Different computers have varied startup time—some boot faster while some are a little bit slower—depending on the operating system, CPU and hardware. But as you use your computer and start installing programs, browse the internet, and change settings, startup time tends to get slower. In this section, we will discuss how to speed up Windows XP startup; it will also touch the issue affecting computer startup.
Reconfigure Startup Programs
There are several operations happening as you turn your computer on. Some of these operations really have nothing to do with your daily computing but start automatically as soon as you boot your pc. {What you should do is to eliminate these files. Click Start, choose Run, and type “msconfig”; will appear a new window will pop up which contain check boxes; go to Startup}. {Startup tab will give you the list of programs that start automatically when you turn on your computer}. {Choose the programs that you wish to disable and click “apply”}. {Restart your computer to complete the process}. {Important note: Never disable programs if you don’t know their function; make sure to choose only files that you know will have no damaging effect to your computer operations}.
Remove Unimportnat Programs
When you use your computer for quite some time, there may be several programs that are installed in your computer that you no longer use. These software programs not only consume disk space, but also consume CPU, especially if these programs start automatically when you turn on your computer. {What you should do is to uninstall these unused programs}. {To do this, go to Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel; select the programs you wish to uninstall}. This process will remove unused programs completely from your computer.
Upgrade Your Hardware
Getting additional memory and faster hard disk affect computer experience from the moment you start your computer to the time you shut it down. Check your motherboard first to make sure that you have available slots from upgrade. Changing to faster hd, say 5400 RPM to 7200 RPM will definitely be a noticeable difference.
Get Windows Registry Software
Your Windows registry is attributed to computer slow down. Your Windows registry contains a lot of “entries” over time even if you have deleted the origins of these entries. {You can clean the registry manually, but it is not recommended especially if you don’t have any idea on what should be deleted—you may even damage the system beyond repair}. What you should do is to use a registry cleaner, a software program that scans your computer for files or entries that are invalid and empty, then the registry removes or repairs these entries. In general, the registry can dramatically speed up Windows XP startup.
Device Doctor is a freeware Windows application that scans your computer hardware and checks to see if there are new driver updates available for your devices. Device Doctor is a free download for Windows only. Device Doctor isn’t perfect yet, but as a completely free, portable application that you can toss on your thumb drive, it’s well worth a look. Device Doctor is available at the developer’s website.
Windows is not so good at finding driver updates and when users start migrating to Windows 7 finding the right driver will become quite a challenge. During our testing, we used the application on half a dozen PCs, and had varied results—on our XP test system, Device Doctor worked well and accurately found new drivers, but for Windows 7 we didn’t have as much luck, with a few incorrect drivers being thrown at us. That said, Windows 7 was only released recently, so expect that support to improve in the future. Windows driver update service is sloppy at best.
Drivers are an essential part of Windows, and you don’t want to go with the wrong ones. Using the utility, which can be installed or used as a portable application, is about as easy as it gets—just click the Begin Scan button, wait a couple of seconds, and you will be shown a list of drivers that can be updated. The download button for each driver will take you to their web site, where you can download the drivers for free, without signing up for anything at all. Most of the drivers come with setup programs, but some of them are nothing more than zip files, and would need to be installed manually—hopefully something they can improve on in the future. Installing the latest device drivers is an essential task for keeping your system running at peak performance, but almost all of the driver update solutions out there aren’t actually free.
Installing the latest device drivers is an essential task for keeping your system running at peak performance, but almost all of the driver update solutions out there aren’t actually free. You should always take a time-out before you install a new driver and create a System Restore point, which will enable you to quickly roll back in the case of a failure. The actual scan takes only a couple of seconds, and since you don’t even need to install the portable version, it’s not going to clutter up your system with extra nonsense. Also, better drivers make your system faster.
It’s great to see somebody trying to create a freeware driver updater. Device Doctor is a freeware Windows application that scans your computer hardware and checks to see if there are new driver updates available for your devices. The license of this windows utility software is Freeware; you can free download and free use this Windows Utility software. There is a LOT of freeware out there that is safe to use that does not have a catch.
Device Doctor is extremely easy to use. Thankfully, Device Doctor is absolutely, completely free to use. Since Device Doctor is still very young software, feedback from users is very helpful, and over time the kinks will be worked out. We spoke to the guys that actually make Device Doctor, and they assured us that Device Doctor is completely free, and will continue to always be completely free. Device Doctor is a good computer driver updates software because it provides drivers for every major computer hardware and device manufacturer.
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