Matthew (or should I call you R? <g>),

>>>
>>>Startup is easy. Just add a shortcut to the Start Menu or the Windows\Run key under HKEY_CURRENT_USER.
>>>
>>>Shut down is harder. VFP has limited abilities in sinking an event. In fact, I've never tried to do it. However, rather than going that route, my first inclination would be to look at ON SHUTDOWN or an SDI form's QueryUnload Event. I've never tested to see if the former fires in response to the Windows shut down messages. The latter should, but again, I haven't tested.
>>
>>
>>Hmm.. I suppose I don't really even care if I run a VFP program. ALl I need to do is generate a text entry that contains the time of shutdown and perhaps who was logged on at the time. I could get that info and read it into a file next time the computer starts.
>>
>>Well, thanks. I'll go dig around on the Microsoft site.....
>
>I don't know why, but my gut reaction is "Use the Registry". Whatever System Information pulls it's current environment info from. Are we talking about Win9x or W2k/XP?

It could be anything between 98-ME so it has to be pretty generic. My 'sense' is that this will have to be done via the API at some point.