Slow Boot Up in XP

[Rhett]

Hi all
I have XP installed on my PC . Now a days Its boots up really slow. It takes far more time than normal. I haven't installed any heavy application. Please suggest some good solution because I don't want to format my PC. thanks for any advice.

[Hasib]

The more USB devices installed the slower the boot up. Windows XP slow boot up issues have been experienced here in our lab and reported by our readers. Although, all systems are susceptible, VIA based motherboards appear to be more vulnerable.

Installing Windows XP to a drive that is formatted FAT 32 has proven to be the best way to reduce boot up time.

The following information from Microsoft describes issues and solutions for achieving fast system start up and a tool to trace your boot up process.

The design goals for Windows XP on a typical consumer PC are:

• Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds
  
  
• Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds
  
  
• Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds

Fast System Startup for PCs Running Windows XP
Describes issues and solutions for achieving fast system start up on PC systems running Windows XP.

BootVis.exe Tool Microsoft performance trace visualization tool for use with Windows XP systems.
Note: This version of BootVis.exe is compatible with the final release of Windows XP (build 2600) and resolves a compatibility issue when using third-party IDE drivers.

[Rameez.J]

This guide will show you how to decrease the boot time of Windows to 10seconds. Let's start with the basics first.

1.Go to fonts folder. To open fonts folder, just type "fonts" in the Vista Start Menu or in Run dialog box.

2.Delete useless fonts that you won't use. For those who don't know, Windows takes enough amount of time to load all fonts during the boot process. Installing more than 100 fonts will significantly reduce your system boot speed.

3.Next major time killers are startup programs.These startup programs not only increases the boot time but also frustrates with pop ups in your system tray. Open "System Configuration" by typing "msconfig"(without quotes) in the Vista Start Menu Search box or in the Run dialog box. Under the "Startup" tab remove the programs which are not necessary at startups(Ex: Pc Suite, Pc Sync, Realtek voice manager). However, I prefer no programs at startup.

4.Next switch to "Boot" tab and select "No GUI boot" and click "Apply" to save the changs. If Windows prompts for restart, select 'Exit without restart' option.

5.This tweak is only for Vista with multicore processors (Dual, quad and octa core processors). Under the "Boot" tab of "System Configuration", open the option named "Advanced options", check the box named "Number of processors" and select the number of processors you have.Click "Apply".

6.Navigate to "services" tab, remove unnecessary services (only if you are not using) like Parental Controls, Telephony, Remote registry, Fax, Ready boost to increase the boot speed.Remove unnecessary services only.

7.Download a free utility called "Bootvis" from here(works only for XP). Extract and unzip the file to Desktop and run the Bootvis.Go to Trace > Boottime+driver delays and reboot the system. Wait for a while to get further message and instruction from bootvis to proceed.Worst part is it doesn't work with Vista.

8.Use the boot defragmentation feature in Winows. To enable go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Microsoft\Dfrg\BootOptimizeFunction In the right side pane, right click on the option "Enable" and select "Modify". Type in "Y' to enable boot defrgmentation.

9.Defrag your C drive using Vista's in-built tool. If you think the Vista's in-built defragger is slow, you can use the free Defraggler software from here.

10.Fix all your registry errors with a freeware tool called CCleaner. Keeping the registry clean will boost your system performance dramatically.

11.If you dual boot, select the default operating system to boot and also, lower the amount of time to wait for you make a selection.

12.If you are not using Floppy drive, disable it in the BIOS. If your BIOS supports Quick Post and Disabling Boot Delay, just enable those features.

13.One more boot time killer is Startup sound. You can disable this as follows:type "mmsys.cpl" in the run dialog box and hit enter. Navigate to "Sounds" tab and disable the option called "Play Windows Startup Sound"(only in Vista). In Xp, use the option named "No Sounds" from the drop down menu in the "Sounds" tab.

14.Never use third-party boot and logon screens as they slow down your boot process significantly.

15.Install latest updates for your operating systems from Microsoft website.
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