reliable startup?

i have done nothing in software to change the default behavior. pressing the restart button always fixes the problem and the program can run for hours with no problems. it is difficult to believe that no one else is having the problem.

on another annoying problem that i mentioned on another thread with no answers:
windows is an absolute horror in terms of connecting to serial ports. some times i need to erase restart unplug and replug the DUE several times and wait unknown periods of time before i can get a serial port (USB) connection. i have found but not tried some serial port utilities. any ideas on how to eliminate this? i spend more time plugging and unplugging and restarting and waiting for code to eventually not upload due to no serial connection than i do programming.

if i just knew what the rules were (wait a certain period or ???) i could handle it but having every connection a frustrating resetting replugging over and over is getting really old. could this be caused by the same problem as the powerup? is the computer not seeing the connected device properly? i do get the confirmation sound when i plug into the USB port.