Windows 7 Boot time, unneeded services, and speeding up W7

dkperez

New Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2009
I"ve read several of the entries here about getting rid of unnecessary services and speeding up boot time...... I've gotten rid of some of the services.......

Is there any way to have Windows 7 provide a timing of what it's starting up for every program, service, and/or whatever? I'm talking the actual W7 boot, not some partial or safe mode, or whatever.

I've been using W7, 64-bit since it became available. On an i7-920 with 12GB of 1600MHz memory and SATA II drives. It works OK, but it's no great shakes in performance and it takes a lot longer to boot than the same system did with XP. I also have a laptop running W7, 64-bit, and it boots A LOT faster.....

So, is there something that can give me a file/report showing where all the time is going during boot? Amount of time for each component to start? 'Cause SOMETHING's gotta be spending a whole lot of time in there...

And, is there a RECENT list of services that can be dumped? I looked in the entries from last year, but I'd like to find something more comprehensive that would tell me what each service does and the ramifications of stopping it... Anything?
 
Obviously with that rig it should be fast.

First go to blackviper.com for services that can be turned off. Unfortuneately it is a lot more complicated than just reading off that process XXXXX used 51 secs in booting.

DO you have antivirus on and working ? what product are you using?

Are you using the windows firewall or another?

What is the network setup like?

Much more work ahead


Ken J
 
I've been to blackviper.com and turned off the services as described there that I was sure wouldn't cause a problem...

Antivirus is the MS Security Essentials, and the firewall is the regular W7 firewall.......

Network is this box on a wired connection to the DSL access point. Other systems are wireless into the access point. Each box is
separate and independent, so there's nothing interesting or bizarre going on for the network. No network drives, no USB drives, no
strangeness.

I understand there may be more need than just that "service xxxx is taking 51 seconds during boot", but if 90 of them start in .1 seconds,
and 1 takes 50 seconds, that'd be a good place to start looking....
 
I've been to blackviper.com and turned off the services as described there that I was sure wouldn't cause a problem...

Antivirus is the MS Security Essentials, and the firewall is the regular W7 firewall.......

Network is this box on a wired connection to the DSL access point. Other systems are wireless into the access point. Each box is
separate and independent, so there's nothing interesting or bizarre going on for the network. No network drives, no USB drives, no
strangeness.

I understand there may be more need than just that "service xxxx is taking 51 seconds during boot", but if 90 of them start in .1 seconds,
and 1 takes 50 seconds, that'd be a good place to start looking....



Absolutely. There is a guy at microsoft named mark russinovich who develops great software tool for windows troubleshooting. He has several tools like performance monitor to really specifically pick up on the odd thing happening.

Google him at MS (btw I know him) pick the app you like best


As an aside, you might want to boot w/o networking. It might be something to do with DSL

Ken J
 
WOW! Have you read that web page?
I thought the list of services for XP was long, but the list for Windows 7 is absolutely Humongous!

In the past when I've written a batch file to disable services (windows XP) I've always used the options in the "SAFE" column. In XP I'm only shutting down 24 services, but it looks like I'll be shutting down a whole lot more in Win-7. Doing the job with a batch file makes a lot of sense when you're tweaking more than one PC.
And, it's mandatory when you're a service tech or IT man and you may be doing hundreds of PC's.

I'm glad to see that Black Viper is finally on board with Windows 7.

Thanks for that link!

Old Timer :)
 
I just tried Soluto and it did make a difference in my boot up time. I was able to cut 28 seconds off. Soluto is well worth trying. My boot time was not that bad. It took 1 minute and 48 seconds before using Soluto and now is 1 minute and 20 seconds. Probably could cut more off but am sastified with what it is now.
 
Yeah, it was pretty amazing the sheer volume of services that get started....... AND,
the interaction between them makes it important to be really careful about what gets turned off...

As far as boot time, I'm now thinking I should just quiet down and slink away... I thought my desktop was really slow since boot time is (give or take a couple seconds) right around 47 seconds..... Now that I see others are in the 80+ range, mayhap I'm not as slow as I thought......

ALTHOUGH, the W7 laptop, with a slower processor, STILL boots a LOT faster than the desktop...
 
Some time back, there was a little script making the rounds of the forums and chats.
Once run, it would reboot the computer and measure the time it took to do a full reboot.
Would anyone like to see that here?

I don't dwell on the boot time too much, because I do several things during boot up that the average person won't do. I call it my FREE Maid Service.
First, I force a new restore point to be made, by a script in my Startup folder. Then I run a batch file to clean out about twenty folders in the HD where windows and my AV program store temporary files, log files, etc. Then I run my eMail program to go get my eMail.(as soon as my PC goes ON-Line.)
So rather than turn on my PC and then sit there and wait for it to finish booting up, I turn on my PC and go into the kitchen to get my first cup of coffee of the day. When the PC is done booting and getting mail, it alerts me with a verbal message. Then I can go back to the PC, sit down and begin reading my morning email.

Some computers will boot faster than others, just because they are more efficient.
A clue to what's loading down your PC, can be found in your 'System Tray'....that little box in the lower right hand corner of your screen, by the clock.
I've seen a dozen or more icons in the system tray of customer's PC's, indicating running programs. I go to MSCONFIG/Startup and try to shut off everything that's not absolutely necessary to the running of the PC. Many programs like Adobe Reader like to get an update checker in that folder. Shut it OFF!
I have only three program icons in my own system tray, and that's plenty.

So, in conclusion, getting your PC to run more efficiently is a lot more detailed than just shutting down unneeded Services.

Good Luck,
Old Timer :-h

PS: I just ran the "Reboot Timer" vbs script on my XP-Pro and it took exactly 60 seconds to do a full REBOOT.
 
I played around with it today and got mine down to 53 sec. I like being able to delay start ups there too. I didn't have as much luck on XP when I tried it a while ago. I just finished on my sister's Dell laptop Windows 7 and got it down to 1:15.
Joe
 
A great tool for measuring boot times is BootRacer.
It measures both the time to login and the time to a fully functional desktop.


BootRacer - Test your Windows boot speed

I get around 32 to 37 second boot times as measured by boot racer.
This to full desktop with auto login.
I allow the windows volume control, internet indicator, power indicator and Avast! A\V to boot first and this is when I get the above times.
My desktop at that time is fully booted up.

I run a delay program at the boot that waits about 35 seconds before starting several more notification area items.

These are a birthday reminder app, Process explorer, NoteBook Hardware control app that provides a realtime indicator, in system tray, of my HDD temperature and my current CPU speed in GHz, an app called CPU Temp that provides realtime CPU temps, again in my system tray, an app that provides a tray item that shows internet activity like the system tray app in XP.

All these delayed apps start without affecting my ability to use my desktop.

I've turned off many of the un needed services as per Blackviper.

As pointed out earlier Mark Russinovich has a slew of apps available for free from MS technet.

Sysinternals Suite

Some really important apps that everyone should have are Process Explorer a sort of Task Manager on steroids and Autoruns an app to help manage startup items.
Autoruns shows literally everything that starts with Windows and lets you unselect them.

All of Mark's apps are standalone, no installing in the traditional manner.

Simply un zip to any location on your HDD and create a shortcut to the .exe.

The tool I use to delay start of the app mentioned above is Startup Delayer.

Speed up your Windows boot with Startup Delayer

http://www.r2.com.au/index.php?page=1
 
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