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- Greetings (2)
- Operating Systems (1)
- Windows 7 (2)
- 11. May 2009: How to Make Your Computer Boot Faster
- 9. May 2009: The release of Windows 7 RC1 and Windows 7 XP Mode beta eliminates the need to consider any other operating system for a new PC, thanks to Windows 7’s stability and Windows 7 XP Mode’s performance.
- 7. May 2009: Tech Net
- 7. May 2009: Windows 7 RC
- 5. May 2009: Greetings from Jon Braun Owner of It Computes
How to Make Your Computer Boot Faster
11. May 2009 by admin.
By Erin Scottberg, Popular Mechanics
Why can’t a computers start up like a television? In short, it is all about the operating system. And contrary to common sense, the newer the operating system the longer it can take. But you can do something about it. Here are tips to get your tortoiselike boot time to hop like a bunny.
Why can’t a computer be more like a television? When you push the power button on a TV, it just turns on. Computers, on the other hand, boot — as in, they take so long to get started that you want to stick your boot into them.You would think that the march of technological progress would have reduced boot times over the years, but newer operating systems can take longer — Microsoft Vista actually tends to boot more slowly than its predecessor, Windows XP. (Microsoft claims its next-generation operating system, Windows 7, should provide drastic improvements in boot time.)
Additionally, boot times increase with a computer’s age. As you use your PC and more programs and devices are installed, the startup process gets even longer. And these slow boot times can lead to bad behavior. Many users become so frustrated that they leave their computers on constantly, wasting electricity and delaying valuable OS security updates.
But take heart: There are steps you can take to speed things along. Depending on the configuration of your computer, many of the various system checks and processes that take place during boot-up may be unnecessary or irrelevant to you. A variety of tricks of varying sophistication can reclaim valuable minutes or seconds of get-up-and-go time. We tested expert tactics on three well-used computers in PM’s tech lab.
Ditch dusty programsAs a general rule, an uncluttered computer is a fast computer. The easiest step to speed startup is to remove software that you no longer use. Many of these seemingly fallow programs are running active background processes that launch every time you push the power button. This doesn’t just slow down your startup, it chews up RAM and drags down the overall performance of your PC.
To get a full list of installed software, check Control Panel in Vista and select Remove Programs (in XP go to Add/Remove Programs). If you find programs that you’re not using or that support equipment you no longer own, eliminate them.
One of our test computers, a 3-year-old XP machine, had more than two dozen programs that hadn’t been used in years. After we removed them, the machine’s boot time was reduced from 2 minutes 45 seconds to 2 minutes 21 seconds. Across all three of our computers, the biggest offender was AIM instant-messaging software. Removing it shaved an average of 8 seconds off boot time.
Even brand-new PCs can be junked up with useless applications, known as trialware, that load processes at startup. Since these programs aren’t formally installed on your system, they may not show up in your Remove Programs list. That shouldn’t stop you from getting rid of them if you have no intention of using the software.The easiest way to purge unwanted trialware is by using a program called, believe it or not, PC Decrapifier. This free, downloadable tool specifically targets trial software and puts it on a chopping block for you to eliminate.
On a Dell laptop we analyzed, Decrapifier found several programs imploring users to “Get High Speed Internet!” from service providers angling for new business. Delete!
Reconfigure pushy softwareSome startup slowdowns come from software that you do use, but don’t necessarily need running in your system’s background. Many programs have components that load at startup, then monitor your OS constantly. That makes perfect sense for antivirus software that must continually watch for suspicious activity on your PC, but it’s probably not necessary to have the software that came with your digital camera always running so that it can instantly offload pictures.
There are a few ways to check which programs are muscling into your startup sequence. In Vista, you can manage startup applications through Windows Defender, Microsoft’s built-in program that monitors for spyware, pop-ups and performance drags. Defender has an integrated tool called Software Explorer that lets you check programs that load at startup and disable anything unnecessary.
