October 3rd, 2009 | 
Author: My computer has fairly fast windows startup, around 60-70 seconds most of the time. I know that is not newsworthy but some of my friends (the ones who won’t follow my advice) tell me that their pc’s take upwards of five minutes to start. To me that seems absurd, but I know it happens more often than microsoft would like to admit. What triggers the computer to take so long starting up and what can be done to fix it? These are two great questions and the answers are actually pretty straight forward.
Firstly, what triggers the computer to boot so slow? There are numerous things that contribute to the problem. Each one of them individualy puts a small bit more overhead to the process, so fixing just one of the offenders will help a small amount and each subsequent problem addressed helps a little more. The number one cause of slow startup times are startup programs, windows prefetch, temporary files, clogged registry, hard drive fragmentation, low memory, and malware. I will talk about each of these areas in turn.
Startup programs are exactly what the name suggests, programs that are configured to fire up every time you start your computer. Many of these are not neccesary and certainly not desirable. You can find excellent free tools to find and turn off these programs very easily. A preffered tool of mine is the startup tool in CCLeaner. Google it and download, it will help.
Lack of memory is another ordinary problem. Many of the computers you purchase these days do not come pre-installed with the largest amount of memory they can handle. Do some research on your computer to find out how much you presently have installed and how much your computer can take. Then go purchase what you need to bring it up to max. This is one of the less expensive things you can do and yet it gives some of the largest performance increases.
Temporary files, this one makes me laugh because windows keeps your temporary files around forever if you dont get rid of them yourself. Those seem more like permanent files to me. A very easy fix here though is to use a tool you already downloaded, CCleaner. The default function of this tool is to move temporary files off your computer.
A clogged registry can significantly slow your computer down. The registry though is a very important piece of your operating system and changes here should be approached with extreme caution. You can buy or download free registry cleaners, but I would leave registry modifications to trained proffessionals.
Hard drive fragmentation is pretty common and is a huge contributer to long boot times. Download and install Smart Defrag. A very good free utility.
Malware, which includes all vaireties of malicious software from Spyware to Viruses and everything in between, are another significant cause of lengthy start times.
Windows prefetch is a folder that keeps files pertaining to your settings of many programs. With time these files grow to be out of date and filled with useless and erronious information. You should delete the contents of this folder if you have a slow windows startup problem. This is an easy manual process.
If you would like more information about windows startup programs feel free to visit my website about windows startup programs where you will find useful articles and links.
Article Source: What Prompts Disturbingly Slow Windows Startup
