Stopping programs from running at start-up is especially daunting because there is no single place you can go to halt them all. Some run because they're in the Startup folder, others because they're part of logon scripts, others because of Registry settings, and so on. But with a little bit of perseverance, you should be able to keep them from running.
Start by cleaning out your Startup folder. Find it in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, where username is your Windows logon name. Delete the shortcuts of any programs you don't want to run on start-up. As with any shortcuts, when you delete them, you're deleting only the shortcut, not the program itself. (You can also clear out the start-up items by going to Start > Programs > Startup, then right-clicking items you want to remove.)
Next, clean out your Scheduled Tasks folder. Go to C:\Windows\Tasks, and delete the shortcuts of any programs that you don't want to run automatically on a schedule.
Note: You can bypass all the programs in your Startup folder on an as-needed basis. To stop XP from loading any programs in the Startup folder, hold down the Shift key during bootup. No programs in the Startup folder will run, but the items will still remain there so that they will start up as they would normally the next time you boot.
Using the system configuration utility
Taking the previous steps will stop the obvious programs from running at start-up, but it won't kill them all. The best tool for disabling hidden programs that run on start-up is the System Configuration Utility. To run it, type msconfig at a command prompt, and press Enter. (If that doesn't work, first do a search for msconfig.exe; when you find the file, double-click it.)
To stop a program from running at start-up, go to the Startup tab in this utility, and uncheck the box next to the program. It can sometimes be difficult to understand what programs are listed on the Startup tab. Some, such as America Online, are clearly labeled. But often, you'll see a phrase or collection of letters, such as fs20. That's the name of the running file--such as fs20.exe, which is Free Surfer mk II, an excellent free pop-up killer.
To get more information about a listing, expand the width of the Command column near the top of the Startup tab. Expand it enough and you'll see the start-up command that the program issues, including its location, such as C:\Program Files\Free Surfer\fs20.exe. The directory location should be another hint to help you know the name of the program.
When stopping programs from running at start-up, it's best to stop them one at a time rather than in groups. You want to make sure that you're not causing any system problems by stopping them. So stop one, then restart your PC. If it runs fine, then stop another and restart. Continue doing this until you've cleared all the programs you don't want to run automatically.
Each time you uncheck a box and restart your PC, you'll get a warning that you've used the System Configuration Utility to disable a program from starting automatically. If you don't want to see that warning, disable it by checking the box in the dialog itself.
After you've used the system configuration utility to identify programs that run on start-up, you may want to try disabling them from with the programs themselves. So run each program that starts automatically, and see if you can find a setting that allows you to prevent it from running on start-up.
Speed up shutdown times
It's not only start-up that you'd like to speed up; you can also make sure that your system shuts down faster. If shutting down XP takes what seems to be an inordinate amount of time, here are a couple of steps you can take to speed up the shutdown process:
Don't have XP clear your paging file at shutdown. For security reasons, you can have XP clear your paging file (pagefile.sys) of its contents whenever you shut down. Your paging file is used to store temporary files and data, but when your system shuts down, information stays in the file. Some people prefer to have the paging file cleared at shutdown because sensitive information such as unencrypted passwords sometimes ends up in the file. However, clearing the paging file can slow shutdown times significantly, so if extreme security isn't a high priority, you might not want to clear it. To shut down XP without clearing your paging file, run the Registry Editor (click Start > Run, then type regedit in the Run box) and go to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Curr... Manager\Memory Management
Change the value of ClearPageFileAtShutdown to 0. Close the Registry, and restart your computer. Whenever you turn off XP from now on, the paging file won't be cleared, and you should be able to shut down more quickly.
Note: Please be careful when editing the Registry; you can do a lot of damage here. Don't change or delete anything unless you know exactly what it is.
Disable services that run at start-up
Constantly running in the background of XP are services--processes that help the operating system run or that provide support to applications. Many of these services launch automatically at start-up. While you need many of them, some are not required, and they can slow down your system when they run in the background.
You can disable services at start-up by using the system configuration utility, similar to the way that you halt programs from running at start-up, except that you use the Services tab instead of the Startup tab. But the system configuration utility doesn't necessarily list every service that launches on start-up. A bigger problem is that disabling services is more of shot in the dark than disabling programs. When you disable a program, you can get a sense of what the program does. But when you disable a service through the system configuration utility, there's often no way to know what it does.
