re: Question about 'Things that slow down system bootup'
Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 5:37 am
Windows XP Annoyances Discussion Forum
Posted by DocCrain
(786 messages posted)
Unfortunately, Bald Eagle is right on. I had a system with specs similar to yours,
and it was slow. But. Not quite as you have described.
With your RAM limitations, it is very important that you allow Windows to manage
the page file (Virtual Memory.) To do this, follow this path:
Control Panel>System>Advanced>PerformanceSettings>Advanced. At the bottom you will
find a "Change" button. After you push that, in the next box click the "radio button"
for " System Managed size," and then press "SET." After next boot the change will
take effect.
Get free WinPatrol:
http://www.winpatrol.com/
Use it to disable everthing that wants to autostart except firewall and Anti-virus/anti-spyware.
If you are using Norton or McAfee, dump it. Takes too many resources for your machine.
I suggest AVG free behind the Comodo free firewall.
Trim down your "Services" as much as possible. Use these 2 sites to compare and
contrast. Set them to your own needs.
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
When in doubt, use a "Manual" setting. Make changes to "Services" one at a time
so it's easy to know "What broke it?"
Turn off Windows "Automatic Updates" and begin doing it manually. Just go to Windows
Updates once a month, and dedicate some time to geeting the patches.
Turn off Hibernation.
Get in the habit of running one application at a time. Close it down before opening
a new one. With your limitations, having several programs open may result in freezes.
Set the size of the Recycle bin and System Restore to as low as you can get away
with. You need the space. I might even turn off System Restore, and just rely on
ERUNT:
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/
ERUNT tutorial (simple):
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/erunt.txt
Keep your junk files cleaned up. I like ATF Cleaner:
http://www.atribune.org/content/view/19/2/
I suggest that you not clean prefetch. That speeds up opening applications.
Make a new shortcut and paste the following into the box of the New Shortcut Wizare
that says "Type the location..."
%windir%\system32\Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks
Name it Idle Tasks (or whatever you like) and run it every couple of days. Let
it run with nothing else going on--at system idle. It will take about 15 min. I
often do it when I'm preparing for bed. This will defrag and optimize the boot files.
Even so, expect your system to take 4-5 mins at best to fully boot. If you do
not immediately go on-line after boot, you may wish to physically unplug your internet
cable and disable your security programs from auto-start as well. Then when it's
time to connect, start your security manually.
For much of what I have learned, see my Vox:
http://doc1101.vox.com/
The "links" are not live. Copy and paste the URLs to your browser address bar to
view the referenced web pages.
You are likely stuck with your processor. To find out how much RAM your board will
support use the free tool here:
http://www.crucial.com/
Get as much more as you can. It helps alot!
Neurons that fire together, wire together.
(Posted with Opera)
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