Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!apple!apple.com!chewy From: chewy@apple.com (Paul Snively) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: What is Backgrounder? FinderStartup? Message-ID: <8541@goofy.Apple.COM> Date: 5 Jun 90 17:27:38 GMT References: Sender: usenet@Apple.COM Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 35 In article rq02+@andrew.cmu.edu (Richard Quadrel) writes: > There are two system files in my System Folder whose origin and function are > completely unknown to me. Can someone tell me where the "Backgrounder" and > "Finder Startup" files come from? And what do they do? > Thanks! > Rich > rquadrel@cad.cs.cmu.edu Easy. Finder Startup is the document that the Finder creates to specify what it should start up whenever you start up your Macintosh (i.e. it's the data file that's created to hold your "Set Startup" information). Backgrounder is a bit weirder: it's a little application with no user interface that's always running if you are running MultiFinder. Its sole task (pre-System 7.0) is to check to see if the user prints with background printing and, if so, it launches Print Monitor automagically. The intent was always to provide some kind of ability to automagically launch stuff that always did its thing "in the background," but it's taken us System 7.0 to actually get that working (System 7.0 will feature a "Startup Items" folder into which you can drop stuff that you want launched whenever you boot). __________________________________________________________________________ Paul Snively Macintosh Developer Technical Support Apple Computer, Inc. chewy@apple.com Just because I work for Apple Computer, Inc. doesn't mean that I believe what they believe, or vice-versa. __________________________________________________________________________