Application Preloading at System Startup

Sometimes I wonder if we (as software developers) should have some form of a code of ethics, where violations can get you barred from writing software in the future. Mainly, this would apply to the spyware/malware developers (or perhaps the ethical violation is more directable to those who bundle the spyware).

If this ethical code existed, I would add a violation for any application that did not inform and offer a choice to the user at install time that some startup or background task will always be running. Some typical offenders are QuickTime, Real, Adobe, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Messenger, printer driver "status monitors", and more. These startup applications increase boot time and memory/pagefile requirements. Most of the time, I don't use these applications each time I boot the PC.

If the goal is to make your application start up faster (or appear to start up faster) there are ways of accomplishing this. Rebasing your DLL's, background/on demand loading of plugins, delay loading dependent DLL's, etc. are a few common tricks that can be used. The utility "Adobe Reader SpeedUp" accomplishes a magnificent improvement in load times, and this doesn't involve rewriting any of Adobe's code. If you wrote one of these startup applications anyway, at least offer the user the option at install time if they wish to use it.