You can also access the list of startup applications in either Vista or XP through the Msconfig utility (type “msconfig” into the Run box in the Start menu). Select the Startup tab, then uncheck any applications you think might be slowing your startup.
Both options allow you to disable a program’s startup component without completely removing it. So if you disable something and then discover that it was vital to the operation of your PC, you can always turn it back on.
Inevitably, you’ll find programs in your startup configuration that you’ve never heard of before. To sort it all out, consult an online reference such as Sysinfo. This site categorizes startup entries according to how necessary they are. On one of our test PCs we found avgtray.exe configured as a startup operation. This miniprogram was a part of the AVG antivirus software suite and was designed to launch AVG from an icon in the system tray at the bottom right of the Windows home screen. SysInfo categorized avgtray.exe as “User’s Choice,” meaning that it’s not imperative to the PC’s operation but could be useful, so we decided to keep it. Many of the items we found in the startup menus of our test PCs were software that could be started on an as-needed basis, but didn’t need to be launched at startup, so we disabled them.
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Macs need speed, tooIn our tests, Mac OS X natively booted faster than Microsoft Vista, but Macs are susceptible to slow boot times too. And often, it’s because of the same problems. “If your Mac is taking a long time to boot, the main culprit is probably startup software,” says Ben Casey, a Mac technician at TekServe in New York. “Check for erroneous applications and delete what you don’t need launching every time.” If you have multiple accounts on one Mac, edit the list of startup programs for individual users by going to the Accounts panel of System Preferences and selecting Login Items. Also, look in the universal startup folder, which controls what loads for all users. (It is called Startup Items, in the Library folder on your hard drive.) The shorter these lists, the quicker your machine will start up.
If your computer is still taking too long to boot, try clearing your caches using a free piece of software called Onyx. The first boot after purging your caches will take longer than usual, because the computer needs to reconstruct those caches from scratch, but the resulting up-to-date caches will allow for a faster boot time.
Cut the splash screen
If you’re serious about shaving every last second of startup time, dip into the Boot tab in the Msconfig utility, which controls the settings for the boot initialization/configuration file. Generally, users should tread carefully when tinkering with boot.ini, but one easy edit is to check the “/noguiboot” option. This saves time by skipping the Windows startup animation.
Edit your BIOS
Before the operating system loads up on your computer, software on the motherboard known as the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) governs the configuration of the PC’s hardware. As with the boot.ini file, it’s advisable to tread carefully in the BIOS to avoid disabling something important, but a few well-placed tweaks can save valuable seconds when you boot.
The BIOS sets the boot sequence for your PC and makes sure all the components — like the video card, memory and hard drive — function together. To get to the BIOS on most computers, you hit one of the function keys (usually F2, F10 or F12; your computer should prompt you on the screen during startup). The BIOS checks each drive attached to your computer for an operating system to boot from, but it doesn’t always check in the most logical order. On one of our test laptops, the BIOS was looking at the USB drive and optical drive before checking the hard drive where the OS is installed. I rearranged the boot order to check the hard drive first.
Most BIOSs scan the computer memory for errors at startup, but if you haven’t made any modifications to your RAM or noticed any errors, this probably can be skipped. If your BIOS has a Quick Boot or Skip Memory Check function, you can save a few extra seconds.
Clean up the registry
The registry is a database in both Windows Vista and XP that stores information about your hardware, software preferences and user profiles. Whenever you change something in Windows, it is logged in the registry. But when software is deleted or hardware is upgraded, the registry isn’t always updated properly, so it can end up full of outdated, useless entries. Unlike the Msconfig utility and BIOS, casual deletions from the registry can cause irreversible damage, so it is no place for an inexperienced computer user to go tinkering on his own. But a good software solution can help clean it out for you. Free programs such as CCleaner and Glary Utilities, as well as more fully featured pay software such as System Mechanic ($50), are available for download online and will scrub the registry for “keys” left over from old applications no longer resident on your machine. These may be delaying boot time by causing the computer to scan for nonexistent programs during startup. A clean registry makes the whole process more efficient.
