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.