What your computer looks like at bootup

Isn’t it funny how technology gets us so far … yet in some ways, we are really just back where we were fifty years ago?

Computers can be a lot like cars. When you first get them, they start up fine – just a light touch of the key, and they roar into life, ready to do your bidding. This startup process will slow down a little each week or month, though, until eventually you are holding your key on for twenty seconds at a time while your computer goes ‘eh-heh-heh-heh … eh-heh-heh-heh’! This is especially embarrassing when it happens in the shopping center carpark .

Anyhoo, what do you do about it? The fact that there are multiple files all calling for the same portions of hard disk space at the same time spells trouble for computer startups – in comes Startup Delayer to the rescue. I have it on good authority … from the blog owner (!), that this is an excellent tool. It is freeware, and only takes up 979kb.

Startup Delayer screenshot

You simply check either your MSconfig file, or your startup folder in Vista or XP to see which programs are set to run on startup. Often you’ll have antivirus software, java, the internet, Skype, and various knicks and knacks that came with your computer. If you’ve been saving time by setting programs you frequently use to run at startup, you can choose to load these before all those non-essentials that like to think they’re king of the OS.

You simply stagger the programs you have starting up when your computer does, so that the system is less taxed, and you can start working on things sooner … rather than finishing off your ninth sonata while your computer is stopping, blinking, stopping, resetting the desktop, and blinking some more.

To check what programs you have running through MSconfig, you’ll need instructions specific to your version of Windows. Netsquirrel has clear, precise instructions for all versions for checking and changing your msconfig file.

If you find you have a hundred programs that you never use running at startup, you can go one better than simply staggering them, and get rid of the sorry things altogether. I know from experience, that if you have an Acer laptop, you’ve probably got a Video Conference manager, Arcade Delux, E-Audio Management, Gamezone and Gridvista installed. You probably use 0% of these, give or take 0%. Vista4Beginners tells you how to get rid of them.