Speed up windows start up

[enguy]

hi all,
this is an informal attempt towards guiding you to enhance your booting in windows using the MSCONFIG utility.it is straight to the point on usage and doesnt tell u any internal concepts to make u bored.
Not many of us knows its importance and the way it can be used to tweak up your system start up.
"Windows 2000" doesnt have msconfig utility and you can download it from here :
http://www.svrops.com/svrops/downloa...s/msconfig.zip
extract to get the executable and paste it in your windows directory usually c:\windows\ or c:\winnt\
Anyways Windows XP comes with msconfig utility.
Now to use it press windows key + R or go to RUN in the startup menu and then type "msconfig" (without the quotes).you ll get a new application window.....
Its a system configuration utility and has got all the relevant information.There are 6 tabs (General,System.ini,Win.ini,Boot.ini,Services,Star tup)
I feel the first four arent needed in this context.Just click on the Services tab.
In the services tab you get a list of servies that would be running at the start up.You can uncheck a service to disable it from running at the start up but "*BE CAREFUL*" and dont just uncheck whatever u feel like.
Down below the tab page u have a "Hide all Microsoft services" check that and you ll get only non windows services.Now you can just deselect these all services to prevent from running at start up,but some of the might effect the corresponding applications from running.for example,Anti virus tools usually leave a service in this list.unchecking it would prevent the anti virus software from loading at start up.So just be careful to uncheck....
now lets go to the Startup tab and i can defintely say that you can uncheck all the items in the page without any fear..most of the virus we get in our system would have entry in this list so just uncheck all and dont worry...your system would be safe and would start up 10 times more fast than usual.Thats all for MSCONFIG.explore it out its a great tool.
Just a small note....u can disable services with more confidence using the Services Manager.go to Control Panel->Administrative tools->Services.U can see description of every service and if u find some service not useful and still running just disable it via the properties menu.
explore it out...

Enguy

[Rob]

I like using msconfig to disable some programs on startup.
As many programs default to auto startup, if you disable some, the computer will boot ALOT faster and you have less running in the background too

[kareja]

Thanks for the article.

It helped me in improving the start up of my system, but I was not able to make out which services should be disabled.

[Rob]

kareja here is a great guide in helping you tell which services to disable
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm

[imported_Steve]

Thanks Rob!

That whole site seems to be a wealth of information.

I've disabled some start up services and I really can notice a difference in boot speed and general computer speed.

[ibnuasad]

Wow...this article is nice...good job..

Congrats..

I hope there will be more articles on this kind of things. Keep it coming..i will also make an article soon enough :lol:

[cmpolis]

Go into MSCONFIG and get rid of all the useless programs that start up and change startup order.

-C

[deuce]

I hate that you can't stop MS Messenger from starting automatically, so I removed that it, b/c if you don't use it then it's a waste of RAM.

[imported_Steve]

You certainly can stop MSN from starting automatically.
You can either do that in the MSN options or in MSCONFIG.

[cmpolis]

Most programs dont need to be shut down in MSConfig, just go into the program options. Also, check your startup folder to turn of stuff. Having programs run on startup will really slow down your PC.

-C

[imported_Steve]

The only program I could never stop from starting up was Windows Messenger (Not MSN).
I ended up removing it altogether as there was just no way to stop it starting up.

[compnut]

You can also disable some services within XP to speed up your bootup and allow for better performance. To disable a service that you don't need, just go to control panel, then "Administrative Tools," then click on "Services," and below is a short list of some services that should disable there. Hope this helps!

ClipBook: This service lets information in a clipboard to be shared across networked computers. Chances are slim you'll ever need it.

• Error Reporting Service: When a program crashes, Windows will use this service to send an error report to Microsoft (which, according to Microsoft, doesn't contain any identifying information). I don't like my computer sending anybody anything about it, so I disable this service.

• Fast User Switching: Much ballyhooed by Microsoft when XP launched, this service allows you to navigate from one account on the computer to another one without closing the first one. It's handy if you have a houseful of users with their own accounts, but if there's only one account on your PC you don't need this service running.

• IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service: This service is only necessary if your computer is equipped with a CD-ROM burner. If not, you can safely disable it.

• Indexing Service: Disable this system hog. It keeps a record of data about files and their contents in an index, which it uses to speed up the Windows search function. It uses lots of memory and unless you search your PC frequently you won't miss it a bit.

• Messenger: This service is necessary in order to send message between client and server PCs. It's all but useless on single PCs and even peer-to-peer home networks.

• Print Spooler: Another memory hog, this service is nevertheless necessary--if you want to print with your computer. Since I never print with my gaming rig, I've disabled this service. If you find yourself in a similar situation, do the same.