Tweaking Windows Startup
The word tweaking means to fine tuning the system. Fine tuning a system makes it boot up faster and to attain peak performance of your system. There are some procedures to perform that will decrease the boot speed of the system. Booting time is normally counted from the system switch on time to availability of desktop to the end user. Tweaking the windows for much faster is also somehow danger, because it leaves some important files without loading and causes trouble during operation, and never checks all the peripherals that need to run system at its best.
The following tweaks fasten the system booting process.
BIOS Trick:
When the user switch on the system the first process is POST by the BIOS, POST means Power On Self Test, checks all the devices and peripherals. Enabling the quick boot option in the BIOS fastens the booting time.
Disable Fast User Switching also quickens the startup of the system.
To disable the feature Start -> Run, and type “control userpasswords” launches a dialog; click the way users log on or off. Uncheck the fast user switching, and click on apply options and close the window.
Turning off all the effects
Windows XP and Windows Vista have lot of animations and appearance themes which slows down the system performance. To disable this setting press [windows] + [pause break] which launches the system properties. There click the Advance tab and click settings in performance frame. There a popup window gives you a dialog of visual effects. For best performance click best performance and apply.
Disable compression and indexing:
Storing of files in drive in compression mode makes the system slower. So disabling this feature increases the system startup. To disable this Right click on the drive and select propertied, at the bottom uncheck both check boxes and give apply. Now these disable the compression and indexing and made the system faster.
Disable unneeded devices in device manager:
Windows loads all drivers during the startup. But some of the devices may be unavailable in the system. To avoid the unwanted loading of drivers disable the drivers by click Start -> Run and type “devmgmt.msc”. There disable the devices that you are not owned. This will avoid loading of unwanted drivers during startup.
Remove unwanted fonts and programs:
Installing more fonts in the system increases the system booting time. Removing unwanted fonts and unwanted applications helps to decrease the booting time.
Third-party tool:
A Tune-up utility which gives all types of system optimizing techniques and increases the booting speed. It also gives one click maintenance and automatically clears the problems, optimizes the registry and decreases the booting time of the system.
Disabling unwanted Services:
Windows runs lot of services in background. Some of the process are unwanted and can be disabled from the startup.
To get the services list click Start -> Run and type services.msc
Which will opens checked list box where we can uncheck the unwanted services.
They are:
Alerter – this service send alerts over network to administrator
Computer browser – to browse through available computer in the network
Messenger – provides facility to send NET SEND over network systems.
The above services are unwanted when the system is standalone, without a network connection.
Distributed Link Tracking Client – This service is used in NTFS file system. If the system didn’t use NTFS then it is better to stop this service
Help and Support – This service gives help on pressing F1. If you won’t need this service you can disable this service.
Print Spooler – if you have no printer then you can disable this.
Server - for sharing files and printer among other systems in the network. If you didn’t prefer file sharing you can disable this service.
Task Scheduler- if you not preferring any scheduling task it is safe to disable this service.
Smart Card – if you have no smart, then safely disable this service.
Decreasing Booting Time with BOOTVIS:
A new utility by Microsoft called BOOTVIS analyze the startup files and other optimization tasks. This utility is called BOOTVIS.
Run BOOTVIS
First Trace / Next Boot + Driver Delays
This will reboot the system
Then BOOTVIS retraces the startup drivers and other autoruns
Then run the Trace / Optimize System
Re-Run the Next Boot + Drive Delays
This will decrease the booting time of windows.
In windows vista the booting time is increased by installing the correct updated driver for each devices. This can be checked by compatibility checker given by the Microsoft build-in with vista.
These steps increase the booting time without harm to other applications.
Darren Williger is an over-caffeinated, security oriented winemaking enthusiast who writes for MicroTweak.com, NetworkSecurity.WS, and ActiveDirectory.US
