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249 Comments
- EXreaction, on 10/12/2007, -13/+203It takes so long for most people because they have ***** like Norton installed...
Get rid of that bloated POS and your boot time goes from 15min to 1min(depending on what other crap is installed) - Popdmb, on 10/12/2007, -27/+133@ donnapetz
I've never visited Moveon.org but after that two-screen spamming ***** you just tried to pull, I'll make sure to block it on every network I handle.
That was the response you were aiming for, no? - IntelliAdmin2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+96I address the issues you raise in those two links. Yes it will hurt performance of application launch times, but at benifit of faster boot times. Secondly the first article states that "Windows will just generate those files again anyway" This is simply not true since I have suggest using a registry key change that would prevent that from happening.
So both articles are debunking claims that I am not making. People think that deleting files from the prefetch will make their PC faster. No I did not say that. It will make your *boot* time faster. You trade this off with slower application launch times.
Get *your* facts straight before you post. - nOOBert, on 10/12/2007, -14/+101@donnapetz
welcome to the ban list. :) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -27/+81"It's God's way of telling you to switch to Linux."
What?!, so we can wait an even longer period of time for start up... dumbass. - dustyshadow, on 10/12/2007, -12/+61"The prefetch tip is a complete lie."
I just tried it and it seemed to work pretty well for me so I would say that it isn't a lie. - PseudoQuant, on 10/12/2007, -13/+58Please don't feed the trolls.
- LycoLoco, on 10/12/2007, -21/+64DonnaPetz: I am a FAN of moveon.org, but even I buried your comment. This has NOTHING to do with Windows startup times. If you want to expose the Bush and Co hypocracy and corruption, then submit it as a digg story, not as a random comment.
- affanjam, on 10/12/2007, -6/+42http://www.duggmirror.com/software/Why_windows_takes_so_long_to_start_up/
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+37A couple more:
1) Not having enough ram for all the applications that load at startup -- My mother-in-law's laptop has 256 meg of ram, and loads about 280 meg of software at boot time. So you're already paging by the time your system is fully up. You can pick up a gig of ram for about $100 these days. Do it.
2) Dying drives. Just got my fiance's old PC back up, and you can hear the drive heads parking mid-read every few seconds with a loud "clack". It's obviously not long for this world. - halleyscomet, on 10/12/2007, -43/+76@Popdmb
Please, don't block moveon.org because of this asshat.
donnapetz is a Right Wing Zealot trying to discredit a site dedicated to Left wing political action. Blocking moveon.org is exactly what the asshat WANTS you to do. - rolfeman02, on 10/12/2007, -7/+39WHAT THE ***** DOES ANY OF THIS HAVE TO DO WITH WINDOWS BOOT TIMES?
- vsujohn2, on 10/12/2007, -7/+35@donnapetz
no matter how much i may agree with anything that website says, that ***** doesnt belong in this section. I wish i could digg your spam down -100.
ON TOPIC
Hopefully Vista can allow smarter access to programs on startup.
Just because i used the porn downloader the past few days doesnt mean i want it to be in precache before the boot process begins.
I tend to format my desktop every ~3 months or so. I hate doing it, but after i do, its amazing. - merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -3/+30"The prefetch tip is a complete lie."
The prefetch tip in the article, and the one debunked by the links you provided are totally different.
The article talks about tweaking the way the entire OS uses the prefetch cache. Your links talk about the myth that you can use the /prefetch:1 arg to speed up certain apps.
Same prefetch system, totally different tweaks. This one has a decent chance of not being total crap. - IntelliAdmin2, on 10/12/2007, -8/+34Um. I don't understand what the relevance is. I am starting to think donnapetz is a nutjob.
- julielacombe, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23This site also has some additional tips on improving windows boot time: http://geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/04/improving-windows-xp-boot-time-on-your.html
- stimuli, on 10/12/2007, -7/+26"I am a network admin for over 80 percent of an entire states network sites"
then you say...
"They spam, now they pay. This will be a trend on my networks"...
Since it's a 'State' network technically it's the peoples network...not yours you government twit. - longman2g, on 10/12/2007, -19/+37there is no way that your computer is taking 15 minutes to boot up because of norton. go to one of his other tips and delete all the spyware clogging up your computer.
- Sleepingbag, on 10/12/2007, -13/+29ok and how quickly can linux run photoshop or pro tools or premiere
- mancat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Instead of keeping my house clean, I just move into a new house once a year, or when I've sufficiently trashed my last one. Much easier that way.
- uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14There is actually a new system in place in Vista called SuperFetch that does just this...in a way. It's not going to be 100% accurate though. In short, it profiles what you do when you log on -- not so much specifically, but what applications you open and in what order. As it profiles, or "learns" your behavior, it will then place those applications that you consistently open every time you log in at a higher priority, and put background applications on "hold" (for instance, the Instant Messenger program that runs at login by registry key).
