Why can’t a computers start up like a television? In short, it is all about the operating system. And contrary to common sense, the newer the operating system the longer it can take. But you can do something about it. Here are tips to get your tortoiselike boot time to hop like a bunny.
Why can’t a computer be more like a television? When you push the power button on a TV, it just turns on. Computers, on the other hand, boot — as in, they take so long to get started that you want to stick your boot into them.
You would think that the march of technological progress would have reduced boot times over the years, but newer operating systems can take longer — Microsoft Vista actually tends to boot more slowly than its predecessor, Windows XP. (Microsoft claims its next-generation operating system, Windows 7, should provide drastic improvements in boot time.)
Additionally, boot times increase with a computer’s age. As you use your PC and more programs and devices are installed, the startup process gets even longer. And these slow boot times can lead to bad behavior. Many users become so frustrated that they leave their computers on constantly, wasting electricity and delaying valuable OS security updates.
But take heart: There are steps you can take to speed things along. Depending on the configuration of your computer, many of the various system checks and processes that take place during boot-up may be unnecessary or irrelevant to you. A variety of tricks of varying sophistication can reclaim valuable minutes or seconds of get-up-and-go time. We tested expert tactics on three well-used computers in PM’s tech lab.
As a general rule, an uncluttered computer is a fast computer. The easiest step to speed startup is to remove software that you no longer use. Many of these seemingly fallow programs are running active background processes that launch every time you push the power button. This doesn’t just slow down your startup, it chews up RAM and drags down the overall performance of your PC.
To get a full list of installed software, check Control Panel in Vista and select Remove Programs (in XP go to Add/Remove Programs). If you find programs that you’re not using or that support equipment you no longer own, eliminate them.
One of our test computers, a 3-year-old XP machine, had more than two dozen programs that hadn’t been used in years. After we removed them, the machine’s boot time was reduced from 2 minutes 45 seconds to 2 minutes 21 seconds. Across all three of our computers, the biggest offender was AIM instant-messaging software. Removing it shaved an average of 8 seconds off boot time.
http://tech.msn.com/howto/article.aspx?cp-documentid=18548938
