US 6,675,295 B1 · Method and computer system for detecting and correcting a failure in a computer application program during startup

Abstract

Methods and systems for detecting and correcting computer software problems that cause an application program to crash upon startup are provided. Unsafe startup actions that are costly to initiate in terms of processor time and memory are handled by placing an unsafe startup action marker into the system registry prior to attempting startup. If an unsafe program module starts or boots successfully without causing the software application to crash, the unsafe startup action marker is deleted from the system registry. If loading the unsafe program module causes the application to crash, then startup actions, including corrective actions, are written into the unsafe startup action marker and are used on subsequent startup of the crashed application program to instruct the application on how to fix the problem. Other unsafe startup actions that are not costly in terms of processor time and memory are initially handled by an exception handler. If the application crashes as a result of such an unsafe startup action, then an unsafe startup action marker is written to the system registry as described above. Corrective startup actions are written to the marker for use by the application upon reboot.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method for detecting and correcting a failure in a computer application program during startup, the method of comprising the steps of:

attempting a startup of the computer application program;
preparing a startup marker for identifying the attempted startup;
identifying an unsafe action for performing as part of the step of attempting startup;
preparing an unsafe action marker for identifying the unsafe action;
attempting the unsafe action;
if the unsafe action is performed without causing a startup failure, deleting the unsafe action marker;
if the computer application program is started without failure, deleting the startup marker;
and
if the unsafe action is performed without causing a startup failure, writing into the unsafe action marker startup actions for correcting a failure associated with the unsafe action upon the next attempted startup of the computer application program.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Method and computer system for detecting and correcting a failure in a computer application program during startup

Life of this patent

Method and computer system for detecting and correcting a failure in a computer application program during startup

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims22