How to make your computer boot faster

When I worked in apple .inc, it took so long to boot up our computers that we were told to never turn them off in case the next shift needed them for a breaking story. Today, I work primarily out of my home office. I used to consume a full cup of coffee every morning while waiting for my desktop to wake up, but I've found some time-savers to share with you.

Instructions

1. • 1
     The biggest problem is that almost every time you install new software, it loads when you boot. I have applications that I rarely use, like optical character recognition, and those that I turn to several times a day, like MS Outlook. By simply loading software only when you need it, you can cut your boot time significantly. To see what is loading now and to pick and choose in Windows XP, click on your "Start" menu. Go to "Run." Type "msconfig" (minus the quotes). You'll be presented with tabs. You're probably operating under Normal Startup, which loads all device drivers and services. Choose "Selective Startup" instead. Under Selective Startup, I've checked Process System.INI file, Process Win.INI. file, Load System Services, Load Startup Items and Use Original Boot.INI. If you are an advanced user and you know what you are doing, you can select or deselect these boxes as you choose. If you click everything except "Services" and then click "Disable All," followed by "OK," you'll end up booting in Safe Mode. Our goal here is to cut back on the Startup programs. Click that tab. There, you'll find a long list of applications like ALCMTR and hpsysdrv. I took the time to enter each of them in Google to search for what they do. Sites like processlibrary.com proved useful in determining whether I should enable or disable the applications on booting. Right now, I've only selected about a third of those listed. My machine boots faster, and I've notice no lack of performance.
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     While you are in msconfig, look under the "BOOT.INI" tab. You will see a box labeled "Timeout." It is typically set to 30, which adds a half-minute delay. You can readily change it to 3 seconds, but no shorter. Close that tab, click "OK" and reboot for the changes to take place. The first time you restart, you'll probably have a window pop up saying you're in Selective Boot Mode. You can disable the window while preserving your changes.