How to make your computer run faster part 3, a speedy startup

When your computer is fresh and new, it can boot up rather quickly.  Over time, things can slow down considerably because your system loads programs while it's starting your computer.  The more programs running at boot, the slower things can get.  For those of you who put your computers to sleep or hibernate, you probably don't restart your computer very often.  For the rest of us we sit and stare at our monitors for 2, 3, or even 5 or more minutes waiting to get a responsive system that is ready to go.

In the first installation of this series I showed you that your computer speed is often tied to your RAM.

In the second post in our series I showed you how speed your computer by getting rid of unneeded program baggage.

Today we are going to tackle speeding up your computer startup.  If you feel like you can change your car's oil faster than your computer boots, read on.  If you can cook a 4 course meal in the time your computer boots... you might be a redneck...er you need to clean up your boot processes.

I'm going to cover 2 primary ways you can make your computer run faster.

#1. Clean out your "Startup" folder.  

Most versions of Windows come with a folder you can find in your Start Menu called "startup."  Any links to your programs in this folder will run as soon as your computer boots.  In my case, I have placed a few programs I want running at boot: Dropbox and Launchy and have my bluetooth service set to run at boot.  All three of these programs are incredibly small and light, but you might have other programs that take up to a minute or more to load (a piece) in your startup folder.  

To stop these programs from running when you restart your computer, simply delete the links in the "Startup" folder.  Deleting these links will not remove the programs they are associated with, so don't worry.  If there is any programs you want running at startup, you can add them here by copy and pasting a link into the folder.  Just take it easy since you will have to wait until these load at boot.

What happens when you clean out the "Startup" folder and you still have programs running at boot?  Well, there are other more insidious ways some programs start at boot and you'll have to get your typing fingers a little dirty to disable them.  

#2.  Edit your startup processes with the Windows System Configuration Utility.  

This utility allows you to edit how your computer starts.  

To open the utility, go to the Start menu and select "Run..." from the menu.  Alternatively, you can press the Windows Key + "R" on your keyboard to bring up the Run window.  Type "msconfig" into the dialog box and click "OK."  The System Configuration Utility will open.

For our purposes we will be dealing with the "Startup" tab, so navigate there.  You will find a list of "Startup Items" that run each time you reboot your PC.  Now some of these are essential system processes and some of them are programs that are not needed to run at boot.  Some of the purposes of these programs are:

• to start a background service that helps windows function properly (don't get rid of these)
• a printer system tray utility (not usually needed)
• antivirus services (don't get rid of these)
• full programs like MSN Chat (not needed)
• programs that help launch other programs more quickly (not necessary)
• hardware support software (like the itunes helper, sometimes no longer needed if you don't use the hardware anymore)
• software support software (like quicktime, not needed usually)

If you are not sure about a Startup Item, do a quick Google search for the name or try and type the program and extension directly into Google like "Apoint.exe"

Once you're reasonably sure that you don't need a startup program, un-check the box next to it.  Repeat this for any other items.  Apply your changes and press "OK," reboot your system.  You should be greeted with a notice about some startup items that are disabled.  You can choose to hide this message in the future if you don't want it bugging you.

With your startup processes properly configured, you should find a noticeable boost to the speed your computer reboots.  


This competes the third part of our series on how to speed up your computer.  Next time I'll walk you through upgrading your computer RAM.