Why Does Windows Take So Long to Boot?

Most of us have had a brand new computer at one time. It’s a great feeling. You boot up windows and within 30 seconds you are surfing the net, checking your email, or playing your favorite game. 10 months down the road things aren’t so nice anymore. You power up your computer and it seems to take forever to load.
Even when you are careful about what you install it seems that each day it takes longer for it to boot. It’s not your imagination – and there are a couple of good tips to keep your boot time short and sweet.
As always – backup your system before you start any of this. If you make a mistake you might need to restore from backup
Update (09/08/2006) – There has been some controversy about the prefetch folder. I think this issue needs to be looked into. I did have a reputable source for this information: It was the “Windows XP Annoyances” book by O’Reilly. Page 210. Titled “Keeping an eye on prefetch”

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\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session 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

Check out our Windows Admin Tools

10 Steps To Cleaning and speeding up Windows

Microsoft for every generation of their OS has strived to provide a faster startup for the masses. Windows 2000 might be the exception to the rule but every other OS a faster startup has been listed as a feature. In this tutorial we will show you how to speed up your already faster startup in Windows XP.
Step 1: Clear The Start-up folder.
The startup folder is the folder that will launch any programs or shortcuts when the computer starts up. The fewer programs that you have starting up when you power on the computer the faster the computer will boot. Keep in mind that some programs need to run when windows starts up so it may be best to backup this folder before you start.
The folder can be found by going to: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\Startup, where username is your Windows logon name. You can also clear out the start-up items by going to Start > Programs > Startup, then right-clicking items you want to remove.
Step 2: Clearing out the startup in the system configuration utility
The System Configuration Utility also known as MSConfig is a helpful tool that will help you troubleshoot your Windows system. This tool lets you modify a lot of your system preferences but it also allows you to disable programs that startup in the background of Windows. Note: Be careful with this tool as you can make Windows run improperly.
How to start msconfig
Click on the Start button.
Select Run from the menu.
In the run dialog box type “msconfig”.
Click OK.
Once in the msconfig utility select the startup tab. In the startup tab you will see several programs listed with a checkbox beside it. If there is a check mark beside the application listed, the application will startup when your computer starts up. To speed up your computer you want to remove as many check marks from this box without affecting the programs that you use. Once you have removed the checkmarks you wish to remove, click on OK and restart the computer when prompted. It is recommended to uncheck a couple at a time so you will know what is causing a problem if one occurs.
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 FilesAdobeAcrobat 5.0ReaderAcroRd32.exe. The directory location should be a hint to help you know the name of the program. In this case it is Adobe Acrobat.
Step 3: Speeding up your startup by sorting your drivers.
Once upon a time Microsoft used to offer a tool called bootvis to optimize the sequence that your computers drivers load when starting Windows. Although the file is not available through Microsoft, there is a link to the program found in the tools section of this book. There has been some controversy wether the tool actually does anything. Lots of magazines and users say yes. Microsoft says no. For this one you’ll have to be the judge.
How to use bootvis:
Download and install Bootvis. Do a search in Google for bootvis.exe, you will find it. Open Bootvis. (Location may vary depending where you installed it) You need to analyze your computer by going to File and clicking on New. In the New menu select Next Boot and Drivers Trace. Next a box will come up asking how many trace repetitions are needed. Just leave it at the default and click on OK. Another box will appear, select the Reboot Now button and wait for your computer to restart. Once your computer has restarted wait for a little bit and bootvis will start automatically. Go to the Trace menu and select Optimize System.(This may take a few minutes.) Once complete, you will be prompted to restart your system one more time. This reboot should be faster than the last.
Step 4: Stop as many services as possible.
The more that is running on your computer the more your computer has to open on startup. Keeping a slimmer running computer will not only make your computer run faster but it will make Windows startup faster. Here is how it’s done:
Go to the Start menu and then select Run. Type ‘services.msc’ in the Run Dialog Box and click on OK. In the services window double click on the service you wish to disable. In the properties box for the selected service choose disabled in the Startup Type dropdown box. Click on OK.