A better way of disabling services at start-up is via the Services computer-management console. Run it by typing services.msc at the command prompt. The Services computer-management console includes a description of all services so that you can know ahead of time whether a particular service is one you want to turn off. It also lets you pause the service so that you can test your machine and see whether that service is needed.
After you run the console, click the Extended tab. This view will show you a description of each service in the left pane when you highlight the service. The Startup Type column shows you which services launch on start-up--any with Automatic in that field. Click that column to sort together all the services that automatically launch on start-up. Then highlight each of those services and read the descriptions.
When you find a service you want to disable, right-click it and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog box that appears, choose Manual from the Startup Type drop-down list. The service won't start automatically from now on, but you can start it manually via the console. If you want the service disabled so that it can't be run, choose Disabled. To test the results, turn off any services that you don't want to run by clicking Stop The Service in the left pane, or by right-clicking the service and choosing Stop.
Here is a list of some common services you might want to stop from running at start-up.
Service What it does
Portable Media Serial Number Retrieves the serial number of a portable music player attached to your PC.
Task Scheduler Schedules unattended tasks to be run. If you don't schedule any unattended tasks, turn it off.
Uninterruptible Power Supply Manages an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) connected to your PC.
Automatic Updates Automatically checks for Windows updates. (You can check manually by going to http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/.)...
Telnet (service available on XP Pro only) Allows a remote user to log in to your computer and run programs. (This will not be found on all versions of XP Pro.)
Wireless Zero Configuration Service Automatically configures a Wi-Fi (802.11) network card. Disable this only if you're not using a Wi-Fi network card.
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If you use your computer alot like I do, you may grow impatient waiting for the system to boot up. You have all this work to do, and you have to sit there and wait for that thing! Well, there are ways to speed up the booting process. This is discussed here.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that it is possible to speed up the boot process too much. Yeah, you say "faster is better!" while drooling at the idea, but going too fast on startup might make the computer hack, if you know what I mean. So, take heed of any mentions on this page as far as that goes.
The first thing to do will be to optimize your BIOS as follows:
Disable Floppy drive Seek. When your computer turns on, the BIOS automatically accesses the floppy drive, regardless of whether there is a disk in it or not. Disabling this feature can speed up the booting by a couple seconds. This can be done in your BIOS setup.
Enable "Quickboot".Many newer machines come with a BIOS feature called Quickboot or Quick POST. Enabling this option makes the system bypass some of the normal tests it would do on boot up normally. It makes the process faster, but increases the chances of a hardware problem going undetected because the system doesn't catch it at the start.
Remove the Boot Delay. Some PC's have an option to delay the booting for a couple seconds. Mainly, this is done to give the hard drive a chance to get going before the BIOS needs it. You can try removing it to speed things up, but you may find you need it after all.
Edit the Standard BIOS Setup. By default, many BIOS setups have all four IDE channels set to AUTO, in order to auto-detect the settings for the drive on that channel. If you know a particular channel is not being used, you can disable it so that the computer does not waste time looking for it.
Turbo Frequency. Some BIOS versions have an option for turbo frequency. Enabling it speeds up the bus speed slightly, offering a speed increase. It is, in effect, overclocking, but it is so minute that it will be no harm done as far as your hardware is concerned.
Optimizations
Tune up the registry. Over some time of installing and un-installing software, your registry becomes bloated. It may contain entries that are no longer needed. The killer is that this bloated registry is loaded each and every time the system is started, whether it is all needed or not. There are many software titles out there that are able to scan the registry, detect orphaned entries, and remove them. The result is a streamlined registry. If you have a general feel of how the registry works, you can try deleting old keys manually. You can also try third-party optimizers.
Defragment Your Drive. This is an easy, fast way to speed up your hard drive by making sure it does not have to search all over itself for file fragments.
Filter the StartUp folder. Filter? Well, what I mean is to go through the StartUp folder and make sure that there is nothing there that is unnecessary. It may be that Windows is loading up software that you no longer need, and that is a waste of time. To fix this, go to the Start Menu, Settings, TaskBar. Click the Start Menu tab, click Remove, browse down to the StartUp folder, expand it, and then remove any program from that folder which is no longer needed. More often, though, your computer is starting programs that are not showing up in the Startup Folder. You can also type "msconfig" at the Start Menu/Run prompt and control all of your startup programs and/or services. This easier method, though, is not available in Windows 2000. You will need to use a third party utility or, alternately, you can manually remove startup programs via your registry. To do so, type "regedit" at your Run prompt and navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Mic...
in your registry. You can then remove any entries that should no longer be there. Be careful when doing this via the registry, and it is always a good idea to backup the registry first.