How much time you’ll gain overall depends entirely on how messed up your computer was in the first place. Cleaning out all of the digital clutter still won’t make your computer instant-on, but it should make the wait more bearable.
Posted in Operating Systems | Print | 1 Comment »
The release of Windows 7 RC1 and Windows 7 XP Mode beta eliminates the need to consider any other operating system for a new PC, thanks to Windows 7’s stability and Windows 7 XP Mode’s performance.
9. May 2009 by admin.
More often than not in business deployments, one of the first things done with a new PC is to downgrade from Windows Vista to the more popular Windows XP. A few brave users that need XP compatibility will stick with Vista and install Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2007 software to run Windows XP when needed. Both choices are far from perfect; running XP as a primary operating system opens a system up to security ills and running XP as virtual OS under Vista incurs a severe performance penalty.
Microsoft is aiming to solve those problems with Windows 7 XP Mode, a virtualized version of Windows XP that runs on Windows 7, currently in beta. At first blush, going that route to bring XP compatibility to a PC seems to differ very little from a Vista/Virtual PC hybrid approach. In practice, though, running Windows 7 XP mode is very different than offering a virtual session of XP under other operating systems. Even so, one still has to define “is different better.”
For the most part, Windows 7 XP Mode is superior to running XP virtualized on a Vista system. The real question is whether the benefits outweigh the negatives of going with Windows 7 XP Mode. To determine that, Channel Insider took a comparative look at Windows 7 RC1 running Windows 7 XP Mode beta against Windows Vista 64 Running Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 with Windows XP as a virtual session. To accomplish our goal, we set some ground rules to try and level the playing field.
We decided to test only on a brand new PC, simply because it’s the obvious starting point when choosing between Vista or XP – most new PCs come with Vista preinstalled and offer a downgrade to XP. Ideally, the target audience for Windows 7 XP Mode will be those purchasers of new equipment that need to maintain XP compatibility.
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We decided to limit the test to a CPU that supports virtualization, simply because that is a requirement of Windows 7 XP Mode. A word of warning: Anyone looking to run Windows 7 XP Mode should make sure that their CPU supports virtualization. Luckily, most of the systems available today feature CPUs that support AMD-V or Intel VT virtualization.
We also decided to focus on high-end systems, since low-end system users will most likely install Windows XP due to the lack of power to effectively run Windows Vista.
The first system we tested was a SuperMicro SuperWorkStation, which came with Windows Vista Ultimate Edition 64 Bit preinstalled. The SuperMicro system was at the extreme end of the spectrum, a high performance, multi-processor workstation designed for CAD/CAM or high-end video editing. Of course, we expected nothing less than outstanding performance from the system. We installed the latest version of Microsoft Virtual PC, and then created a virtual machine to install Windows XP. Installation and configuration took close to an hour and we encountered no problems. To test the performance of the Virtual Windows XP session, we downloaded and installed Passmark Performance Test V7 from Passmark software. The Virtual PC session earned a Passmark rating of 587.8 with Windows XP.
Next, we installed Windows 7 RC (release candidate ) on the system and then we downloaded the files to run the beta version of Windows 7 XP Mode, which consists of two downloads, the beta version of Microsoft Virtual PC and the beta version of Windows XP mode. The two files come as installable MSU/MSI file, which makes installation a snap. From a time perspective, it took a little less than 50 minutes to install Windows 7 RC, Virtual PC and XP Mode.
Windows 7 XP Mode offers several advantages over Virtualized XP. First, users are able to access USB devices. Second, the end user experience is greatly enhanced; users are able to launch XP applications from the Windows 7 Start Menu. XP mode handles the launching of all of the supporting files (Virtual PC, XP VHD, XP) automatically. That eliminates some of the manual steps needed with Windows Vista and Windows Virtual PC with a XP virtual machine. To keep the playing field level, we made sure that the settings for Windows 7 Virtual PC were as close as possible to the settings used for Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 under Vista.