Its best to restart your computer after disabling a couple of services at a time so if something undesired happens to your computer you know what disabled service needs to be re-enabled.
Step 5: Remove unwanted fonts to increase boot speed
Windows checks and loads fonts during the startup process, therefore having a large amount of font files can cause performance to drag during startup. The simple solution for this (if you do not expect to use the certain fonts) is to move the unnecessary fonts to a new directory elsewhere on the hard disk, preserving them in case they are needed, but preventing them from loading upon startup.
This is how you do it:
In your C drive create a folder called Fonts Backup. You can do this by going to the C drive through My Computer. Go to the File menu and go to New. In the new menu select Folder. A new folder will pop-up and allow you to name it.
Once the folder is created go into it and leave it open. Go to the Start menu and select Run. In the Run command type Fonts. The Fonts folder will load and display the Font files. All you have to do is drag and drop the fonts you think you wont need to the Font Backup folder. Be sure to move the .bold and the.bold.italic files that correspond with the font you want to move.
Step 6: Disable auto detection for empty IDE slots
For a faster boot up is to disable the auto detection that Windows XP uses to determine if there are IDE devices present in any of the IDE slots on the motherboard. More specifically, disable this feature on any empty slots to prevent the operating system wasting time and resources checking them.
This is how you disable IDE Detection:
Right-click on My Computer and Select Properties. In the properties click on the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button. In the Device Manager expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Double-click on one of the Secondary IDE Channels and click on the Advanced Settings tab. In the dropdown box beside Device Type select None and click on OK. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to all of the Secondary IDE channels under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.
Step 7: Reduce wait time after XP boots
A common problem when Windows XP boots is you will see the desktop and all of your icons but nothing responds when you click on it. During this time Windows application and networking processes are loading in the background. To reduce this wait time you need to cut down the amount of processes loading. The best way to do this is through Windows networking. Most computers do not share files or printers to other users on a network yet Windows turns File and Printer sharing on by default. Warning: If you are sharing any files or printers this step is not for you.
Here is how you disable file and print sharing.
Go to the Start menu and select Run. In the Run command enter control netconnections. In your Network Connections right-click on a Local area connection and select properties. In the properties remove the checkmark beside File and print sharing. Click OK
Repeat steps 3 through 5 if you have more than one network connection.
Step 8: Disable parts of the Group Policy Manager. (XP Pro only)
This will dramatically speed up the login process – If you don’t need to utilize Group Policies on the local machine, you can disable parts of it.
Go to Start and select Run. Type in gpedit.msc and click on OK. Right click on the Local Computer Policy entry and select Properties from the menu that appears. Add checkmarks to the two options within the Disable section. Close out. Reboot.
Step 9: Enable boot defrag.
A great new feature in Microsoft Windows XP is the ability to do a boot Defragment. This places all boot files next to each other on the disk to allow for faster booting. By default this option is enabled but on some builds it is not so below is how to turn it on.(Y is good)
Go to Start then Run. Enter regedit and click on OK Click on the + sign beside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE then software then Microsoft then dfrg then bootoptimizefunction Select Enable from the list on the right. Right on it and select Modify. Change the value to Y to enable and N to disable. Reboot your computer
Step 10: Delete the prefetch files from time to time.
The prefetch files are the files that make Windows XP load applications load faster. Deleting the files will speedup your boot time. The trade-off is that Windows will take longer to load applications. The time difference for loading applications may not be that affected. Its best to experiment with this one.
How to enable the deletion of prefetch files.
Go into My Computer and go into your hard drive. Right-click anywhere that a file is not and select the ‘New’ submenu and click ‘Text Document’ Name it “deleteprefetch” Double-click on the text file you just created. Type “del C:WindowsPrefetch*.* /Q” (without the quotes). Go to the File menu and click on Save As… and choose “All Files” from the “Save as Type” box and save it as “deleteprefetch.bat”
You just created a batch file that will automatically delete all the files in your Prefetch folder. Just double-click on the file to make it run. I do this once a month to clean up the files
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How to install Truecrypt and use Dropbox?