SysEdit. Go to your start menu, run and type "sysedit" and press enter. Here you can edit all your basic OS config files and remove anything you know you do not need anymore. If using Windows 2000 or XP, you can probably REM most of the lines out and be perfectly fine.
"Bootvis.exe". for Windows XP users only, this program can shave time off of your boot process. I have not personally tried it, but have heard about it and thought it worthy of mention if you wish to try it out. It is available here.
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1. The prefetch cache
The first tip I want to talk about is the windows prefetch. Windows XP has this feature that loads commonly used programs - at boot time.
Here is how it works: Yesterday you used MS Word, and Duke Nukem 3D. Today you boot your system to check e-mail. It sees parts of these two programs in the prefetch folder and loads them into memory before windows completes the boot process. The benefit is faster application launch times. If you really wanted to use MS Word, it would pop up really quick when you double clicked on it.
The problem is most people have been running windows for years, and the prefetch gets clogged with stuff that you almost never use. Windows takes forever to boot because it is prefetching a 1.0 copy of Napster, and you just want to check your email before you have to go to work.
What can be done about it? Well there are a few things we can do to tweak the prefetch cache. One method is to disable it partially, and this can be done quite easily.
Simply browse to the windows folder (Ex: C:\Windows) and under there you should see the prefetch folder. Go into the prefetch folder and delete all the files (Careful! It should look like this c:\windows\prefetch) And here is a screenshot of one if you still have questions
The first thing to note is the next reboot will be slow. This is because windows needs to relearn the prefetch for system files. Subsequent boots will run much faster since the sludge of programs has been removed, and only new ones are in the cache.
The trouble is that it will only help you for a while - until the prefetch gets clogged up again. We need to edit a registry key to tweak it. Open regedit and browse to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Curr... Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters
Under this key you should see a value named: EnablePrefetcher
It has 4 possible values:
0 - Disabled : The prefetch system is turned off.
1 - Application : The prefetch only caches applications.
2 - Boot : The prefetch only caches boot system files.
3 - All : The prefetch caches boot, and application files.
We don't want to disable it entirely. This would actually make boot times *longer*. This is because this feature is also used to speed up the loading of boot files. That is why we are going to pick the number 2 option. It allows us to keep the advantage of caching system files, without continually clogging the system up with applications.
Set the value to 2 and reboot.
The 2nd time you boot it should boot much faster. Remember that the side effect is that launching individual applications once windows has loaded will now be slightly slower.
2. Hard drive fragmentation
Over time your hard drive will become fragmented. An over simplified explanation of fragmentation is when your files and folders are not all stored in the same spot. For example lets say you had a large movie file. If it were fragmented the first 5 megabytes are at the beginning of the hard drive, and then next 5 are at the end. It takes longer for windows to read the file than it would if it were all in the same spot. The point is that if each file is stored in a linear fashion, and the drive does not have to move all over the place to read it - it will load faster. XP has a built-in defrag tool, and it is simple to run. Open "My Computer" right click on the boot drive, and go to properties. Now click on the tools tab.
Click "Defragment Now" and the following window should appear:
Before you click on the "Defragment" button you want to close all applications and be aware that it might take hours to complete. If you leave something running it might keep windows from completing the defragment operation.
Click on the defragment button and you can walk away. Or you can watch it defrag your hard drive:
3. Disconnected network drives
I am using networked drives all the time. If you have ever put your machine on a network and connected to a shared drive, this can slow you down too. If you have a drive that is still mapped, but cannot be reached it will slow down windows during boot time. This is because windows will wait...wait...and wait some more for the remote server to respond. To clean these out open "My Computer" and go to the tools menu. Click on "Disconnect Network Drives" It will open a window that looks like this:
Click on the drives you no longer need, and click OK.