It's nice for those instances as commented on, where you may wish to just log on quickly before work and check your email.
While SuperFetch doesn't really help pre-login startup time, it will help to shorten them total time it takes to get from pressing the power button, to using the application you need.
It's not the perfect solution, as it's far from a high end AI, but it IS one way to go about it, and it's much better than what Windows does now. - uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13While I somewhat agree with your first statement (It's short and to the point...that could be good or bad... :P), your second doesn't really help here. I'm not a fan of Windows either, but this is a thread regarding Windows boot time, not which OS you prefer :) Not to sound mean or anything, and I always like to see a fellow geek promoting their favorite Linux distro, this just isn't the right place for it. :)
- daggett, on 10/12/2007, -10/+21Re: donnapetz
This is a classic tactic folks. "donnapetz" is more likely a far-right operative trying to make moveon.org look bad.
They're smarter than this person appears to be and wouldn't spam a comments list like that, especially in the technology section.... Think about it.
And "beters", taking an action as you and "Popdmb" suggested and blocking a popular site because of one obviously fake post is absurd.
Being in a position of power over people's freedom of speech, any censoring, especially in such a 'knee-jerk' manner is totally uncalled for and should probably be looked into by the FTC or whoever controls that area. - RexDixon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+13I run XP on an old PIII computer that I use for audio production; remove allot of the unneeded services and I guarantee it fires up in less then 35 seconds; 32 to be exact from the time I hit the power on to the time when I can move the mouse and use a program.
Just a thought here for ya.
Rex - XorSystem, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11@BitSlash
Anything that is intensive to your hard drive will decrease its life.... constant defrags and formats are a bit harsh on the drive, and mechanical parts will eventually fail. Doing 2 or 3 formats in a given year or so isn't that bad though. I wouldn't worry about it.... - armbar, on 10/12/2007, -13/+23donnapetz:
Congratulations and welcome to one of the best places on Earth! Around these parts, we call it Jordan's Blocked Digger List!
You'll know you've made it here when:
1. You post spammy comments and take posts off-topic
2. You're a *****
3. You protest to everyone that you're not a *****, but say they are instead
4. Think your view is infallible, and anyone who disagrees with you is a tard
Enjoy your stay!
P.S. Don't bother responding, I won't see it. - uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10I wouldn't call it stupid really. It depends on what you use your system for, and your personal preferences. I'm one of those people who takes careful notice of how their computer runs, and it bothers me when one of my systems isn't running at it's full potential.
When I used my windows box often, I would reinstall once every few months, just to keep things clean and fresh. I store my data on other drives, and the install takes a measly 20 minutes.
Some people let their install go for years before reinstalling, and that's fine, if that works well for them.
I'm just the picky type :) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10I just loaded Dapper Drake (Ubuntu) on my laptop (dual boot) and I was very surprised to find that booting Ubuntu (granted, with Kubuntu) took 44 seconds while booting XP Pro (year old install) only took 33 seconds.
Apparently, Linux isn't the answer to everything. - pauldonnelly, on 10/12/2007, -27/+34@beters
You realize that this moron doesn't represent the site, right? - Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7The Prefetch tip is WRONG. The system does not load all the prefetch files on boot, period.
XP loads the prefetch files when the application matching that prefetch file is actually executed. So it's not loading the Word or Duke Nukem prefetch file on boot unless you have Word and Duke Nukem set to load on boot.
The author of the article doesn't understand what a prefetch file actually does. - tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8If you use Bootvis it shaves off a few seconds on the startup time. Personally after running this tool, it takes me about 25-35 seconds to get to the desktop with everything loaded. I usually don't have much running either on startup, I usually have Nod32, and 2-3 other small applications that startup.
None of you may believe it, but I actually own a Celeron M laptop that I got for real cheap to startup to Windows in 30 seconds. There's also a registry trick to get Windows shutdown quicker. Run those, with antispyware tools, get unwanted apps off Msconfig, then your bootup time and shutdown time should be quick. - awhite2600, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I use a laptop that goes back and forth to work with me everyday. I also visit client sites and need to connect to their networks. I have no choice but to shut down. Windows sometimes gets upset if it wakes from Hibernate on a strange network.
Anything that can improve boot times is worth a look.
Thanks. - ThePict, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8*Poof* looks like he IS gone.
http://digg.com/users/donnapetz - BitSlash, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9I reformat my laptop every so often as well. You just get this overwhelming feeling of being "clean" when you boot.
But does any one know if multiple formats will kill hard drives faster? I tried researching but all I found was that secure wipes/overwrites will eat them up. - trogdoor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6I have been running the same Debian install for 5 years now. I don't think the startup time has gotten any slower, but I wouldn't know as I haven't ever restarted.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10If people knew how to correctly use a ***** computer, this wouldnt be an issue.
