Today's weekly column for the WindowsSecrets e-newsletter starts this way:
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A step-by-step guide for improving boot times
By Fred Langa Even powerful, capable hardware can sometimes get bogged down, and few things are more irritating than a needlessly long boot,
Horrible four-minute boot resists easy fixes Yvon Dubois' PC has plenty of horsepower, but it's taking forever to boot. Yvon's tried all the normal speed-up steps, but none worked. (The PC is running XP, but the answer applies to all versions of Windows.)
- "My Dell Inspiron, with 2.7GHz Quadcore CPU, 3GB RAM, and XP Pro, takes over four minutes to boot. "I reduced the number of icons on the desktop, reduced to a minimum the start-up programs, and ran some commercial tune-up tools, all to no avail. "I have Trend Micro AV and TurtleBeach audio running at start-up, and that's about it. During all that time, the hard drive is continuously running. "Any suggestions?"
Sure, Yvon! You've already done the most important first step — reducing the amount of software trying to run at start-up. But you can do more...======================== And then the first item in the column goes on to discuss half a dozen extra steps you can take to make your PC start up noticeably faster. Other topics in my column this week:
- Remove Flash's hidden pieces before a complete re-install
- How to delete a folder containing "illegal" filenames
- Hardware error masquerades as software trouble
| TOP STORY By Woody Leonhard Windows Live shares your Messenger contacts Big problems with third-party tattling My idea of what's "private" vs. Microsoft's Dig deep for Live's detailed privacy controls Why has Microsoft put privacy in jeopardy? LOUNGE LIFE By Tracey Capen Audio conversion project stopped by Win7 upgrade WACKY WEB WEEK By Stephanie Small The world's most-effective fly swatter |
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