running process is exiting at the same time as the Restarter is collecting information about running processes on the computer. These messages are most common at computer startup, because windows automatically starts and stops processes in the background as a part of prepairing the computer for use. If you get a "success message" after you have received the warning, everything is OK.
Q:Can I configure Restarter to send me an e-mail when the monitored process crashes?
A:Yes. From version 2.0 of restarter, there is an option to execute external scripts. One of the sample scripts will allow you to send e-mail.
Q:If the monitored process crashes, I would like to Restart the computer, how can I do that?
A:Enable Restarter to execute the sample script "example_Reboot-Computer.vbs". This will reboot your computer after a process crash. If you create a "Restarter Monitored Shortcut" and place it in the startup folder of your current user, the monitoring will automatically continue after the computer has restarted and your user has logged on.
Q:How can I bypass the logon screen at computer startup so that Restarter is automatically started?
A:You will have to tweak your computer so that it will automatically login for you. See Microsoft Knowledge Base for options. Then you will have to place a shortcut to Restarter in your 'Startup folder'
Q:I want this application to have some further functions or features, can you add them for me?
A:Please, use the contact form to forward your suggestions. If the suggested improvement will be a benefit for the general user, we will consider them for future releases.

Known Problems, Solutions and Workarounds

  • PROBLEM:
    Restarter gets stuck in an endless loop when trying to start Microsoft Word from a "Restarter Monitored Shortcut".
    You try to start Microsoft Word with a path to a document as the startup parameters, for example "WINWORD.EXE" "C:\Word Document.docx".

    CAUSE: This will only happen if WINWORD.EXE is already running. Word will by default reuse the already running process to open the "C:\Word Document.docx" file.
    In this case, Restarter won't receive any indication that the already running process was reused. Restarter therefore believes that the process was started and at its next poll interval it will think that the process has failed and will try to restart it. This restart attempt will give the same result as before; which will cause an endless loop of restart attempts.

    SOLUTION:
    Modify the shortcut, so that WINWORD.EXE will start with the /m parameter.
    /m is a Microsoft Word specific switch that will start a new instance of Word instead of reusing an already existing one. See Microsoft Article KB210565 for more information.

    Modify the Restarter Monitored Shortcut so that Word starts with the "/m switch", as this example illustrates: "C:\Restarter\Restarter.exe" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\WINWORD.EXE" "/m C:\Restarter\Word Document.docx" "C:\Restarter\"

Report a problem or Bug

Please use the Contact Form to report a problem with this application.