From: wbe@ubeblock.psr.com.invalid   
      
   "NealJ"  originally asked:   
   >>> It takes 5minutes to boot up my XP System to a settled condition; is   
   >>> there anyway I can reduce this time?   
      
   I replied:   
   >>   If you've been good about installing patches and maybe upgraded to   
   >> newer versions of Internet Explorer over the years, you might not have   
   >> noticed that they take a lot more RAM to run than was needed years ago.   
   >> Having too little RAM will slow things down a lot.   
      
   >>   Another approach, if it's a desktop, is to log out when you're done, but   
   >> don't shut down the computer -- leave it running all the time.  That way   
   >> things like your anti-virus software that may download updates at startup   
   >> won't all be trying to run.   
      
   "NealJ"  then replied:   
   > I have defragmented;I have recently added extra Ram;   
      
   If you have a performance monitor program (Norton may include one), check   
   memory usage.  That can show you whether your system has too little.   
      
   1GB appears to be "enough" (on a system I manage).  512MB appeared to cause   
   swapping.  When its owner bought the system (many years ago), it ran   
   passably at the time with just 128MB.  :)   
      
   > the problem has been there for some time.  I will try your suggestion of   
   > logging off !   
      
   [To clarify my suggestion, if you plan to use the computer again relatively   
   soon, *just* log off and leave the computer on, thus avoiding boot time.   
   If you're not going to use it for a few days, go ahead and turn it off and   
   save the electricity.]   
      
   > What time should it take to boot?!   
      
   That depends on disk speed, CPU, and CPU speed in addition to having enough   
   memory to avoid swapping.  My experience isn't broad enough to guess.   
      
   The real issue, to me, is how long does it take for all the startup   
   processes to finish and the system to reach idle so that the computer will   
   actually be reasonably responsive?  When the system I now manage only had   
   384MB of memory and was running Norton 360 and XP SP3, it could take 15-20   
   minutes!  The "disk active" light would be nearly solidly ON that whole   
   time.  One could log in and get to the desktop display before that, but the   
   system would be so slow it was barely usable.  Increasing memory eliminated   
   a huge amount of swapping, so now the system becomes usable much faster   
   (though the exact time depends on what, exactly, the startup processes   
   decide to do, which is "more" if the computer has been off for a while and   
   "not much" if the system ran recently).   
      
   In any case, leaving the computer turned on means not having to wait for   
   any of the system startup activities to start, run, and finish.  The   
   computer will be essentially idle (or, more likely, will hibernate).  Going   
   from bringing the system out of hibernation to being logged in and usable   
   can be ~15-20 seconds or better (again, depending on CPU, CPU speed, disk   
   speed, memory, how many startup tasks the user you log in as has, etc.).   
      
   Of course, if you're the only user and there's only one account you log in   
   with and you're not worried about anyone else using your computer, you   
   could just Hibernate directly without even bothering to log out and log in   
   again.   
      
   HTH,   
    -WBE   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)