Slow Startup Times?

[raiderscrusade]

Hello,

I have a 3 year old HP Pavilion laptop, upgraded from Windows Vista to Windows 7, and over the past 6 months or so I have noticed that the start up times get slower and slower.

Due to the slower start up times, I have to wait longer and longer to actually get into what I need to do, which is sometimes very frustrating.

How would I go about improving the start up times? The computer itself is good, just the start up times are slow as hell.

If anyone could help, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[Zarxrax]

Disable all programs that launch on startup.

 

[purplesludge]

ccleaner has the ability to disable startup programs

 

[Originality]

As the registry gets more cluttered, more programs get put on startup and that slows things down. Registry cleaners can help remove some of those startup items, although some have a tendancy to remove things they shouldn't. Also, drive fragmentation does cause startups to slow down, so try defragging your drive when you've got the time.

Using a SSD for the Windows drive would greatly reduce boot times. If you can't afford that, PC enthusiasts recommend wiping your computer once a year and starting fresh. That often fixes most problems, including ones you don't notice/ignore.

 

[Hakoda]

Launch CCleaner and go to Startup under Tools. Disable all unneeded Startup items. You may also use StartUpLite from the same team that brings us Malwarebytes for a description of each item in your startup.

Now let's configure Windows 7's prefetcher. It will cache and optimize startup programs to lead to faster boot times.

First, go here. If you're 32-bit, click on the wpt_x86 white file in the top right. Then above the green "Comments" text, click on the giant white icon to start the download. If you're 64-bit, click on one of the blue arrows to get to wpt_x64 and click on the giant white icon above "Comments" to start the download. Run the installer, it will install Windows Performance Analyzer. Once it's done, restart your computer. Once back in, go to Start --> Type "services.msc". Make sure the Superfetch service is automatic and running. Run an elevated CMD prompt (elevated means "Run as Administrator"). You can do this by typing in CMD at the Start menu and right-clicking "Run as Admin". Now copy this into the CMD:

xbootmgr -trace boot -prepSystem -verboseReadyBoot

Now leave your system alone for a long time as it will restart 6 times. If it looks like it's frozen, it's not; don't do anything with it for the time being. It will restart and analyze startup items, and after the second startup, it will start to defrag the startup items to optimize performance.

 

[Wizerzak]

There's a lot easier way than installing lots of stuff to clean up your system. Simply follow these steps:

1. Click Start and search for 'Run' (obviously no ' ').
2. Type into the run program 'msconfig' and hit enter.
4. Click continue (or enter Administrator password).
3. Click the 'Startup' tab.
4. Scroll down the list looking for programs that you do not need to load on startup.
5. Uncheck these programs on the left. - ONLY DISABLE ITEMS YOU KNOW YOU DON'T NEED (i.e do NOT uncheck Microsoft Windows Operating System)
6. Click OK
7. Restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

edit: edited, nvm

 

[raiderscrusade]

I'm thinking of reinstalling Windows 7.

If I do so, when I reinstall all my programs is it ideal to install it onto a separate partition, that way in the future when I reinstall Windows the programs will stay intact on that other partition, or will this not work?

Reason why is, I think it would increase the startup speed if all programs were on a separate partition, that way only necessary services are open on start up.

If anyone can answer this, it would be great

 

[Hakoda]

I'm thinking of reinstalling Windows 7.

If I do so, when I reinstall all my programs is it ideal to install it onto a separate partition, that way in the future when I reinstall Windows the programs will stay intact on that other partition, or will this not work?

Reason why is, I think it would increase the startup speed if all programs were on a separate partition, that way only necessary services are open on start up.

If anyone can answer this, it would be great

I'm not sure if having a separate partition for programs would work... I've never heard of someone doing this.

You can also do an "Upgrade" install. This will basically reinstall the Windows folders but keep docs and programs exactly where they are.

 

[Rydian]

It's not just startup programs, it's also background tasks like your AV and some system mods that can mess with startup time. Check the Event Viewer, it can sometimes point out which components are causing too much of a delay on startup.
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on...boot-times/3253



If transplanting works or not will depend on the program. Some programs are more or less standalone and will function fine if transplanted... but others rely on registry entries (which WILL be on the windows partition) and other system mods that won't survive a reinstall.

Just make a second partition to back up Application Data (%appdata% in the run menu, with the percent signs) and personal shit, and just reinstall the programs if you format the main partition.