How to find out what's slowing down startup
 

Hi all,

My PC isn't exactly a supercomputer, but a 2.26Ghz P4 with 1Gb RAM - so not exactly an abacus either ! But XP Pro seems to take ages to get through the boot-up. It gets to the desktop quickly enough, but it then takes ages before anything works. (By ages, probably like 20-30seconds - certainly enough time for me to have clicked everything a few times ;) ).

Is there any software that will identify what's taking the time ?

Cheers


Impatient Matt.....

Could be many different things, but start by looking in your "start up folder" and also check what you have running in the background.

Cheers Chris,

Yeah I've tried the manual investigation method before, ie check background services and startup, then run msconfig and take services out, adding them back in and seeing what services are the culprits. But I just wondered if there was a little program somewhere that would identify the time taken by each program\process etc. and then report back.

Is there anything out there that does this ?

Cheers


Matt

BootVis by MS should give you enough info to work out whats slowing down your machine. If its networked it tends to slow it down a lot.

20-30sec is pretty normal for an XP bootup I wouldn't worry about it. Bootup to the desktop is always quick because XP only loads what it needs after explorer (desktop) has been loaded up.

You seem to know what youre doing by checking msconfig and services. Theres not alot else u can do. The processor is plenty fast enough and u have plenty of RAM, so the 'slowdown' isn't due to the hardware. All u can do is limit the amount of apps that start from the startup folder, services and the registry.

Might be a sluggish HDD, what make n speed are u running? Do a scandisk n defrag anyway to make sure your HDD is as good as it can be. Also check your pagefile size is a decent size in computer properties/advanced.

Cheers all, I'll have a try with BootVis - but maybe it's just how XP Pro is :(

Thanks



Matt

I tried it on this machine (not home machine, XP Pro) and it took 42 seconds to boot. 17secs of which was driver initialisation and 20secs was logon and services. So if I wanted to speed it up I'd look at the drivers (maybe updated ones will load more efficiently) and also look at reducing the number of services starting up. Take a look at tweakxp.com for some handy tips :)

Thanks mate :) that helps.

I'll have a fiddle tonight (ooer :D )

Matt

Hey m8,
Sometimes programs attach themselves to your start up. Best bet is from start go to
Run
type regedit, enter
select
HKey_Local_Machine
Software
Microsoft
Windows
CurrentVersion
Run

Whatever shows up there is loading on startup. Some are useful some are useless. Screen files with exe extensions.
Good luck.
FYI. Don't f**k about with your registry, it will affect the way your PC works.

Sounds like the voice of experience ;)

Matt

Delete the contents of c:\windows\prefetch if it's XP and your installation is quite old.

Another useful tip: add "/SOS" to your BOOT.INI file - add it to the line you normal boot from.

This lets you see the drivers loading, CHKDSK, Etc, Etc.

Also, have a nose at:

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr...autoruns.shtml

...shows all the "auto start" places.

Cheers

Nog