Windows 7 Win 7 64bit, Is 2 minutes long for boot to desktop??

[gmbun]

A couple of days ago it occurred to me that my recently built computer was taking longer to boot and reach the desktop than it did a couple of months ago. I have continuously been adding software as I need it but don't think I have that much added out of the ordinary. The bigger programs are Adobe PS CS4, MS Home & Student 2010, Acdsee Pro 5, Firefox, and so on.
My question is this, does 114 seconds sound like a long time to boot to the desktop or does this sound about normal for an HDD system? Should I be looking to fix something or are others experiencing this amount of boot time? This 114 second figure is from the event viewer 'BootTime', it actually takes it longer than that if you count the time it takes to load the gadgets, but I won't hold that against it. If interested my system is listed in my signature. Thanks to anyone responding.

 

[whs]

Since you have no SSD,you will have trouble to get a really short boot time. But 114 seconds is slow - even with a spinner.

As first measure I would disable all startups except for the AV program and the sidebar (gadgets). That should cut it down.

Some gadgets need quite some time to load - especially from a spinner. If you want your system to fly and enjoy 12 to 15 second boot times, add a $100 60GB SSD for the OS - e.g. a Crucial M4 or OCZ Vertex3 (looks like you have Sata3 ports on the mobo).

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

If you use CCleaner there is a really good utility for managing start-up items in the tools tab.
Of the 38 items that would start a boot I have only 15 turned on.

My computer has over 100 apps installed of one sort or another and takes about a minute to boot to the desktop.
That doesn't mean that it isn't still loading stuff though.

I'd guess that from start until Rocket Dock is all loaded and activity stops is about 2 minutes.

Mike

I just tested and those figures are exactly what it takes. One minute to desktop and two minutes until everything is loaded.

 

[NaiyaShamiso]

114 seconds is not really that long. I have about a 3 to 5 minute boot, with an SATA HDD. Though I have Adobe Master Suite 4, Lotis, Open Office, MS Office, and all the .net frameworks up to 4.0. On top of that I have Visual Studio 7, 8, 9 and 10 with corisponding database and internals needed.

I would say that what is not being taken in to consideration is, the drive and adapter. How do you know that your drive is running at full capacity? There could be a driver problem or something that is preventing it from running fully. Then there is the ammount of cache that the drive can use. If it is lower like, 16 MB cache, then it will run slightly slower than a drive with 64 MB. I would say that it is running fine from what was said. Though if you still think different, I would suggest doing a benchmark. Run the system as is, with all the bells and whistles, then benchmark it and see what it comes up with.

 

[Drew]

I think instead of saying a lot here, I will direct you to the link below. It offers some procedures & "Best Practises" that may/can likely enhance performance & keep things @ optimum. (Possibly will result in a faster time)

Since this applies anytime & no matter what, I offer it, rather than, actually, debating if your (current) boot time is acceptable or not, @ this juncture. Certainly, there can be many contributing factors that impact on the speed.

Link Removed

Regards,
Drew

 

[Joe S]

Things like your antivirus and other security software auto updating at satrtup can slow things a bit. Some USB attached things like external HDs can also add time to boot.
Joe

 

[Drew]

Always cool to take a look @ msconfig under Start-up tab. And Services, too. But, one needs to able to recognise what the items (there) are... to know if, they are needed or not.

Drew

 

[Joe S]

Black Viper is a good place to look Black Viper's Website
Joe

 

[whs]

No single service needs to start at boot time - except the AV program and services that you have started yourself like the sidebar (Gadgets), Rocket Dock, Jing capture, etc.

If you want to be fancy, you can set some on a delayed start 1 or 2 minutes after boot. That will have little impct on your ongoing operation.

 

[catilley1092]

The more software one has installed, the longer the startup time. A lot of software can be excluded from running at startup by using the startup options in CCleaner. Be sure of what you're disabling, if in doubt ask a knowledgeable person or Google the process.

Other things may be lots of bits of leftovers of uninstalled/updated programs. As a general rule of thumb, when upgrading software, it's best to remove the old before upgrading to the new (this includes Java & Flash).

Run a full scan with your choice of AV/IS solution weekly, and at least once monthly, run a full scan with SuperAntiSpyware. That app is free, and cleans up lots of tracking cookies (even those that CCleaner can't reach), plus it finds trojans sometimes that the regular AV misses.

And don't forget to defrag. Windows 7 has this built in, it can be ran on a schedule, or manually. Plus there are many free & paid options to do this better. Auslogics Disk Defrag is among the best of the free, Perfect Disk & Diskeeper are among the best paid ones. Paid ones (usually) includes a "boot time" defrag, that no defrag option ran from the Windows environment can reach (the system & page files). Those files can slow down a computer fast. On a recent new install, it took around 3 to 4 minutes just for the page file to defrag. And the startup time was noticeably faster after running it.

The thing is, one doesn't have to buy anything to use these tools once in a while. There are trial versions of these tools on the net, use them for the 30 day (or whatever) period, then uninstall it. Having several email addresses helps to be able to obtain trial versions whenever you need them.

2 minutes is a bit long to have a useable desktop, that's for sure.

Cat

 

[gmbun]

First I'd like to thank all of those who replied and second apologize for my not so timely reply.
I read all the suggestions and have been struggling with this for a couple of days now and the bottom line is, the program 'Smart6' from Gigabyte was responsible for delaying my boot. After watching my boot times get worse no matter what I tried, uninstalling Smart6 reduced it by over 60 seconds. I am now much happier with the boot. I hope this helps someone else out there. Thanks again to everyone.

 

[Drew]

Glad to hear the good news.

Drew

 

[whs]

Btw: If you want to check your boot time (and shutdown time for that matter), go here:

Event Viewer > Applications andServices Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Diagnostics-Performance >Operational
100 is Boot time
200 is Shutdown time