Tips on Speeding up Startup?

[Fabz]

Hello!

Does anyone have any good little tips i can do to my comptuer that could speed up how fast my comptuer loads when it is first switched on?
At the time being, it takes aaages to start up-which is bad for an impatient chap like me
So, has anyone got any tips?


Fabz

[JohnMcClane]

Start > Run > msconfig
Remove anything which isn't windows or anti-virus or driver etc related, that'll just stop more stuff loading up when you log on.
A quick hard drive also helps, the most common seems to be 7200rpm, but you can get 10,000RPM and faster drives (although they cost more) and solid state drives are very fsst.
RAM with a higher frequency will also speed up your start time (providing your mobo can take higher frequency ram than you currently have)

[Thundercat]

I use
CCleaner to clean the HD out.
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Eusing Registry cleaner (I dont use the registry cleaner in CCleaner as its caused problems in the past).
http://www.eusing.com/free_registry_cle ... leaner.htm

Then I use spybot, utilites to clean out the windows startup of all the programs I no longer need to run at boot time. You click on a file that set to run at boot up and it tell what it is for and you can decide if you want it to run or not.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html

Finaly I play with tweakui
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/Down ... rtoys.mspx

Bigest tip is though to uninstall all that crap you installed because it might be hand one day in the future but you have never used since you installed it softaware

[Die_Doggy_Die]

Easy things to do:

1. Go into sounds settings in Windows and disable logon and logout sounds effects - do the same for windows start up and shut down
2. Get a good registry cleaning piece of software - reg mechanic etc and use it often
3. Don't know if it will increase start up speed but you should see speed improvement once in windows - get another HD and move page file onto it so its on a different drive to the system drive
4. Get more RAM
5. Overclock your CPU - go into bios and do this but get advice first
6. Make sure the minimum number of programs run at start up - lots of software autostarts at start up this slows down the system - Big offenders are - MSN, Xfire, webcamera software, etc - disable the auto startup
7. Lastly - reinstall windows - a pain I know but a sure fire way to see a big improvement - I do this every 6 months or so

Hope these tips help

[Fabz]

I would reinstall Windows in a flash, but for me it's a ocmplete pain installing the wireless internet all by myself.

Thanks alot for the tips so far, I'll try to try all of them

[asmega]

hibernate instead of shutdown. saves more time by keeping all the windows you had opened, open.

[AberdeenGus]

Think about the environment dude. And surely leaving it on hibernate keeps the components active but running quiet so it would wear down faster over time?

[MAD-Miles]

Yah hybernates a bad idea, u mean keep it on hybernate all the time? I wouldnt sleep with a pc on hybernate. Apart from the fact it wastes loads of electricity ive been to fires that were caused by pc or tv overheating, while the people are asleep upstairs. Not good.

[MudShark]

Good grief! I'm doomed, Chez Mudshark has more puters left on overnight than your average aircraft carrier on red alert. Though there is the nightwatchman (my son) who diligently stays up till 7am every day.

[Thundercat]

Have to sat TEST YA FIRE ALARM

[asmega]

Think about the environment dude. And surely leaving it on hibernate keeps the components active but running quiet so it would wear down faster over time?

nah uses several watts, everything is saved to hdd. ram and cpu are powered down.

[bambam]

hey muddy you back? welcome back m8.

To speed up startup, push the power button and go and get a cup of coffee.

[JazzyJay]

Think about the environment dude. And surely leaving it on hibernate keeps the components active but running quiet so it would wear down faster over time?

nah uses several watts, everything is saved to hdd. ram and cpu are powered down.

confusing hibernating with standby? It doesn't consume electricity as the machine is shut down completely. I do not recommend doing it on Windows frequently, it becomes sluggish - proper restart is what keeps Windows in a tolerable condition (therefore I use Linux for day-to-day tasks).

"Hibernate is a feature seen in many operating systems where the contents of RAM is written to non-volatile storage, such as the hard disk (as either a file or on a separate partition) before powering off the system"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibernate_(OS_feature)

JJ.

[JazzyJay]

Hello!

Does anyone have any good little tips i can do to my comptuer that could speed up how fast my comptuer loads when it is first switched on?
At the time being, it takes aaages to start up-which is bad for an impatient chap like me
So, has anyone got any tips?


Fabz

For the love of God just don't install any programs to your Windows
I may be joking but installing anything kills your system faster than it would have died on natural causes (being Windows).
Back up everything, do a clean install of Win, make an image of it (several commercial products available) and you can restore every now and then (usually 3-4 months cycles) when you feel the performance drop.

JJ
Happy Linux bunny

[JohnMcClane]

OR install linux