Bootup time

I posted a while back that my computer was taking a long time from boot up to being able to connect to the web. I went through the Malware cleaning process and TimW found no problem with my logs. I've since took the advice of one of the more knowledgeable members (plodr) and used the Viper selective started program. My boot up time has been reduced but still takes over 2 1/2 minutes from hitting the power button, allowing anti virus programs etc to load (Avast, Online Armor and Spyshelter), clicking on my browser icon and seeing the page fully loaded. I have windows XP Home, 1G ram, 2200 Sempron, no router and high speed internet access with 18 mbps . Am I asking too much for a shorter time to do this or do I need to change some of the programs listed?

 

It does seem about 1 - 1:30 too long to me.

How does it feel once it's loaded?

How much free hard drive space %? Has it been defragged recently? What make/model is the drive (details should be in Device Manager)?

Try a defrag c: /B from the run box; it'll start a Command box and close on it's own after a short time. Then reboot to see if it's any quicker loading.

 

65% free space, defragged about a month ago, ACPI uniprocessor, AMD Sempron 2200.

 

How many programs are on the start-up list?

 

Which make/model is the hard drive? Did you do the boot time defrag yet?

A Sempron is never going to be fast booting but I'd expect sub- 1:30.

Try turning off the rootkit scan at bootup in Avast! (run it once a week at a manual reboot though). If that makes no difference, reset it and set Avast! services to load only after the system services. Both those are under Settings, top right of the main Avast! screen.

 

10 but I disabled 2 of them earlier, Funny thing is, I disabled one of them through the Services.msc prompt and it still ran on startup until I disabled it in msconfig.

 

The hard drive is an WDC WD1 200JB-OOGVAO or at least it's one of the 3 listed. The other 2 are usb's. I'll try the settings change in Avast, I suspected it was a problem before posting here.

 

I already had the boot time scan disabled if that's what you're calling rootkit, if not, I can't find it. I'm also having difficulty finding the setting that loads Avast after system services.

 

PageDefrag might be useful, it defrags the files (many of which are read/written at boot) that can't be defragged inside Windows. Run it and note down and let us know how many are in more than 1 fragment then set it to run at next boot, you won't see any difference until the subsequent boot.

The load after system services should be on the same tab as the rootkit scan, under Settings > Troubleshooting, it is on my Avast!.

 

I found the rootkit and loading settings, thanks. I tried to download the pagedefrag program but got an error message saying:

<Error><Code>OutOfRangeInput</Code><Message>One of the request inputs is out of range.
RequestId:0f688818-6a80-47f7-ac8c-e15ec0b1db32
Time:2012-04-11T17:42:48.9539669Z</Message></Error>

 

I'm down to 2:15 from boot up to loading a web page. I can't see changing the Avast loading sequence since it still has to load before I can call a web page up. Wouldn't you agree?

 

Sorry, I hadn't realised you wanted boot + home page in your browser to be open in sub- 2-2:30. Are you also including BIOS time - from pressing the ON button? If so, 2:00 would be great, there's way too many variables - some PC's won't go through the BIOS in 2:00! You might consider using Sleep or Hibernate - but they can be more trouble than the time they save with older hardware.

Try grabbing Contig directly.

There's a lot that goes on in the background for several minutes post-boot. Get lucky with your click-timing and it may load a browser faster. You could try dropping a shortcut to your home page into the Startup folder and see how that does.

Which browser do you use?

 

I'm down to 2:15 from boot up to loading a web page. I can't see changing the Avast loading sequence since it still has to load before I can call a web page up. Wouldn't you agree? BTW, I got the pagedefrag download from it's founders page and opened it. It shows 13 items to be defragged with two showing a 2 beside them. The other 11 showed a 1. I'll report back after running it.

 

I use firefox. I ran across an article that lets you go in and change some bios settings that's supposed to make your computer faster. Here is the address, let me know what you think. In the mean time, I'll run the pagedefrag.

http://www.pchell.com/support/how_to_speed_up_windows_boot_time.shtml

BTW,I JUST ran the pagedefrag and am down to 2:10.

 

Which 2 files were in 2 parts?

If you're going to a live webpage directly on boot, you really do need your AV running, and preferably updated first, if you leave it off for a day or two sometimes.

That page is pretty good.

Once you've run pagedefrag and tweaked Firefox, I reckon you'd need to throw $$ - $$$ on new hardware to hit a web page significantly faster.

 

The columns that had a 2 beside them were system32 security and default. As far as $ go, there will be nothing spent on new hardware unless it's more ram or a new computer with a more powerful processor:-D. BTW, I have the AV set to tell me when it needs to update and never leave it off. I try to surf wisely but there are still some chuckholes in the road every now and that you have to protect against. Thanks for your help if I hadn't said so already..

 

Now disable the JAVA and Adobe Reader plugins in FX, I guess you need to use Flash regularly. <--- not for speed, for security!

So it was the Registry hives that were fragmented, ok, might have helped by a few seconds, they have to be loaded during boot - and the defrag c: /b - done yet?

 

Yep, the dfrag is done, it was in the 2:10 boot up/connect time post. I'll take a look at those settings in FF. Gotta go to town for a while with the wife, will report back later.

 

Take your time, don't rush

 

A few things I suggest:

Check startup items for any speed launchers, such as Adobe Reader Speed Launcher, and disable or Delete them form the startup list.

You can use Startup Control Panel Standalone Version 2.8
This version does not require installation.
Very easy to use.

With CCleaner, which you probably already have, on the Windows tab under System, check:

• Empty recycle bin
• Temporary files
• Chkdsk file fragments

On the Applications tab for Firefox, check Internet Cache and Compact Databases.

Also, take a look at Major Attitudes new article How to speed up your Firefox, Chrome or Safari browser
which has a link to the MG download page for SpeedyFox.
SpeedyFox Home page

Schedule a Chkdsk run at next bootup:
Windows Explorer > C: drive > Properties > Tools tab > Error Checking > Check now
check the box for Automatically fix file system errors

Some optimizing can be done by running the following from the RUN dialog box:
RUNDLL32.EXE advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

I have done this before and sometimes it helps a little.

 

Thanks plodr, I've checked some of them already but will look again.