Beginner's Tutorial

How to Create and Use a TrueCrypt Container

This chapter contains step-by-step instructions on how to create, mount, and use a TrueCrypt volume. We strongly recommend that you also read the other sections of this manual, as they contain important information.

Step 1:
If you have not done so, download and install TrueCrypt. Then launch TrueCrypt by double-clicking the file TrueCrypt.exe or by clicking the TrueCrypt shortcut in your Windows Start menu.


Step 2:

The main TrueCrypt window should appear. Click Create Volume (marked with a red rectangle for clarity).


Step 3:

The TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard window should appear.
In this step you need to choose where you wish the TrueCrypt volume to be created. A TrueCrypt volume can reside in a file, which is also called container, in a partition or drive. In this tutorial, we will choose the first option and create a TrueCrypt volume within a file.
As the option is selected by default, you can just click Next.

Note: In the following steps, the screenshots will show only the right-hand part of the Wizard window.

Step 4:

In this step you need to choose whether to create a standard or hidden TrueCrypt volume. In this tutorial, we will choose the former option and create a standard TrueCrypt volume.
As the option is selected by default, you can just click Next.


Step 5:

In this step you have to specify where you wish the TrueCrypt volume (file container) to be created. Note that a TrueCrypt container is just like any normal file. It can be, for example, moved or deleted as any normal file. It also needs a filename, which you will choose in the next step.
Click Select File.
The standard Windows file selector should appear (while the window of the TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard remains open in the background).


Step 6:

In this tutorial, we will create our TrueCrypt volume in the folder D:\My Documents\ and the filename of the volume (container) will be My Volume (as can be seen in the screenshot above). You may, of course, choose any other filename and location you like (for example, on a USB memory stick). Note that the file My Volume does not exist yet – TrueCrypt will create it.
IMPORTANT: Note that TrueCrypt will not encrypt any existing files (when creating a TrueCrypt file container). If you select an existing file in this step, it will be overwritten and replaced by the newly created volume (so the overwritten file will be lost, not encrypted). You will be able to encrypt existing files (later on) by moving them to the TrueCrypt volume that we are creating now.*


Select the desired path (where you wish the container to be created) in the file selector.
Type the desired container filename in the File name box.
Click Save.
The file selector window should disappear.

In the following steps, we will return to the TrueCrypt Volume Creation Wizard.

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* Note that after you copy existing unencrypted files to a TrueCrypt volume, you should securely erase (wipe) the original unencrypted files. There are software tools that can be used for the purpose of secure erasure (many of them are free).





  Next Part >>     Part 2  •  Part 3  •  Part 4  •  Part 5

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www.truecrypt.org

10 MOST COMMON WINDOWS 7 FIXES

Despite the fact that Windows 7 would improve all of the bugs that Windows Vista presented there still are some bugs and of course a couple of packs to fix them. Windows 7 is a more stable Microsoft Windows Operating System. Probably not as much as Windows XP but defenitely better than Windows Vista. So let's review some of the most common Windows 7 bugs that we can find at first sight. They have to do with speed mostly.

 

• Security System
• Anti virus software
• Internet Marketing
• Microsoft

I've been working a lot these days with my brand new computer which has the Windows 7 OS installed. It looks almost the same as Windows Vista with the difference that many of the bugs on this last version have been solved, or at least that's what Microsoft guys say. But, there are still problems around. I mean, last night, I was in the middle of writing something when some Error message pop up. I was surprised about it and I began to search what the most common Windows 7 bugs and fixes were.

One thing that called my attention is that some say that Windows 7 is based on Windows XP as it was the last estable version of Microsoft Windows OS and with just the visual environment of Windows Vista. I'm not pretty sure if that's true but it make sort of sense. I mean, we all love Windows XP, you can install anything you want. In fact, I keep Windows XP in most of my computers. But it's also true that it's been 10 years since Microsoft launched Windows XP and computers these days are way more powerful and so we need better operating systems.