4. Spyware & Adware
These can have a big impact on your start times. If your PC gets loaded with spyware, it spends a large portion of its boot time making sure those pesky programs are loaded and ready to throw popup adverts at you all day. To check and clean your system of spyware there are three free programs that I highly recommend:
1. Microsoft Windows Defender
2. Ad-Aware
3. SpyBot Search And destroy
5. File and Printer Sharing
One other item that can significantly impact is the "File and Printer Sharing" feature within windows. Obviously, if you are sharing your printer, or folders you don't want to disable this - so this tip is not for you. If you never use it, then why waste your time waiting for it to load?
Here is how to turn it off:
Go into the control panel. Click on "Network Connections"
Now right click on "Local Area Connection" and click on properties
Uncheck the "File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks"
Click OK, and reboot.
That wraps up our windows startup optimization. And if you are tired of waiting for windows to shutdown, then check out our article on speeding that up too!
Stay tuned. We are about to release a new version of our Remote Reboot program. This version adds a feature suggested by David in our forum. It allows you to specify the shutdown reason that is written to the event log on Windows XP, and 2003. If you are not sure what I am talking about...this should remind you:
One final note, if you have any ideas for a free utility you would like to see, please post to our forum...or better yet check out the ones we already have
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While Windows XP is a big improvement over previous versions of Microsoft Windows in terms of how long it takes to boot your system to the desktop, there are a few things you can do to squeeze even faster boot times out of your machine.
Of course, if you're one of those who likes to leave their computer on all the time, this won't matter. I've heard arguments on both sides of this issue, some saying always-on causes more wear on mechanical parts such as your hard drives and fans, others saying frequent cold starts are even harder on such parts and shorten their useful lifetime. For myself, I've developed a compromise--I leave my home machine on all the time during weekdays so I can access it immediately when I get home from the office and need to finish some work or check my email, but I also turn it off from Friday evening until Sunday evening so I can enjoy the weekend and have a life.
But when I turn on my machine Sunday evening, I get impatient at how long it takes to start up. I want access to my email, and I want it now. What can I do to speed things up? Here are six tips you can try out to speed the startup process for your machine.
BIOS
One trick is to disable various system integrity checks performed during the BIOS power-on self test (POST) routine, such as testing for faulty RAM. You can also change the boot order so that your hard drive is the first boot device. Of course, if you are using an old machine, your BIOS tuning options may be limited. One of my office machines is an old Dell Precision workstation, and the POST routine takes more than 30 seconds to run, longer than it takes XP itself to start up on the machine. The answer here would be to buy a newer machine, but I like to keep costs low for my business so I buy most of my machines from ComputerGeeks and then add more RAM and extra hard drives until the machines meet my needs.
Boot.ini
If you've installed the Recovery Console on your machine, or if you multiboot to XP and some other OS, the Boot Loader menu appears after the POST and asks you to choose which OS or version of XP (normal or Recovery Console) you want to launch. The default time-out for this menu is 30 seconds, and you can shorten this to something more reasonable like 3 seconds by editing the boot.ini file. The easiest way to do this in XP is to use the bootcfg command with the /timeout switch to change the time-out value to 3 seconds as follows:
C:\>bootcfg /timeout 3Here's the response you'll get:
SUCCESS: Changed the timeout value in the BOOT.INI.You can then use the bootcfg command with the /query switch to confirm the result:
C:\>bootcfg /query
Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
timeout: 3
default: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partiti...
Boot Entries
------------
Boot entry ID: 1
Friendly Name: "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
Path: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partiti...
OS Load Options: /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
Boot entry ID: 2
Friendly Name: "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console"
Path: C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT
OS Load Options: /cmdconsAnother tweak is to add the /noguiboot switch to your OS load options to disable the Windows XP splash screen and boot progress bar. This will reduce your startup time slightly, but it has the side effect of disabling stop screen messages generated during startup, so use this approach with caution. Here's how you do this using the bootcfg command:
C:\>bootcfg /addsw /ng /id 1Here's the response you'll get:
SUCCESS: Added the switches to the OS entry "1" in the BOOT.INI.To verify the result, note the /noguiboot switch added to the OS load options for boot entry 1 below:
C:\>bootcfg /query
Boot Loader Settings
--------------------
timeout: 3
default: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partiti...
Boot Entries
------------
Boot entry ID: 1
Friendly Name: "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"
Path: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partiti...
