How Microsoft can instantly speed up Windows.

[capsulecorpjx]

I run msconfig and I see all these useless programs (ex Adobe), Microsoft services (ex Media Sharing) running at startup. I unchecked a large number of them and my computer and my father's computer instantly ran faster.

This is why Windows becomes slow over time.

Microsoft needs to stop loading Microsoft Services at startup, that most users never ever use. Have just one listener service (that waits for requests) that only loads specific services on demand.

Also, they should make it very very hard for 3rd party programs to run at startup (only with admin priv, through the control panel), and never let programs insert itself into startup.

A 3rd party program should only run at startup if it's icon is in the Startup Taskbar Folder, someplace a user can easily find and delete if they don't want it there. Also users should be prompted when this is being done.

[baja_yu]

I don't agree with most of that.

[JuggaloBrotha]

I don't agree with most of that.

I agree with you baja.

Although, it would be nice if programs (like adobe, kodak easyshare, etc) had to get confirmation from the user during install before creating the system startup key in the registry. Either the installer has a screen with a checkbox for it or windows itself forces a confirmation from the user, either way would be fine with me.

As for the system services, just to get to the windows desktop you need 4 services. If you want to be on the internet or your local network, you need 5 more. Right off the bat (fresh windows install) basically the only services turned on by default are the one's you need (there's a couple that you dont really need) and the rest of them are set to "manual" which means they start automatically when needed. If you don't ever need it, then it never starts.

[penagate]

Right off the bat (fresh windows install) basically the only services turned on by default are the one's you need (there's a couple that you dont really need) and the rest of them are set to "manual" which means they start automatically when needed. If you don't ever need it, then it never starts.

Yes, but what happens is "rot" sets in and eventually you end up with a system that automatically starts a lot of things that the user never needs.

For example, up until about a week ago my work system automatically loaded Skype and GoToMeeting on startup. Skype is understandable, but GoToMeeting simply starts up based on the chance that you might want to join a meeting — in which case two seconds are saved at the time you click on the meeting invitation (cheap) at the expense of two seconds at startup (expensive).

It is this sort of arrogant, "my software is so good it's bound to be used every day" attitude that eventually makes Windows systems unusuable.

I got sick of the slow startup and removed everything that wasn't immediately useful to me, but the average user doesn't have the knowledge to either diagnose why the startup is slow or to be able to fix it.

[FunkyDexter]

I think I probably fall into Penagate's 'average user' category on this one. I know where to go to see what's firing at startup but most of the time I haven't got the first clue what most of the stuff I'm looking at actually is. Do I need it? err... dunno, maybe. Should I turn it off? err... dunno, maybe. I don't even know what half the stuff in my systray is so sometimes I get all adventurous and start clicking on things at random, just to see what happens. Ten years ago I used to have a real handle on what my PC was doing, these days I don't have the first clue.

[dilettante]

The 3rd party (Adobe, etc.) crapware is pretty perturbing. Now that machines have grown in CPU cycles and RAM they even think it is acceptable to write their stuff in Java or .Net, though to make it appear to run without lag they want to run those "pre-loaders" that bring in 70% of the application behind the scenes at startup.

The Windows services are another story. At least you get something for your "money" there... that is if you take advantage of Windows-today rather than continuing to run as if you still had Windows 95 or even Win 3.1. But I see lots of people writing crapplications based on TCP sockets when they'd be way ahead using Mailslots, Named Pipes, MSMQ, COM+, WebDAV, or almost anything else above the primitive socket level. Maybe they just enjoy re-inventing the wheel (usually poorly) though.

[minitech]

What I don't like is my Google Toolbar Notifier. It keeps re-registering itself for startup in the Registry and I keep having to use msconfig to get rid of it. The 2 main reasons this is stupid:
1) I uninstalled the Google Toolbar in IE.
2) I don't use IE.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I think MS should collaborate with some motherboard manufacturers, or BIOS makers, to snapshot the loaded OS in memory onto flash such that the computer can be instant on for most cases, and only does the whole boot when essential (like a BSD event).

[I_Love_My_Vans]

Surely a better way to speed up machines is for Microsoft to provide everyone with 8-core machines?

Seems just as feasible.

[Pradeep1210]

I'm with capsulecorpjx that programs should use the Startup folder rather than registry keys to startup if possible, so that user can just remove it from there easily. Since MS doesn't provide customer support for registry, its easy for users to messup even if they know that there is something called registry in the system.

[JuggaloBrotha]

I'm with capsulecorpjx that programs should use the Startup folder rather than registry keys to startup if possible, so that user can just remove it from there easily. Since MS doesn't provide customer support for registry, its easy for users to messup even if they know that there is something called registry in the system.

This comes back to why I think Windows itself should get confirmation from the user before allowing an installer to add a reg key for a program to startup with Windows.

I can see where firewall, antivirus, anti-malware programs should be started up with the system (and not have an easy shortcut in the startup folder on the start menu) however for everything else I'd like to have an option where the user, upon install, can dis-allow a program from being started up with windows.

MSN messenger being one of them. I see a lot of people's computers had windows essentials installed automatically via automatic updates and MSN messenger get's installed, which by default starts up with windows and if you want to dis-able that feature in the program you have to have an account, which is absolutely stupid to require an account to change a local program setting like that. The other option is to delete the reg key for it, which is even harder for the average user to do.

[JPnyc]

I routinely open msconfig and deny startup permissions to a whole bunch of things. I agree with the original poster, there's a whole slew of garbage running that's just not necessary. It's not a big deal if you know where to go to turn it off, and what you need and don't need. But how many people do?

[FireXtol]

Open task manager. If it's not there, View | Select Columns...

Order by CPU Time. There's your sorted list of offenders. If you can eliminate them then you can likely gain performance. Top offenders are very often AV/'security', and malware. Or both!

Page faults, and the PF Delta can also indicate a performance bottleneck. For instance, if you can eliminate your own application from creating excessive page faults, then it'll generally become faster, and more efficient.

[minitech]

Mine is always Dropbox, but it offers no options regarding that, so...

[Pradeep1210]

Order by CPU Time. There's your sorted list of offenders. If you can eliminate them then you can likely gain performance. Top offenders are very often AV/'security', and malware. Or both!

This could be true in general. But when a program is starting up it is likely to use more CPU as compared to after that. And with a long list of entries in the system startup list, the problem multiplies, as each program starting up tries to eat as much CPU as it can.

[moonman239]

I agree. I was trying to use my laptop once to watch America's Got Talent, and it was killing me. When I ran Task Manager, I saw a heck of a lot of processes, and most of them were processes that I certainly didn't have any use for.

[moonman239]

OASN, this thread belongs in the General PC forum.