And second off, after you buy a PC, first thing you should do is go to:
Control Panel/Add Remove Programs then start uninstalling ALL of the ***** bundled software that comes with it. Starting with Norton and AOL.
Jesus,..... - BrokenBeta, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8This article is telling us how to make Windows faster to load! Why in the world are people talking about the speed of Ubuntu -- that has nothing to do with it!
Great tips -- especially the prefetch thing. Dugg. - HMTKSteve, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7My company forbids turning off PC's when we leave for the day. They want them on so they can remotely access them out of hours.
- tunac, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6@ donnapetz almost has more diggs than a story
lol! - uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's not really a solution to the problem. It's a workaround, that may work for some people, but not others. Also, this doesn't help when you need to reboot your computer for a software install, or to add/remove hardware.
- kneeare, on 10/12/2007, -5/+92 years down the road im still booting with 2 bars under the winxp logo
- 42andrising, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6I think a lot of the problems with boot speed comes from the user clicking and installing and clicking some more...do you really need Acrobat Reader to start 3 seconds faster?
It's not necessarily Windows so much as the power windows gives people/software to add useless crap to startup. I don't notice too much of a difference between my laptop booting Ubuntu and the same laptop booting XP.
PEBKAC! - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You pay for the Microsoft licenses?
- diazigy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6running msconfig under "run" in the start menu and making only the bare essential programs under the startup tab should make anybody's windows computer start up much faster.
Im not a windows "fanboy" but I do like having a fan in my window... it keeps me cool at night. - tsupersonic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Did you format your (laugh) Presario (/laugh) after you got it? If you reformat it with Windows XP or another OS, it should startup faster, that is until you start loading up programs on the machine. Msconfig should do it, try Microsoft Bootvis, it shaves off seconds on the boot time.
- aggrazel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I have also found that some people disable the "Task Scheduler" service, they know just enough how to get to their services list and not enough about what it does. After all, the task scheduler just runs tasks at what time, just like cron right?
Well if you do this, the prefetching stuff doesn't work, so it will make your computer much slower. Keep the service enabled. - uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I honestly don't know why you've been dug down here...seems like a legit question to me.
So instead of digging you down, I'll try to answer your question. ;)
I'm taking from your question that you're asking if Windows will boot faster on one of the Intel based Macs. In short: No. The hardware they are using now is pretty standard stuff. For example, the CPU, motherboard, and graphics adapter in my Dell D620 laptop at work are the same as are found in the Apple MacBook. The hard disk is still a standard SATA or ATA IDE drive (you can swap the HDD out of your Mac and put it in your PC -- just cant read the Apple Filesystem with windows), so you're not gaining any preformance there.
Since you're working with the same basic hardware setup, you really won't get any kind of performance boost.
That then kind of brings us to the "why buy a Mac?" question then. Well, not specifically to run windows :P The best reason to buy a Mac is because you like OS X and want to have it available to you. In the end, you have basically the same hardware inside, Apple's style on the outside, and a box that can run three different kinds of OSs. - wurzelgummage, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Thank you for posting this. I'm forever seeing "xp tweak" things, including in printed magazines tell people to turn this service off.
God knows how many of these half-baked "tweaks" actually damage performance. - uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@usefulidiot;
It really depends on what your setup is like, and your knowledge of the Linux OS. Ubuntu isn't the best example of "my windows boots faster than Linux" for two reasons:
1. Ubuntu isn't representative of all Linux..it's just one distro, configured for ease of use by Joe User
2. It's configured for ease of use by Joe User. It's not meant to "start up really really fast". It's meant to boot up and be usable.
In conclusion, you really haven't provided any good information at all here. You are no better than the Linux fanboys that you are trash talking.
That being said, maybe you'd like to share with us exactly what you've done to make your particular Windows install boot more efficiently? Or are you simply claiming that Windows boots faster than "linux" out of the box without any special attention? If that's the case, I believe myself and the majority of the people reading this thread would like to call shenanigans. ;) - justice7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4There are a number of reasons why a WindowsXP PC will take some time to boot.
*puts on his IT hat*
-Services, the more the longer it will take (once the GUI is loaded) to finish its grinding.
-Startup Items - These DIFFER from services, and they load after your mouse cursor becomes active. Causing your system to slow to a crawl while it decides to open the applications in your startup list.
-Networking setup -- This has A LOT to do with your startup time. Initializing your NIC, if it is DHCP it has to wait for the DHCP server (or usually your router) to spit out an IP address. Most of the time this is fast, but not as fast as a Static system. If you have NETBEUI installed or are doing any kind of network shares etc, your system will take exponentially longer to boot as it establishes the connections and maps drives.
-Amount of hardware in your system -- While this won't differ from when you started using your computer, having multiple pieces of hardware that requires initializing will cause a slowdown at boot time.
-and of course the standard age old fragmented file system
really.. thats it. Networking is the big one, though. -
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