Efficient Computer Solutions: Faster Startup Tips N°1

by Pedro Santos

It’s a fact of life that computers tend to start slower and slower as they are used. But there might be a way to avoid this.

For example, what are computer services? Why do they slow down the startup time?

Well, services are like programs that start with the Windows. And they do things for you and for your programs, hence the name services. The problem is, there can be too many of them! And, as you install new programs, those new programs will install even more services! And many of them become useless with time.

What happens is, when you uninstall an old program, they don’t uninstall their services. Go figure! So, after a few years (or programs uninstalled), you will be flooded by old, useless services. So, what to do?

Well, open the start menu and chose “Run…”. Type ‘msconfig’. Go to the ‘services’ tab, and check the ‘hide all Microsoft services’ box. This is so because we don’t want to disable the original Microsoft services, as they are not useless (most of the time).

Now take a look at those services. Do you really need them? Are those programs still active in your computer? If not, disable them! And if something stops working, you just have to enable them again.

Msconfig will ask you to restart the computer. Do so. On the next startup, things will seem a bit slow, but that’s just because the Windows is starting with ‘Msconfig’. He will ask you if you want this to happen every time, and you will check the box that says ‘no’ (or something like that). Restart the computer again to see the difference!

This is a little-know tip. Actually, I haven’t seen it anywhere else! So, you can call it an ‘Efficient Computer Solutions’ exclusive :D. This tip alone has reduced my startup time from four minutes to one and a half!

So, what are you waiting for? Go speed up that startup!