Microsoft Needs a Swift Kick in the Boot-Up

[marmar]

Microsoft Needs a Swift Kick in the Boot-Up: Rich Jaroslovsky
Commentary by Rich Jaroslovsky


Dec. 31 (Bloomberg) -- It took about 20 years before television viewers no longer had to wait for their sets to warm up. Yet here we are, 30-plus years into the personal computer era, and the instant-on PC remains elusive.

That may be about to change.

Today’s tech consumers have grown accustomed to always-on smart phones and efficient netbooks they can leave for hours in “sleep” mode without rebooting. As a result, they are losing patience with the spinning logos, hourglasses, and twiddling thumbs that define the experience of booting up most Windows PCs. And they are showing a growing interest in hardware and software that speed up the process, or can even sidestep it.

By most accounts, Windows 7, the current version of Microsoft Corp.’s operating system, is quicker off the mark than its predecessor, Windows Vista. Microsoft cites its efforts with partners such as Lenovo Group Ltd. to optimize Windows boot-up times, and its work on power management that it says makes Windows’ sleep mode the moral equivalent of instant-on.

Still, making Windows faster isn’t the same thing as making Windows fast; starting a PC can take anywhere from less than one minute to more than 10, depending on its hardware and the version of Windows it’s using. And leaving computers in indefinite sleep runs counter to the U.S. government’s best advice on saving energy. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aZ.Y_dCigYME

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Black viper.... I turned off a whole lot of crap I don't use/need.

http://www.blackviper.com/

Windows Services ~ Includes complete explanations of each service and advice on which services you can safely disable.

* Windows 7 Service Configurations ~ Updated: December 30, 2009
* Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Configurations ~ Updated: October 24, 2009
* Windows Vista Service Pack 2 Service Configurations ~ Updated: October 13, 2009
* Windows XP x64 (64-bit) Service Pack 2 Service Configurations ~ Updated: August 6, 2009
* Windows XP x86 (32-bit) Service Pack 3 Service Configurations ~ Updated: August 21, 2009
* Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 Service Configurations ~ Updated: February 26, 2009

[marmar]

2. thanks for that link.....

:thumbsup:

[hobbit709]

3. I built a system with an Atom330 CPU

that booted from power on to desktop in 14 seconds
Used an 8Gb ESATA flash drive as the boot drive I admit it took about 3 hours to install and tweak XP on the drive because of the low write speed but once I got it done and used a small 60Gb notebook hard drive to for the swap file and data writing it booted up fast.

[madokie]

4. I remember when I used to turn off services and start ups

Now I just use linux and am one happy camper with it too. linux mint 8 http://www.linuxmint.com/
My computer does everything I want to do, including running autocad and it all cost me zip, nada, zilch, even though I plan to send some bucks their way. Not because I have to mind you but because I want to.

No worries with virus's
no worries with spyware
no worries with ad ware
no worries at all and I love it.
If I could dance I'd do a little jig right now.

[HopeHoops]

5. My HP mini came with MI Linux and it wakes up instantly.

It is all solid state - no spinning hard drive. You open the lid and it wakes up within a second - that's instant enough for me. It also came pre-loaded with Firefox, Thunderbird, and Open Office (among other things).

[HopeHoops]

6. The C=64 had NO boot time - it was on with the flick of a switch and ready to go.

The OS was in ROM. Sure, that could be seen as a disadvantage with respect to patches and upgrades, but it didn't NEED patches or upgrades! It just worked. At one point (around 1984/1985), there were more C=64's in use than ALL OTHER home/office computers combined. With solid state devices being so cheap now, why the fuck can't M$ PCs stay in a boot-ready state? An SD card with ReadyBoost makes the wakeup time for Vista significantly shorter, but it is still has to hit the hard drive enough that you've got time for a piss and a beverage refill before it has settled down enough to use.

[Statistical]

7. Why boot it up? Just let it go to sleep/suspend when you aren't using it.

Ready to use in about 3-5 seconds. My workstation has an SSD (solid state drive) and it comes out of suspend faster than it takes for the monitor to turn on (~1 sec).