Optimize Your PC for Faster Start-Up

1. Tweak the PC Setup:

Your PC's hardware can keep you waiting for quite a while before Windows has a chance to start. You can reduce the delay by changing a few settings in your CMOS.

Quick Power On Self-Test: Set this to Fast or Enabled to skip some time-consuming memory and hardware start-up tests. The downside is that you might miss a developing problem with RAM or the motherboard.

Floppy Seek: If your PC's floppy has been working fine, there's no reason to test it every time you boot. Set this to Disabled.

IDE Drives: Look for a list of your Primary and Secondary IDE channels. When these options are set to Auto, your PC pauses to identify each IDE device as it boots. Set this to None on IDE channels you aren't using.

2. Check for viruses, spyware and adware:

Hidden malicious or annoying programs often load at system start-up, slowing down the process. Get rid of them by scanning for viruses and pests regularly.

Don't have antivirus and spyware utilities? You can get a free antivirus at Avast or AVG . At Trend Micro and BitDefender, you can find a free online virus check. Spybots-S&D can help you remove spyware and adware from your system, or you can try at PestScan's free online detector.

3. Eliminate unwanted start-up programs:

Go to Start, Run, typing MSCONFIG , click OK and you can see what programs load at start-up. (Msconfig isn't in Windows 2000, but programs like Startup Control Panel can fill in for it.)

Click the Startup tab to see a list of programs that launch at start-up. You'll need to experiment to see what you can do without. Just uncheck the boxes on the left-hand side of the Msconfig window to keep them from loading. The name and location of each file can help you figure out what it does.

In Windows XP, Msconfig has a Services tab that shows other application and OS components. Some can be unchecked so they won't load at start-up; others are essential to Windows.

4. Tune the Registry:

Programs like RegClean can sweep out defunct hardware and software settings that can clog up your Registry. RegClean works for older versions of Windows.

5. Defragment your hard drive:

Your hard drive doesn't always save a file in one place. Instead, it tucks parts of the file wherever there's free space. Use Disk Defragmenter on each of your drives to make those files contiguous, improving both start-up and overall Windows performance. Select Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter, select a drive, and click Start.