How to Make Your PC Run Faster and Better - Speed up Startup

The default settings and configuration for your computer are not necessarily the most efficient for your particular usage. Here are some tips and tweaks to speed up your computer and improve performance.


First Do Essential Housekeeping
Before undertaking any system changes, be sure that the basic maintenance chores are done. Also be sure that you know how to get back where you started in case changes don't work out. As a reminder here are the things that need to be done regularly:

* Run up-to-date anti-virus
* Run up-to-date anti-spyware (preferably two or more)
* Empty “temp” files
* Empty Recycle Bin
* Run chkdsk and disk defragmenter
* Back up your system

Make your computer start faster
Getting the computer up and running involves several stages. There are various tweaks that can be applied for each stage to speed things up. In my own experience, only a few make much difference. Some references are given in the sidebar. The most important improvement by far comes from controlling the programs that are loaded at start up. This item will be discussed in more detail below but first here is a survey of other possibilities.

The boot process involving the BIOS
There are a variety of tweaks that are possible in this first stage but I have never found one that did more than shave a second or two here and there. Furthermore, the BIOS is terra incognita for the average PC user. There are probably more fruitful areas where time-saving measures can be looked for but those who love to tinker can get some ideas from this ExtremeTech reference.
About Bootvis.exe
This graphical Microsoft developer tool is mentioned and recommended as a way to speed up booting in countless places. I see it so often that I felt constrained to devote a separate section to it. This is what Microsoft has to say

Please note that Bootvis.exe is not a tool that will improve boot/resume performance for end users. Contrary to some published reports, Bootvis.exe cannot reduce or alter a system's boot or resume performance. The boot optimization routines invoked by Bootvis.exe are built into Windows XP. These routines run automatically at pre-determined times as part of the normal operation of the operating system.

From what I understand (I'm no expert) a brand-new setup might take a couple of days before Windows XP finishes optimizing and, if you just can't wait, Bootvis.exe might help you optimize right away . But, basically, you can forget about using this tool in spite of what everybody keeps saying. You can't even download it from Microsoft anymore although there are sites that still have it. There seem to be several versions and one or more may not work in SP2.

In any event, it seems it is possible to carry out some of the type of optimization done by this tool just by using RUNDLL32.EXE. In Start-Run. Enter the command RUNDLL32.EXE advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks