Startup Speed Boost

What Causes a Slow startup?

As discussed in previous articles, bloatware and unwanted startup items can cause a slow startup speed. But what else is going on when you PC starts up?

First, it’s important to differentiate between the bootup process of your computer, and the startup process of Windows. These are two different things, and each involve different aspects of your PC.

The bootup process it what begins immediately after you power on your computer. This does not involve Windows at all. Instead, it starts with your computer’s BIOS, which is the ground level firmware of your PC.

BIOS, Bootup, Loading Processes - what goes on when you start your PC?

As soon as it loads, the BIOS takes the time to check your hardware devices – your video card, sound card, hard disk, and so on. So, a computer with more hardware devices attached will have a marginally longer startup time.

Plus, the BIOS will also check to see which device it will boot from. Usually, the computer will boot from the hard drive (where Windows is installed), but occasionally it can boot from the DVD drive, CD drive, or USB port. This is the case when using advanced system tweakers, or when installing a new operating system.

The bootup process then checks and initializes the memory of the PC. The details of this are fairly advanced, and this Wikipedia article can be seen for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting

All of these bootup processes are influenced by the speed of the computer’s processor, and the amount of RAM memory. Sometimes, a hardware upgrade is required to improve bootup speeds.

The second step is the starting of Windows – the startup. This loads the various processes and applications that Windows needs in order to run. This includes loading files from the registry loading system settings, loading device drivers, loading DLL files, (and so on) and culminates in the Windows logon screen. Problems with drivers, DLL files, or corruptions within the Windows registry and settings can cause errors and delays here.

After you log in to Windows (this may be automatic, depending on your settings) the Windows startup items are launched. For more information, check out our post on how to fix a slow startup.