My computer takes for every to boot up these days even though I do maintenance every week?

Question

so it's not defrag etc. I do think it is the amount of processes (56) working away in the background though that is the cause. However, I am not sure which of many is not required on start-up.

If anyone can give me advice on how to go about finding out it would be much appreciated, as it is taking well over 10 minutes to boot up what with scanning for viruses etc, painfull when you are in a hurry.

Thank you in anticipation.

Yahoo has put this in the wrong category ....Again!.

Answer 1

MSConfig can be used for this purpose as mentioned. However a program called autoruns is a far better option.

download it here:-

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/autoruns.mspx

Having said that, unless you know what your looking for, speeding up the boot process is not an easy job.

You can try running bootvis. This is a microsoft program designed to speedup the boot process.:- This has the potential of screwing your pc up good and proper so back up all your data before running. - Be Warned

Your best bet and only guaranteed solution is to wipe and reinstall windows from scratch. This will have your PC running at full speed again.

Answer 2

Try msconfig, but you have to know what you are turning on and off, you have to reboot your pc for it to have an effect and you might turn off a vital process - search on the internet perhaps to find out what each does. There is a startup tab for the processes that run at atartup

Do you have lots of items on your 'Startup'folder in your start menu?, these are loaded when your computer starts and slows it down too.

When did you last re-install everything? Windows need to be re-installed every couple of years of normal computer use to keep it running up to speed, there might be lots of small programmes

Answer 3

Win9x/Me/2K/XP users:

Use the "System Configuration Utility" (MSCONFIG) to identify startup programs. MSCONFIG is available for all Win9x/Me/2K/XP users (Win95/2K user can use the respective versions from here: http://www2.whidbey.com/djdenham/Msconfig.htm).

You invoke it by clicking Start then Run. In the Open box, type msconfig.exe followed by enter. Once displayed, click on the "Startup" tab. You will see a list of items and the 2 columns that we're interested in are "Name" (WinME) or "Startup Item" (WinXP) and "Command". For Win98 the columns aren't named but the one on the left is the equivalent of "Name" and the one on the right is the equivalent of "Command":

You can also use the excellent HijackThis http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php#hijackthis

Alternatively, you can use a startup manager http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.php#startup_manager

For a list of tasks/processes you should try WinTasks 5 Standard/Professional http://affiliates.digitalriver.com/z/5614/rn_a26139/

To disable the programs from running at startup:
1) Using a program's own configuration options
2)) Windows StartUp folder - Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP
If you click on Start -> Programs -> StartUp (Win9x/Me/NT/2K) or Start -> All Programs -> StartUp (WinXP) you may find programs loading from here via shortcuts. If this is the case, you have two options :-

Delete the shortcut from the StartUp directory (based on your OS):

Win9x/98/Me - C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
WinNT/2K - C:\Winnt\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\StartUp
WinXP - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Create a temporary directory for your OS called "Disabled StartUp Programs" and move the shortcuts there. If a program doesn't work as expected you can always move the relevant shortcut back again

Win9x/98/Me - C:\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
WinNT/2K - C:\Winnt\Profiles\All Users\Start Menu\Programs
WinXP - C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs

Answer 4

YOu will have to research some of those programs in your startup type the name as they are individually in a yahoo search bar. disable them if windows does not need it at startup.
(msconfig--> startup)

Download a registry optimizer program with good reviews from download.com

Download BootVis from Microsoft then do Tools--optimize

Startup issues are usually msconfig and registry problems

Remove programs u havent accessed with in last 2 weeks.

Answer 5

Sorry your computer sucks :-(

Buy a Mac! Mine is 3 years old and boots to a complete usable function in 31 seconds.

Answer 6

Both Winpatrol and Ccleaner let you see whats loading on startup, Winpatrol uses icons so you can see what you're doing.
http://www.winpatrol.com
http://www.ccleaner.com

They do other things as well, use the Issues tool then the Cleaner with Ccleaner, that should speed thing up.

Answer 7

you should try hibranating your computer cause what it does is when u press the pwer button it shuts it down when u turn it back on everything is like still there and its not slow

Answer 8

try one of the free registry repair/cleaner tools you can download such as "Free Windows Registry Repair" I got it from the Microsoft site.

Answer 9

go to start then press run then type in msconfig
click on start up and disable the one's that you don't need
to run when you first switch on

Answer 10

1)http://mypchelp.blogspot.com/2006/10/pc-running-slow.html
2)http://bestofrest.blogspot.com/2007/02/advanced-windowscare-personal.html