Once we had the system fully configured and an XP session up and running, we again downloaded and installed Performance Test V7 from Passmark software. Running that benchmark delivered a Passmark Rating of 677.3 using Windows 7 with XP Mode, a performance increase of roughly 14 percent. That increase was accomplished with no hardware changes or any other modifications to the system.
We also tested several XP business applications under Windows 7 XP Mode and found no major incompatibilities. Applications such as Quicken 2005, Peachtree accounting and Internet Explorer 6 worked fine under XP mode. XP Mode also makes launching the applications easier – applications installed into XP mode automatically are added to the Windows 7 Start Menu, allowing those applications to be launched with a single click.
We also duplicated these tests on a Fujitsu N7010 desktop replacement notebook computer and the results were pretty much the same, with XP Mode showing an increase in performance of about 11 percent, a little less than what was seen with the SuperMicro workstation, but probably due to the least potent CPU installed in the Fujitsu notebook.
The Fujitsu N7010 did display some incompatibilities with Windows 7 specialized features, such as the integrated 4-inch touch screen did not perform the same as it did with Vista. We had to manually install some drivers to get some other features to work properly, such as the integrated webcam and SATA controller. While those problems are in no way related to Windows 7 XP mode, they are enough of a concern that users should think twice before relying on the Windows 7 and XP Mode combo on that machine.
Several conclusions can be drawn from these tests. First, if a user is on the fence about installing Vista or an XP downgrade, they may want to give Windows 7 with XP mode a try. After all, Windows 7 RC is free to use until August 2010.
Second, IT departments deploying new systems may want to make the leap to Windows 7 RC to improve end users’ experience and to offer backward compatibility with XP applications. Third, XP Mode is clearly not meant for gamers or for tasks other than core business applications, where XP compatibility is needed during a transitional period.
With Windows 7 XP Mode, Microsoft is clearly on the right path to reduce the need for Vista or XP on new systems. With some bug fixes and polishing, XP Mode can be a viable alternative to virtualized versions of XP on other platforms.
Posted in Greetings | Print | 1 Comment »
Tech Net
7. May 2009 by admin.
Volume 11, Issue 9: May 6, 2009
| Note from the Editor | |||||||||||||||
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Greetings, Jon. A quick public address announcement: If you are reading this newsletter on a mobile device, check out our new [Hyperlink to come] mobile-friendly TechNet Flash, delivered in a format more suitable for smaller screens, including Windows Mobile devices.
As of yesterday, you can download the Windows 7 Release Candidate. Yes, the RC is now available and features several changes and improvements since the beta release, including improved boot performance, FAT32 support, and User Account Control (UAC) design changes. To assist in your evaluation, here are some key resources:
And just a reminder, Windows 7 RC is available to TechNet Plus subscribers. Coinciding with the Windows 7 RC, you can now download the Windows Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate. Check out the new R2 additions to the Windows Server 2008 Product Technologies and the following key resources:
Thanks for reading, Mitch Irsfeld Editor, TechNet Flash Subscribe to the TechNet Flash Feed blog for news updates as they happen, often several times a day. You can also follow the updates on Twitter. |
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Posted in Windows 7 | Print | 1 Comment »
Windows 7 RC
7. May 2009 by admin.
- Is Vista slowing you down?
- Is Vista full of errors?
- Are you tired of apps. not responding?
If you answered yes to any or all of the questions then you need to try Windows 7 RC. It is better than Vista or xp. I use it on my two laptops and my desktop computer.
Posted in Windows 7 | Print | No Comments »
Greetings from Jon Braun Owner of It Computes
5. May 2009 by admin.
I would like to say that this is a new feature for It Computes. What we will be doing here is to give visitors some technical in sight to the IT world.
Posted in Greetings | Print | 2 Comments »