Boot optimisation software

[JeffK]

I am thinking about having another go at speeding up my Windows XP boot time following complaints from my wife and daughter that the computer is too slow to start up.  I suspect the main culprits are Quicktime and the Bit Defender virus scan which occurs but can't be sure.

In the past I have tried to use Bootvis to work out what is going on.  However I associate these attempts with at least two fatal computer crashes where I have had to rebuild my software setup from the ground up.  So I am very reluctant to use it again.

Can anyone suggest a good boot time optimiser (or analyser)?

Any help would be appreciated.

Jeff

[Redhat]

Hey,

What I normally do is go into msconfig -> startup, and then take out the bits I don't need.

Then, I install this piece of freeware:
http:://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml

Which alerts you when something trys to set itself to run upon boot. You can then control your boot-time applications, and I find it the easiest way, rather than these pieces of software that schedule things to boot a few seconds after each other.

Hope that helps some,

Matt

[kimmchii]

how long is your boot time now?
install Starter ,disable *all* the startup items and measure the boot time again, if it decreases to less than 25 seconds, then you dont need an optimiser, you only need to reduce the startup items.

my boot time is 20 secs, used to be 15 secs when xp was fresh.

[mouser]

just remember, that like cleaning your registry, such attempts at optimization can frequently lead to situations where something might stop working and you don't notice it's stopped working for a few days and then you can't remember what you disabled and you find yourself confused and distressed.

so just take notes about what you do and treat carefully.

[brotherS]

As stated above, use some program to remove the stuff you (and your system ) don't *need*, then install and use Startup Delayer --> http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1399.0 I love it!

[Eóin]

I use autoruns from Sysinternals its much more thorough than msconfig.

[gjehle]

funny problems

* gjehle looks as his pretty much constant linux boot time and puts on the big grin

[bliss]

I currently use Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel http://www.mlin.net/ but will probably add Startup Delayer (RJL Software) for ultimate  control of startup sequence. Mike lin also has the Startup Monitor mentioned above which is more a security thing. My system is still win98 so I have no idea if this will work on xp or anything else. I'd love to know though, so if anyone else uses the Startup Control Panel under xp let me know!

My Best Tip: Dont load anything unless you can really justify it! Convenient buttons can easily  create an inconvenient operating system.

[brotherS]

I currently use Mike Lin's Startup Control Panel http://www.mlin.net/ but will probably add Startup Delayer (RJL Software) for ultimate  control of startup sequence. Mike lin also has the Startup Monitor mentioned above which is more a security thing. My system is still win98 so I have no idea if this will work on xp or anything else. I'd love to know though, so if anyone else uses the Startup Control Panel under xp let me know!

StartupCPL aka Startup Control Panel works for Windows 2000 and XP too, I'm always recommending that for ease of use.

If your PC is too old to handle XP, install Windows 2000 - it's FAR better than Windows 98 !

My Best Tip: Dont load anything unless you can really justify it! Convenient buttons can easily  create an inconvenient operating system.

[Hirudin]

I use autoruns from Sysinternals its much more thorough than msconfig.

Yeah, autoruns is awesome looking, it lists TONS of stuff. I think you have to be careful with this one though, as you can do stuff like stopping "explorer.exe" from starting with your comp.

...
StartupCPL aka Startup Control Panel works for Windows 2000 and XP too, I'm always recommending that for ease of use.

Yup, I've used it with both also, it works great; 'specially because Windows 2000 doesn't have an MSConfig.

If your PC is too old to handle XP, install Windows 2000 - it's FAR better than Windows 98 !

Yup, I completely agree. I remember going from Win98 to Win2k. It's like night and day how much better it is. It almost gave me faith in Microsoft.
BSODs pretty much disappeared when I started using 2k, I used to leave my machine running for months.