Want to Speed up your boot up time
1. Boot up in no time
Make your PC leap out of bed with these simple tips. Does it seem like the more time you spend with your Windows XP installation, the longer your PC takes to pull itself out of bed when booting up?
It’s not a sign of old age; it’s the ever-growing accumulation of detritus that various applications and hardware deposit on your hard drive when you install them. Whether these items are functional or completely useless, they all take time to load.
Here’s how to trim the bloat and reduce the time it takes your PC to get ready for action.
Before you get started with this project, we recommend that you have the following:
b. an auto run detection app
c. A stopwatch
d. Clock your PC’s boot up time
Although nothing in the following steps is particularly risky, Windows XP is unpredictable enough to warrant a nod to Murphy’s Law. So, before you do anything else, run a thorough virus check, and then create a safe place to go back to using Windows XP’s System Restore utility. (Right-click My Computer, then click Properties > System Restore.) For added protection, perform a full backup of your hard drive.
Using a stopwatch, you’ll time how long your start-up takes before you make any changes. But it’s not always obvious when the boot up sequence is complete, so first place a shortcut to the Notepad applet in the Windows Startup group as a point of reference. Now, each time you boot up, Windows will open a Notepad window on the desktop.
i. Right-click the Start button and click Properties.
ii. On the Start Menu tab, click Classic Start Menu > Customize > Advanced.
iii. In the Start Menu folder, find the Notepad shortcut (in the Start Menu\Programs\Accessories folder) and drag it to the Startup folder under Programs.
If you time how long it takes for the window to appear before and after tweaks are made, you’ll know if you’ve accomplished anything. You can always remove the shortcut once you’ve completed your before-and-after timing comparison.
Exit Windows, then power off your machine. Wait a few seconds, turn the power back on again, and start timing. If the start-up sequence pauses for your username and password, stop the clock at the pause, then restart it after you’ve entered the information.
4.See what’s automatically running
As your PC boots up, Windows looks in several locations for instructions on how to launch the various applications and processes that load at start-up. Depending on the program, the locations for these instructions vary.
Many are in the Registry, a hierarchical database of user, application, and hardware-device information. Others are in a Startup group folder, and a select few could be in your PC’s win.ini file. We’ll refer to these locations collectively as the Autorun group, because the items they contain run automatically every time Windows starts.
To see which ones are in the Registry, go to Start > Run, then type in regedit.exe to enter the Registry.Don’t alter just anything in the Registry! Changes to the Registry are irreversible and could cause serious damage to your PC. Even advanced users can run into trouble in a hurry if they’re not careful. The Run keys are the most important for finding Autorun programs. You’ll find them by drilling down to hkey_local_machine/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion. If you double-click the Run folder, you’ll see some items that load when you boot your PC.
You can examine the items in the Startup group folder by going to Start > All Programs > Startup. Finally, you can see if anything is in the win.ini file by selecting Start > Run, then typing win.ini. Look for anything listed on a RUN= or LOAD= line. It’s unlikely you’ll find anything there, but checking won’t hurt.
5.Delete unwanted Auto run items
Use the powerful System Configuration Utility to easily (but not permanently) remove software from the boot procedure.
Now you can use Windows’ System Configuration Utility to trim the fat from the Registry Run keys and the Startup group.
a. To start the utility, select Start > Run, then type msconfig.
b. Select the Startup tab to show a list of items executed during boot up.
c. To see the entire Command column, stretch it to the right. A scroll bar should now appear at the bottom of the window, enabling you to view more of the Location information.
d. Scroll down the list to see if you recognize anything that shouldn’t be there. If so, all you have to do is clear its check box to remove the appropriate Registry command line or Startup group shortcut.
6.Bust mysterious boot up apps
The Auto runs app displays a list of items that load during start-up. “Files not found” likely are remnants of uninstalled apps.
It’s not unusual for the System Configuration Utility’s Startup tab to display a Startup item with no name, making it next to impossible to determine whether it’s important. One way to find out is to disable that line by unshackling it.
If you’re running a safety utility such as Zone Alarm Security Suite, you may get a pop-up warning message that identifies the name of the item about to be changed. If so, just do a Google search on the name for more details?
If no alert appears, download the freeware app Auto runs to display a great deal of useful information about Auto run items on your system. Double-click any item on the list, and the utility opens the Registry Editor, highlighting the line linked with that item.
If that’s not enough info, right-click any highlighted Registry entry and select Google on the context menu to search the Web for more information about the tinted item.
7.Clock your new boot up speed
Does it right, and this boot up screen may become a remote memory. Once you’ve identified the items that don’t need to be launched every time Windows starts use the structure pattern Utility’s Startup tab or the Auto runs utility to clear the check boxes next to the names of these items. Then restart your computer to get a subjective feel for any speed development. Run a few of your often used applications just to make sure all’s well. If you discover you’ve by chance disabled something vital, just use either utility to recheck the box next to that item.
When you’re done, do a cold reboot and time the total start-up sequence, ending when your Notepad window launches. Contrast your before-and-after results to see how much time you neat as of the series. Depending on what you were able to remove, the speed difference will choice from modest to major. Either way, you’ll have a little less “stuff” dragging down your system, and more memory will be freed up for your utilize.
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Tags:auto run, autorun, backup, backup utility, boot, command, configuration, notepad, reboot, shortcut, speed, start-up, startup, system, system configuration, tweak, utility, virus check, Windows, windows startup, windows xp
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Written by Jason on August 20th, 2008 with no comments.
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