Is there any good reason to continue running "iastoricon delayed launcher" in my
windows 7 at logon?

On 12/23/2021 8:27 AM, FACE wrote:
> Is there any good reason to continue running "iastoricon delayed launcher" in my
> windows 7 at logon?
>

It's possible this is a Dell computer.

People who built their own computer, might never go down this road.

IASTORV was an in-box driver for Intel RAID.

RAID consists of two parts:

Control Panel ~20MB Intel installer (iastoricon might be part of it)
Driver can be as small as a floppy sized file set txtsetup.oem

You can have RAID (Redundant Array of Identical Disks) as a means to
make storage more reliable. Some of the mid-range Dells shipped RAID-Ready,
which means the user could add a second disk for Mirroring. If one drive
failed, the second disk still had an up-to-date copy. This serves to extend
the time ("RAID degrade") until a replacement blank disk drive is inserted.
Mirroring is not a replacement for backups. You still need a third (external)
drive with your backup on it.

https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca/en/support/articles/000005652/technologies.html

If you're only using the one drive, have no intention of
switching to Mirror Mode, you could try checking in the
Programs and Features control panel and see if there is an
Intel RAID Management entry and remove it.

Don't just delete the icon or delete random files here
and there. Computers don't like that. That's why we have
Programs and Features for removal.

The RAID Management features are also available at BIOS level.
Perhaps Control-I at some time during POST would take you there.
RAID mode must be enabled (the BIOS code loaded), for the
Control-I to work. Various RAID brands use different hot-key
combos. Don't expect a lot of user documentation.

Features like this require too much user interaction, to
really be pleasant. Even when you're not using it, you have
to be aware it is there. Dell has also incorporated some Flash memory
RAID features on some of their machines, where the user doesn't
even know they are present and enabled, until the Flash thing
wears out and they are fuxored. Sure, it made Intel happy to dream
up this stuff, but it's not making anyone else happy.

Always have backups. Goes double for Dell owners.

Paul

On Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:19:54 -0500, in alt.windows7.general, Paul
<nospam@needed.invalid>, wrote

>On 12/23/2021 8:27 AM, FACE wrote:
>> Is there any good reason to continue running "iastoricon delayed launcher" in my
>> windows 7 at logon?
>>
>
>It's possible this is a Dell computer.

It's a Lenovo computer. (And in the original IBM acronym for RAID the I was for
Independent)

On 12/23/2021 12:08 PM, FACE wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:19:54 -0500, in alt.windows7.general, Paul
> <nospam@needed.invalid>, wrote
>
>> On 12/23/2021 8:27 AM, FACE wrote:
>>> Is there any good reason to continue running "iastoricon delayed launcher" in my
>>> windows 7 at logon?
>>>
>>
>> It's possible this is a Dell computer.
>
> It's a Lenovo computer. (And in the original IBM acronym for RAID the I was for
> Independent)
>

Did you check your Programs and Features ?

Curious whether it even shows up.

My Dell has Refurbisher on it, so it's not
going to show up there. I'd have to install it
for it to be there. It's only the OEM version
where it might be in place already. My Dell would
be using the IASTORV type driver. (The name changes
on later versions of Windows than Windows 7.)

It's not going to hurt anything.

One of those RAID Manager things, it required Java to
run, and one of the reasons for removing such RAID
Managers, is so you can remove the Java it depends on.
I don't like to leave Java installed on a computer.
If it doesn't rely on Java, you're better off.

Paul

On Thu, 23 Dec 2021 14:36:04 -0500, in alt.windows7.general, Paul
<nospam@needed.invalid>, wrote

>On 12/23/2021 12:08 PM, FACE wrote:
>> On Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:19:54 -0500, in alt.windows7.general, Paul
>> <nospam@needed.invalid>, wrote
>>
>>> On 12/23/2021 8:27 AM, FACE wrote:
>>>> Is there any good reason to continue running "iastoricon delayed launcher" in my
>>>> windows 7 at logon?
>>>>
>>>
>>> It's possible this is a Dell computer.
>>
>> It's a Lenovo computer. (And in the original IBM acronym for RAID the I was for
>> Independent)
>>
>
>Did you check your Programs and Features ?
>
I checked this --
"What is IAStoricon.exe Delayed Launcher and How to Disable it
[Search domain tencomputer.com] https://tencomputer.com ›
what-is-iastoricon-exe-delayed-launcher-and-how-to-disable-it
This Intel IAStorIcon.exe is also called Delayed Launcher, which belongs to Intel
Rapid Storage Technology (RST) released by Intel Corporation. In terms of the
function of this iastoticon.exe Windows process, it is used to delay Windows startup
for 30 minutes when you start the PC with a user account."

