| Development Environment | |
Instructions for starting MATLAB depend on your platform. For a list of supported platforms, see the system requirements in the installation documentation for your platform, or the Products section of the MathWorks Web site, http://www.mathworks.com.
Starting MATLAB on Windows Platforms
To start MATLAB on a Microsoft Windows platform, double-click the MATLAB shortcut icon 
on your Windows desktop (or single-click for Active Desktop). The shortcut was automatically created by the installer in the installation directory.
If you start MATLAB from a DOS window, type matlab at the DOS prompt.
After starting MATLAB, the MATLAB desktop opens--see Using the Desktop. All of the desktop components that were open when you last shut down MATLAB will be opened on startup.
If you use a virus scanner, your settings may slow down MATLAB startup. For example, if you use McAfee VirusScan and startup seems slow, you can try setting the McAfee options to scan program files only and see if MATLAB startup becomes faster.
Starting MATLAB on UNIX Platforms
To start MATLAB on a UNIX platform, type matlab at the operating system prompt.
After starting MATLAB, the MATLAB desktop opens--see Using the Desktop. On UNIX platforms, if the DISPLAY environment variable is not set or is invalid, the desktop will not display. On some UNIX platforms, the desktop is not supported - see the Release Notes for details.
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