Fast Forward: The Boot Race
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Every new version of Windows promises faster booting, but PCs still take too long to boot. Despite faster processors, hard drives, memory, graphics, etc., we still waste a few minutes watching the machine come to life.
Indeed, many PCs seem to never stop booting. Years ago, we measured boot times by clicking a stopwatch while pressing the power button and waiting until the disk activity light stopped flickering. Nowadays, background tasks (antivirus scanners, software updaters, incremental defraggers, application preloaders, and various other daemons) awaken at startup and can stay busy for hours.
We might say the system has finished booting when the Windows desktop appears and we can launch apps and start working. But performance can be sluggish as the machine struggles to finish its startup chores.
Windows PCs are handicapped by a system architecture dating back to the IBM PC of 1981. First, the BIOS must boot and initialize low-level system functions. Then, Windows must boot, figure out what the BIOS has done, load the operating system into memory, and load the drivers needed by hardware devices. Macs boot faster, partly because their proprietary system architecture integrates the BIOS more tightly with the OS.
Phoenix Technologies, a leading BIOS maker since the 1980s, is tackling the challenge (again) with new BIOS firmware. The Phoenix SecureCore Tiano BIOS can bring Windows 7 on screen a mere one second after powerup. (Windows still takes its usual time to boot, though.)
How does the new BIOS work? One trick is to run the firmware as parallel threads on multiple processor cores. That idea might seem obvious. But remember, before Windows boots, there’s no OS to manage the multiprocessing. The BIOS must do it.
Another trick is to leave some devices uninitialized at boot. This shortcut is really a form of time shifting, because the BIOS postpones initialization until a program actually needs the device. Save now, pay later! Still, it’s useful. In off-the-shelf PCs, manufacturers will decide which devices to bypass. Power users can tweak the settings.
Phoenix claims these efficiencies won’t compromise BIOS security or reliability. Let’s hope it’s true.
Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine and is now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.
More like this
Righteous Fury
January 28, 2010 at 2:32pm
for the responses. It is greatly appreciated. I think this would likely make a good "stickied" subject on one of the forums... devs could add to the list of "NOT NECESSARY" as they came across them... but never mind me, just my $.02
;)
TechnoBoy
January 27, 2010 at 6:12pm
i swear my old rig from well ages ago could start up 98 and would be good to go as soon as the desktop appeared, can remember bout the past post time to desktop though
Righteous Fury
January 27, 2010 at 2:51pm
do you have a list of services a guy can turn off without bringing his system to its knees? I have about 64 services running in the background, and I have no idea what i can turn off, change to automatic or manual, or what. This kind of info would make for a great article.
Glycerin
January 29, 2010 at 2:16am
Wow, 64 processes? I'm runnin an old PIII and i'm only running 25 processes right now. I'm a PC tech, too, so that's probably why ;)
Windows Securit...
January 27, 2010 at 6:44pm
Services that I can turn off in XP-SP2 to get 12 second boot time on an Atom dualcore with a 300X Compact Flash as my Boot Drive
The same backup of XP boots in 14 seconds on a OCZ Vertex SSD
SERVICES TURNED OFF:
Computer Browser
Indexing Service
Error Reporting Service
Fast User Switching Compatability
Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
Remote Access Connection Manager
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Registry
Secondary Logon
Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing
System Restore Service
Telephony
Terminal Services
Uninteruptible Power Supply
Portable Media Serial Number Service
Automatic Updates--------------------
Note: System Restore is also turned off
Swap file is turned off
No startup or shutdown sounds and a few other tweaks like running Crapcleaner and Dustbuster, then removing all registry errors with Registry Mechanic before making a backup
Windows 7 takes more than twice as long to boot on the same computer even when teaked for a week or two
I LEAVE ALL THE EYE CANDY ON AND STILL GET EXCELLENT BOOT TIMES WITH XP!!!!
2GB RAM (MINIMUM)
Free AVG, Sygate Firewall, Spybot and Spywareblaster as well as Acronis True Image are all installed when getting these boot times
Raspop
January 27, 2010 at 4:57pm
You sometimes have to wonder about these "guides". Here's mine, wonder away.
The short version:
Turn off the eye candy before the services. - animations, transparency, and thumbs vs icons. Use a Windows Basic theme if you're that worried about resources.
Learn the vanilla install processes in task manager and be wary of anything you don't recognize.
The even shorter version:
The key to having a slick booting OS is using a lightweight AntiVirus
and not installing crapware that wants to start with Windows.
meangenedrlove
January 27, 2010 at 3:04pm
Check http://www.blackviper.com/ under the Service Configurations information. It won't list everything you see on your computer, but you will find the Windows specific services that can be turned off.
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