Windows 7 had thousand of beta testers that were familiarized with Windows Vista. Thanks to that Microsoft was able to solve thousands of bugs and made the launchment of Windows 7 a reality.

Most Common Windows 7 Bugs and Fixes

However, we still can find some bugs when working with Windows 7.

At fist sight, the most common bugs of Windows 7 have to do with speed. We can experience slow thumbnail loading time, slow right click menu and slow shutdown.

Lucky for us, there is a nice and cool solution for fixing the 21 most common bugs we find in Windows 7.

Some of these fixes are:

1. Enable Task Manager


2. Enable Command Prompt


3. Enable Registry Editor


4. Enable Folder Options


5. Reboot After Update


6. Update Shut Down


7. Slow Shutdown


8. Slow Thumbnail


9. Restore Aero Function


10. Disable IPv6


11. Enable IPv6


12. No DVD Drive


13. Installer Crash


14. Slow Menu


15. Themes Changes


16. System Try


17. Taskbar Properties


18. Taskbar Context


19. Win-X Shortcuts


20. Display Properties


21. Control Panel

The application's name is 7 Quick Fix 1.0 and you can review it and download it here. The good thing about this application is that you select and unselect the fixes that you want to take effect when you are updating Windows 7.

Microsoft give us the popular Service Pack 1 and 2 after some semesters after the launchment of a new Operating System. However, there are some good fix packs on the Internet.

We also can experience some problems when installing some softwares or games that were built thinking about Windows XP and probably are not compatible with Windows 7. We can find fixes for these things too.

How to use system restore in windows

The System Restore tool in Windows 7 is a very valuable utility when you're trying to solve a major problem.
Most serious issues in Windows 7 are caused by problems with the Windows Registry, device drivers, or DLL files. When a restore point is created, a current copy of these and other important files in Windows 7 are saved and can be restored using System Restore.
Considering the scope of protection that System Restore provides, using the tool early in your troubleshooting could save a lot of time.
Follow these steps for reverting important Windows 7 system files back to a previous state using System Restore:

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: Using System Restore to reverse system changes in Windows 7 usually takes several minutes

Here's How:

1. Navigate to the Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools program group.
   
2. Click on the System Restore program icon.
   
3. Click Next > on the Restore system files and settings window.
   
4. Choose the restore point that you want to use.
   Note: Check the Show more restore points checkbox to see more than the most recent restore points.
   Note: Any restore points that you created, scheduled restore points that Windows 7 created, and those created automatically during the installation of certain programs will be listed here. You can not use System Restore to undo Windows 7 changes to a date that a restore point does not exist.
   
5. Click Next >.
   
6. Click Finish on the Confirm your restore point window to begin the System Restore.
   Note: Windows 7 will shut down to complete the System Restore so be sure to save any work you might have open in other programs before continuing.
   Important: System Restore will not revert any of your non-system files like documents, email, music, etc. to a previous state. These types files are completely unaffected by System Restore. If your intention with this tool was to recover a deleted non-system file, try using a file recovery program instead of System Restore.
   
7. Click Yes to the Once started, System Restore cannot be interrupted. Do you want to continue? dialog box.
8. System Restore will now restore Windows 7 to the state that was recorded in the restore point you chose in Step 4.
   Note: The System Restore process could take several minutes as you see the "Please wait while your Windows files and settings are being restored" message. Your computer will then reboot as normal when complete.
   
9. Immediately after logging in to Windows 7 after the reboot, you should see a message that System Restore completed successfully.
10. Click Close.
11. Check to see if whatever Windows 7 problem you were troubleshooting has been corrected by this System Restore.
    If the problem still persists, you can repeat the steps above and choose another restore point if one is available.
    If this restoration caused a problem, you can always undo this particular System Restore.