Here's a quick tutorial on making Windows boot faster:
Note: Tutorial done on Windows XP Pro SP2 machine. Should work exactly the same for Windows XP Home version too.
Note: This tutorial has big pictures. They're big so that no one has trouble following this (hopefully).
Step 1
-Click the Start button, type in "msconfig.exe" without quotes and hit Enter.
-See the 2 pictures below for instructions...
* /NOGUIBOOT means all pictures during the boot up process are not loaded. What does that mean? You know when you start Windows XP you see the WinXP logo and the progress loading bar? Well that will no longer be shown which cuts boot time.
Step 2
-Click the Start button, type in "services.msc" without quotes and hit Enter.
-See the huge picture for instructions...
Step 3
-Go to
http://www.sysinternals.com/utilities/autoruns.html and download a programs called AutoRuns.
-So what does this program do? Well, it will scan the Windows Registry for EVERYTHING that is started during Windows. Msconfig and Services is a good start, but AutoRuns will list even more things that are started up and believe me, the list is a lot bigger. This tool is great and it's free.
Well that's it, this tutorial is not complete at all and I'll probably add/delete stuff based on everyone's response. Remember, there are also BIOS tweaks you can do to get a faster boot time.
I'll subscribe to this thread to answer any questions that may come up. If I don't respond for some reason, email me at
matt11601@hotmail.com