OS Load Options: /noexecute=optin /fastdetect /noguiboot
Boot entry ID: 2
Friendly Name: "Microsoft Windows Recovery Console"
Path: C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT
OS Load Options: /cmdconsStartup Programs
Programs that launch automatically when Windows starts can be a major drag on how long it takes to boot your system. Some of these programs are legitimately needed, but others may be holdovers from trial software you installed from the Internet. You can check the contents of the Startup folders for both your own user profile (%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup) and for the All Users profile (All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup) under C:\Documents and Settings. Any shortcuts to programs that are no longer needed should be deleted from these folders.
And while you're at it, you may as well check the Run Registry keys for additional programs that automatically run when Windows starts. The two Run keys are found at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Mi...
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Mic... Prefetcher
Windows XP includes a new feature called the prefetcher, which monitors the boot process to determine which files are needed, and then preloads those files early in the boot process to optimize startup. The prefetcher can be configured to preload boot files, application files, or both, by editing the following Registry DWORD value:
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\...
\PrefetchParameters\EnablePref... values are:
0 = no prefetching
1 = application prefetching only
2 = boot prefetching only
3 = both application and boot prefetching
Related Reading
Windows Server Hacks
100 Industrial-Strength Tips & Tools
By Mitch Tulloch
Table of Contents
Index
The default value is 3, but this can be changed to 2 since application files usually end up being cached in the RAM cache and hence don't need to be prefetched.
Hibernation
One way of getting really fast boot times is to put your machine into hibernation instead of powering it down at the end of the day. Hibernation mode causes the current memory contents to be written to file, after which the computer shuts down. When your machine is restarted, a Resuming Windows message is displayed instead of the usual Starting Windows message, and the contents of the hibernation file (Hiberfil.sys) is read back into memory in only a few seconds, after which you are prompted to type your password to unlock your desktop.
Hibernation is supported by ACPI-compliant hardware but must first be enabled on the Hibernation tab of the Power Options utility in Control Panel. Once it's enabled, you can send your machine into deep sleep anytime by clicking Start -> Turn off computer -> Hibernate, assuming you're using the Welcome screen instead of the classic Windows log-on screen.
One issue with hibernation can come up if your password is configured to expire periodically. The problem is that if your password expires while your machine is hibernating, you can't bring it out of hibernation to reset your password. To work around this, boot in safe mode, log on using the local Administrator account, and change the password for your ordinary user account, then reboot the machine.
Automatic Log-on
Finally, you can configure your machine to automatically log on with your user account after Windows starts. That way you can turn the machine on and go make your coffee, and when you return your desktop is open and any programs in your Startup folder (like your email program) are running. The way to configure this feature is described in How to turn on automatic logon in Windows XP in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Be warned, though--using automatic log-on means that anyone who can press the power button on your machine can access your desktop, so use this feature only if your computer is physically secure and you are the only person who uses that machine!
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This first guide aims to cover two main areas of contention: the boot process (sans the system services, which are an entire guide of their own) and a mishmash of general computing tweaks. The boot tweaks will be comprised of not only system settings, but also several under-utilized applications that can dramatically reduce load time. The general performance tweaks are simply various tweaks that do not quite fit in with the theme of this article, but still have a significant effect on system startup performance (because most any tweaks that one performs should have some kind of effect on the startup time of the system).
Before we begin, several pieces of laundry need to be aired out. To begin with, if you have already tweaked the services on the computer in question, please return them to the default settings. One of the applications I am recommending requires that several systems be enabled that most power users frequently disable (e.g., Task Scheduler). Once you have completed the tweaks mentioned in this guide, feel free to return said services back to your preferred settings, as they only need to be enabled for a short time.
In addition, please run the disk defragmenter prior to and after applying these tweaks. We will be moving the MFT to the fastest part of the drive, defragmenting it, and resizing it so that (hopefully) it will remain contiguous forever after. Defragmenting prior to this process will allow the program to move the MFT more quickly, and defragmenting afterwards will clean up the mess that the fragmented and unoptimized MFT wreaked upon your system. No, a normal defrag does not do this, and no, a normal defrag will not undo the changes made by the boot optimizer.
