Slow Computer? Speed It Up By Customizing Your Startup, Part 1

Getting The Most From Boot Time

People always want to “get the most” out of their computers, but for each person, the “most” is something different. In terms of speeding up your computer performance, getting the “most” may mean making configuration adjustments to your computer’s boot routine.

By making some simple changes, which may include disabling services you don’t need, you can reduce the time it takes your computer to boot. You may also be able to improve its operating performance by unloading the services you don’t really require.

The good thing about making configuration changes is that if your needs change, you can always reconfigure your computer to re-enable the services you’ve turned off. You haven’t permanently gotten rid of your computer’s ability to work; you’ve just gotten rid of the things you don’t need that currently give you a slow computer.

The services that run on your computer can cause an increase in the time it takes to boot the computer, so this is one area to consider when you’re looking to speed things up. You can access a list of the services that are running on your computer by typing msconfig into the text box at the bottom of the Start menu. If you’re squeamish about turning of system services, you can activate the “Hide all Microsoft services” checkbox at the bottom of the Services box. That will remove Microsoft services from the menu, leaving only services that are enabled via your applications.

You can evaluate each service independently. Often, your computer manufacturer will have services and utilities that start automatically, but aren’t really needed all the time. These services are prime candidates for “turnoff.” The services will still be on your computer; you’ll just need to start them manually if you really want to use them.

You can also take a look at some Microsoft services that you may not really need. Remote access services (like remote login) are good removal candidates if you never access your computer remotely. Disabling this service might also afford you a little extra protection from malefactors who may otherwise be able to access your computer using the remote login capabilities. If you use Microsoft Office, you may also find some services that you can disable. Also, some other Microsoft applications may enable additional services. As a rule of thumb, if you don’t use an application, you don’t need the extra services that come along for the ride.

In my next post, I’ll look at other elements of your boot up routine that you can modify to get back a little time and a little performance.

Photo Credit: julianlimjl, via Flickr

Microsoft Publishes Fix For W7 Slow Computer Startup

Boot Up And Wait

The shell game works until you want to use a part of the OS that the computer hasn’t loaded yet. You know the drill: click on something and wait… and wait… and wait. With Windows Vista, the OS would “guess” what you were interested in using based upon the applications you normally use. When you did something unexpected, your reward was waiting for the OS to finish loading.

With Windows 7, Microsoft has streamlined the bootup routine and has removed some bottlenecks that added precious second (which always feel like hours) to the boot time of the computer. No games this time; the computer really does boot faster than it did. (It shuts down faster, too but that’s a different post.)

Microsoft has identified a condition that could affect some computers running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 that will indeed cause the computer to boot much more slowly than it should. The bug occurs when computers running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 are connected to a high-resolution monitor that is set to some value other than 96 dpi. Bootup can be very slow under this particular configuration.

For most users, this won’t have any impact because the default dpi display setting is 96 dpi. If you’ve gone into the Control Panel and tweaked the dpi setting to make your on-screen display smaller or larger than the default, you could have a slow boot experience the next time you fire up the computer. To eliminate the problem, switch the default dpi display setting back to 96 dpi. If you gotta be you and use a different dpi setting, Microsoft does have a hotfix available for this little gotcha.

Under most circumstances, your boot times should be pretty speedy with Windows 7. If you do experience slowness, or you want to avoid acquiring a slow computer over time, consider loading RegCure onto your Windows 7 computer. RegCure is a trusted registry cleaner and works on all versions of Windows. RegCure can help keep your computer running as quickly as the manufacturer intended.

Photo Credit: Cheon Fong Liew, via Flickr