It came in a win 7 regular update about 5 years ago but it appears to apply only to
win 10.

On 12/23/2021 5:39 PM, FACE wrote:
> On Thu, 23 Dec 2021 14:36:04 -0500, in alt.windows7.general, Paul
> <nospam@needed.invalid>, wrote
>
>> On 12/23/2021 12:08 PM, FACE wrote:
>>> On Thu, 23 Dec 2021 10:19:54 -0500, in alt.windows7.general, Paul
>>> <nospam@needed.invalid>, wrote
>>>
>>>> On 12/23/2021 8:27 AM, FACE wrote:
>>>>> Is there any good reason to continue running "iastoricon delayed launcher" in my
>>>>> windows 7 at logon?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> It's possible this is a Dell computer.
>>>
>>> It's a Lenovo computer. (And in the original IBM acronym for RAID the I was for
>>> Independent)
>>>
>>
>> Did you check your Programs and Features ?
>>
>
> I checked this --
> "What is IAStoricon.exe Delayed Launcher and How to Disable it
> [Search domain tencomputer.com] https://tencomputer.com ›
> what-is-iastoricon-exe-delayed-launcher-and-how-to-disable-it
> This Intel IAStorIcon.exe is also called Delayed Launcher, which belongs to Intel
> Rapid Storage Technology (RST) released by Intel Corporation. In terms of the
> function of this iastoticon.exe Windows process, it is used to delay Windows startup
> for 30 minutes when you start the PC with a user account."
>
> It came in a win 7 regular update about 5 years ago but it appears to apply only to
> win 10.
>

But that's only half the story, right ?

That's why, on purpose, I did not copy that reference into a post.
I saw that one.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/startups/IAStorIcon.exe-26515.html

"Description

Taskbar icon for the Intel Rapid Storage Technology console and
displays any messages associated with your connected storage devices.
"

What that means, is the tray icon touches base with the service
associated with the driver level files.

If the RAID array does not start properly (the array is no longer
mirroring), the RAID array needs to be rebuilt. That means nothing
other than one drive gets copied to the other. But it also assumes
the second drive is ready for this. If the SATA cable fell off
for example, then the rebuild cannot commence. You need the RAID
Management screen at that point, to see the second disk is missing.
And the rebuild cannot start, unless both drives report in.

What the tray icon should do is:

1) Give instantaneous status. "Is my array good, working according to spec?"
2) If the answer is No, then the Tray Icon should trigger the
launch of the RAID Management application.
3) The tray service must be delayed sufficiently, for all the
song and dance of the driver to finish. If the driver is waiting
for drives to time out, then perhaps not even the two minute
OS idea of "delayed start" is sufficient. The Tray Icon needs to
start more than two minutes after POST hands off to the OS.

The Intel documentation is far from perfect. The blue link at the top,
has a copy of a PDF manual for RST. Other versions are IAA and MSM.
And as for RST, RST has many functions, custom RST versions as a
function of chipset (one runs only on C216 for example). Features
such as the Flash memory accelerator, hide under the shirts of an
RST setup.

https://www.intel.ca/content/www/ca/en/support/articles/000005639/technologies/intel-rapid-storage-technology-intel-rst.html

There is a pitiful reference here.

https://www.intel.com/content/dam/support/us/en/documents/chipsets/imsm/sb/irst_user_guide.pdf

"This installs the following components:

User interface (i.e. Intel® Rapid Storage Technology software) <=== RAID management

Tray icon service <=== Failure notification
Monitor service, allowing you to monitor the health of <=== this should be in
your RAID volume and/or hard drives. the driver service...
"

It's possible IAA was a RAM cache for speeding up
disk drive access. It was discontinued when Intel was
having trouble updating it and keeping it stable.
Samsung currently duplicates this effort, I suppose figuring
they're better than Intel at this stuff.

MSM was the older Matrix version, that allowed RAID 0
and RAID 1 on the same two disks, at the same time.
Up to sixteen virtual arrays can be declared, using the
metadata storage in the last cylinder.

RST is an umbrella driver, which is made to hold whatever
Intel is pushing on this generation. There are custom versions
for this and that board. I doubt the article even records
all the variants. But at least the article hints at what
a mess it is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Rapid_Storage_Technology

You also have the added complexity, of having two drivers.
When the OS is first installed (such as if you use the COA
key and install from a retail Win7 DVD), the IASTORV driver
might take over at first. But a user can also install IRST
from Intel afterwards. This has an impact on function slightly.
Like one of them might have supported TRIM passthru or something.

Then, the name of the in-box driver changes with OS release.

The rearm methods change between OSes.

It's a giant, Intel/Microsoft inspired mess :-)

Representing innumerable hours of wasted user time.

Paul