Some Windows machine needed to start Firefox only when the internal webserver is reachable after boot (the netcard was slow to start or something, I don't remember), so I made a quick script.
The script tries to connect, waits, retries, retries... until it gets a response. Then it starts Firefox.
<file autoit WaitForConn.au3>
; Check HTTP answer
$CheckHost = "jazzdk"
$CheckPort = 80
$ConnectedOrNot = 0

; Loop-de-loop!
While $ConnectedOrNot = 0
	TCPStartUp()
	Dim $ConnectedSocket = -1
	$ConnectedSocket = TCPConnect(TCPNameToIP($CheckHost), $CheckPort)
	Dim $szData
	If @error Then
		$ConnectedOrNot = 0
	Else
		TCPSend($ConnectedSocket, "GET / HTTP/1.0" & @CRLF & @CRLF)
		sleep(1500)
		$szData = TCPRecv($ConnectedSocket, 1024)
		If StringInStr($szData, "HTTP/1.1 200 OK") = 1 Then
			$ConnectedOrNot = 1
			Run("C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe")
		EndIf
	EndIf
; Close the connection again
	TCPCloseSocket($ConnectedSocket)
	TCPShutdown()
WEnd
</file>