Computer newbies forum: New System Taking Forever to Load

Alright, one thing you could do is buy the program "Startup Faster! 2004" http://www.pcfaster.com/ CNET gave this program a very good review. This will allow you to choose what programs start when your computer starts. Another thing I've noticed is that if you disable the startup and shutdown sounds it can also make it faster. Just go to Control Panel --> Sounds and Audio Devices --> Sounds, then just fix the startup and shutdown sounds to None...You could also just add more memory to your notebook. I hope all this helps.

Grif,

I only have two programs listed under Start up. One was Bigfix and the other one was an Acrobat program. I deleted Acrobat (not the reader) but Bigfix is also missing.

When I ran msconfig, I unchecked all of the ones I felt safe unchecking. Restarted the system and got a message after restarting that said that what I was doing was not safe for the system.

They are still unchecked but the system is still running slow on boot up.

Ben

"You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts.

The System Configuration Utility is currently in Diagnostic or Selective Startup mode, causing this message to be displayed and the utility to run every time Windows Starts.

Choose the Normal Startup mode on the General tab to start Windos normally and undo the changes you made using the System Confiuration Utility."

The message you are seeing is PERFECTLY NORMAL after making changes to the System Configuration Utility.. That's EXACTLY what you're trying to do.. Make changes to the startup procedures and eliminate unnecessary programs from starting. You WANT the System Configuration Utility in "Selective Startup". Every computer I take care of runs in "Selective Startup".

The next time you restart the computer, when you see the warning box: "You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts" etc, simply place a CHECK mark in the box that says: "Do not show this message or launch the "System Configuration Utility when Windows starts". After checking the box, msconfig won't show up at boot time.

Hope this helps.

Grif

Hope this helps.

Grif

start-up list items, here a link to another post with link for AOL Removal tools. You'll find the whole thread useful to scan. Good Luck & Have Patience!

http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6142-0.html?forumID=5&threadID=185538&messageID=2023140

cnet had a nice program for cleaning and keeping clean your start up it is in their downloads and is free the name is winpatrol get it there or at winpatrol.com
install it look it over get to know it and it will help you a lot have fun i love winpatrol

Hi Ben,
Your problem is not uncommon. Unfortunately, so many manufacturers are preloading their computers with so many free and trial software programs that it can take forever to boot up as well as may run very poorly. Also, I dont know how long you have been using this computer, but you may also be infected with some spyware or even a virus. If you follow the steps below, it may take you a few hours to completely cleanup your system.

Note: If your computer came with less than 512 meg of memory, you should consider adding some extra memory.

1. The first thing is to make sure your computer is clear of any viruses by running a full virus scan with whatever scanner you may have installed. Make sure you run the update for your Antivirus software first before scanning.

2. The next step is to uninstall any programs that you do not intend to use. For best results, it is recommended that you restart your computer after uninstalling each program. Click on the START > CONTROL PANEL > ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS. This will bring up a list of all the installed programs on your computer. Start going through the list and remove anything that you know you dont want. Some examples may be AOL, i-Tunes, Microsoft Money, Quicken, Earthlink, MusicMatch, any search assistant type programs, Google Desktop. If you are unsure about any of the entries, just leave them. Norton or McAfee Internet Security can tend to be a real resource hogs, so you might want to consider removing them and install something else such as AVG, but that is up to you.

3. From that same ADD OR REMOVE PROGRAMS window select the ADD REMOVE WINDOWS COMPONENTS TAB on the left and uncheck to turn off the following if already checked. Indexing Service, MSN Explorer, Windows Messenger.

4. Run Windows Disk Cleanup. START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > DISK CLEAN UP and check off all categories. I also like using ATF cleaner to remove Temp files, clean up History and clear the Prefetch.

5. Download and install SpyBot Search and Destroy. After installing you will need to run update to get the most recent definitions. Scan and remove anything that it finds. You may also want to download and install Ewedo and do the same. You may need to run these scanners a couple of times to remove all the problems.

6. Check the Startup tab in MSCONFIG. Click on START > RUN and type MSCONFIG. Click on the STARTUP TAB and uncheck any items that you know you do not want to start such as Real Player and MSN Messenger. If you are unsure of any entries try a Google search to learn more about what they are before removing. Now restart your computer.

7. Finally you want to run Windows Disk Defragmenter to reorganize your hard drive. Click on START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > SYSTEM TOOLS > DISK DEFRAGMENTER. NOTE: This can take a few hours to complete.


Good Luck!

Dana Hugenberger
WaylandComputer.com

i can't seem to find the course you referred to
(how to speed up your computer...runs from 6/19-7/7)
i just see a PC 101 course
any help would be appreciated
ty

hi,


This problem is amazingly annoying, I looked at the specs for your computer, usually if the RAM is very low (eg. 128MB) there is no hope but you have more RAM then me. there is no utility that completly fixes everything, there is a lot of things you have to do.

The utilty that i reccomend is TuneXP 1.5.

http://www.download.com/TuneXP/3000-2086_4-10290928.html?tag=lst-0-4

This program is totally free, the interface isnt impressing but it is easy to use. When you first install it go into the documentation that is under help and enable everything that it reccomends for everyone and reccomends for some people. With your amount of ram I suggest setting the IO page lock limit to 512MB or above (under Memory And File System). This will give priorty to more than one program. After this is all done. Then you should clear your prefetch files, defrag your boot files, then do ultra fast booting (rearanging boot files). This process will move your boot files to a place on your hard drive that will be easy for your computer to access, and also de-freagment your whole hard drive.

Next you should un-install all the programs in Add/Remove programs that come with the computer that you know you dont use. make sure you dont uninstall the drivers for your graphics drivers or sound card drivers. this will help significantly.

Once all of the programs that you dont use are gone then you should go to start/run and then type in Msconfig.exe and go to the Startup Tab.
Uncheck the programs that you dont use when you first start up your computer that you want to load only when you need them. You can figure out what program it is by looking under where it is (most of the time the program name is somewhere in the file path under the command column) when finished click ok and then restart your computer.

You should also download CCleaner (it means crap-cleaner) from its website: http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

You should run this cleaner and scanner every few days (takes very little time) and this will make your computer run smoothly. go to the clean tab and the issuses tab when cleaning.