Also, Windows XP is something of a fair-weather friend. As I was researching this guide, I corrupted my registry no fewer than three times testing out various tweaks (which obviously did not make their way into this guide). However, as a precaution, please back up your system, or at least the registry, prior to undertaking the steps outlined in this guide. Neither Ars Technica, nor the author of this article, will be responsible for any damage you do to your computer by following the steps outlined herein. You have been warned.
Startup
Windows Prefetcher
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management \ PrefetchParameters]
Under this key there is a setting called EnablePrefetcher, the default setting of which is 3. Increasing this number to 5 gives the prefetcher system more system resources to prefetch application data for faster load times. Depending on the number of boot processes you run on your computer, you may get benefits from settings up to 9. However, I do not have any substantive research data on settings above 5 so I cannot verify the benefits of a higher setting. This setting also may effect the loading times of your most frequently launched applications. This setting will not take effect until after you reboot your system.
Master File Table Zone Reservation
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ FileSystem]
Under this key there is a setting called NtfsMftZoneReservation, the default setting of which is 1. The range of this value is from 1 to 4. The default setting reserves one-eighth of the volume for the MFT. A setting of 2 reserves one-quarter of the volume for the MFT. A setting of 3 for NtfsMftZoneReservation reserves three-eighths of the volume for the MFT and setting it to 4 reserves half of the volume for the MFT. Most users will never exceed one-quarter of the volume. I recommend a setting of 2 for most users. This allows for a "moderate number of files" commensurate with the number of small files included in most computer games and applications. Reboot after applying this tweak.
Source: Microsoft Technet
Optimize Boot Files
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Dfrg \ BootOptimizeFunction]
Under this key is a text value named Enable. A value of Y for this setting enables the boot files defragmenter. This setting defragments the boot files and may move the boot files to the beginning (fastest) part of the partition, but that last statement is unverified. Reboot after applying this tweak.
Optimizing Startup Programs [msconfig]
MSConfig, similar to the application included in Win9x of the same name, allows the user to fine tune the applications that are launched at startup without forcing the user to delve deep into the registry. To disable some of the applications launched, load msconfig.exe from the run command line, and go to the Startup tab. From there, un-ticking the checkbox next to a startup item will stop it from launching. There are a few application that you will never want to disable (ctfmon comes to mind), but for the most part the best settings vary greatly from system to system.
As a good rule of thumb, though, it is unlikely that you will want to disable anything in the Windows directory (unless it's a third-party program that was incorrectly installed into the Windows directory), nor will you want to disable anything directly relating to your system hardware. The only exception to this is when you are dealing with software, which does not give you any added benefits (some OEM dealers load your system up with software you do not need). The nice part of msconfig is that it does not delete any of the settings, it simply disables them, and so you can go back and restart a startup application if you find that you need it. This optimization won't take effect until after a reboot.
Bootvis Application
The program was designed by Microsoft to enable Windows XP to cold boot in 30 seconds, return from hibernation in 20 seconds, and return from standby in 10 seconds. Bootvis has two extremely useful features. First, it can be used to optimize the boot process on your computer automatically. Second, it can be used to analyze the boot process for specific subsystems that are having difficulty loading. The first process specifically targets the prefetching subsystem, as well as the layout of boot files on the disk. When both of these systems are optimized, it can result in a significant reduction in the time it takes for the computer to boot.
Before attempting to use Bootvis to analyze or optimize the boot performance of your system, make sure that the task scheduler service has been enabled – the program requires the service to run properly. Also, close all open programs as well – using the software requires a reboot.
To use the software to optimize your system startup, first start with a full analysis of a fresh boot. Start Bootvis, go to the Tools menu, and select next boot. Set the Trace Repetition Settings to 2 repetitions, Start at 1, and Reboot automatically. Then set the trace into motion. The system will fully reboot twice, and then reopen bootvis and open the second trace file (should have _2 in the name). Analyze the graphs and make any changes that you think are necessary (this is a great tool for determining which startup programs you want to kill using msconfig). Once you have made your optimizations go to the Trace menu, and select the Optimize System item. This will cause the system to reboot and will then make some changes to the file structure on the hard drive (this includes a defragmentation of boot files and a shifting of their location to the fastest portion of the hard disk, as well as some other optimizations). After this is done, once again run a Trace analysis as above, except change the starting number to 3. Once the system has rebooted both times, compare the charts from the second trace to the charts for the fourth trace to show you the time improvement of the system's boot up.