I dont know what would be the reaction of people when they know that I love spending first ten minutes of my office hours watching Windows start up.
Nevertheless, if you belong to the working age group, then the below listed tips will certainly prove handy in speeding up the startup of Windows.
Firstly, reduce the load on your slow Windows XP.
Every time it starts, the system loads numerous programs.
Icons in the system tray of your PC represent an auto-start application.
Besides these, there may be many more programs on your PC that are autostart but don’t reveal their presence.
It is noteworthy that an autoloading program slows your PCs boot time, with the only difference that some affect it a little while others affect it heavily. And since majority of them continue running in background, they reduce the systems performance.
Ensure that you can reverse the changes before beginning with the elimination work of autoloaders. Click the Close option after having created the restore point.
MS Windows Vista users need to select Start, then Control Panel and then System. Click System Protection under Tasks, which in on windows right side. Thereafter, the System Properties box will emerge and click on the Create option at the bottom of the Window.
For Windows XP users, the steps involve: select Start, type msconfig and press [Enter]. Vista users should select Start, write msconfig in the Search box and then press [Enter].
As you click on the Startup tab, a list of autoloading programs will be displayed. Each program will show a check box. If you uncheck an item in a check box, it will stop that application from loading at startup.
Pick your Autoloading Apps. If you like a program to be autoloaded, click on the check option.
Among the programs, first comes your antivirus, firewall and other security applications that should be checked.
Though having these programs installed in your machine may slow down the boot-up and shutdown speed and even lead to conflicts, the cost incurred will be much more in case these programs do not run on your PC.
Similarly, for other applications, your own judgment will be crucial. To ask yourself whether the program is a good program or not would not be wise enough. Instead, you should think if the program needs to be on always.
Following unchecking of those programs that you dont want to autoload at the start up, click the OK option and reboot the system. You will notice Windows loading with an extremely lengthy message box appear to be an error message.
You have to simply check Dont show this message or start the System Configuration Utility at the time Windows starts (in Vista you will find a little bit difference in wording) at the bottom of dialog box and then click OK.