---
title: "Start Tracker"
canonical: "https://help.vicon.com/space/Tracker43/344555717/Start%20Tracker"
format: markdown
---
When you install Tracker, a Vicon Tracker shortcut  > Macro (inline-media-image)

 appears on your Windows desktop (and an entry is added to the Windows Start menu).

Depending on the options selected during installation, you may also see an icon for Vicon Firmware Manager.


    **To start Tracker:**


1. Double-click the Vicon Tracker shortcut.
2. Ensure the **System** panel is visible.
  :check_mark: **Tip**: If you can't see the System panel, one way to display it is to select the Default view.   
To do this, on the right of the menu bar, click View Settings > Macro (inline-media-image)

 and then select **Default**.
  From this panel, you monitor and control devices connected to the software.

> Macro (scroll-pagebreak)

> Macro (anchor)



### Review Windows power options

When you first start Tracker, you may see a warning icon on the right side of the menu bar, like this:

![image](media://bd3a6408-238f-4989-8df8-bef4edb58936)

This icon indicates that the current power plan is set to favor power savings over performance. The power-saving features of Windows can significantly reduce Tracker's performance and increase output latency, depending on the power plan that is chosen and the processor support for power-saving features.

For more information and access to the **Power Options** in the Windows Control Panel, click the icon.

For best performance, choose the **High performance** plan (or a plan created from the High Performance plan). 

> Macro (scroll-pagebreak)

## Save system settings

When you have finished setting up your system, you can save your current settings so that you can re-use them in future. The settings that are saved include all device settings, system-wide settings (eg, frame rate), as well as processing parameters.


    **To save your current Tracker settings:**


1. On the right of the Tracker menu bar, click **System Settings **> Macro (inline-media-image)

 and then select **Manage**.
2. In the Manage System Settings dialog box, click the Save button and enter a name for your saved configuration.

The next time you need to reload your settings, you can select the saved configuration by clicking System Settings again and selecting your saved configuration.

## Enable Tracker to track objects

Objects define a pattern of markers that Tracker can locate from camera centroid detections.

To enable tracking of objects, you must create objects in Tracker for each physical object that you want to track.

For more information, see [Work with objects](https://vicon-help.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/Tracker43/pages/344556718).