Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Improve Startup Time
By Cate Eales

Appeared January 11, 2007 on castanet.net

This week we have news on several major updates to Windows and other programs, and a tip on how to decrease the time it takes for your computer to start up.


Get off to a fast start
A frequent lament from clients and readers of this column is, "My computer takes FOREVER to start."

If you are tired of a routine that involves turning on your computer, going to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee (and maybe a sandwich) and returning to the computer only to find it still in "Hourglass Mode," here are two things you can do that should make a difference.

First, figure out what is loading every time Windows starts up, and stop unneeded applications from doing that! We've talked about this before, here, and here.

But you can shorten the time it takes for the icons on your desktop to display at startup by turning off a "feature" of Windows XP not needed by most home users. By default, Windows searches for network folders and printers at startup. If you don't connect to a network, this is a waste of time. Even if you do connect to a network, you probably don't need to search right when you start up! To stop this behaviour:

Microsoft Updates
"Patch Tuesday" saw security fixes for a number of problems in Internet Explorer 7 and Office. Please make sure you are updating your Windows XP, either by visiting Microsoft Update or by turning on Automatic Updates. You will be offered the Office updates there, unless you are using Office 2000. Office 2000 users need to visit Microsoft Office Update, here.


AVG Free Updates
Users of AVG Free anti-virus have just until the end of this month to install the upgrade (free) to version 7.5. You do have to uninstall version 7.1 before installing the upgrade, but the really good news is that they have made it easy to do and have published a clear set of instructions, here.

If you also use ZoneAlarm, you might need to follow these instructions from the ZoneAlarm forum:

ZA firewall users -
Please note that with the program update 7.5.432 the AVG program AVGINET.EXE version has been updated to 7.5.0.432. Consequently in 'ZA Program Control' the green check marks will have to be re-added back in so that the total is back to the normal 4.

That's a bit cryptic, I know. What he's saying is:

When you're through, it should look like this:

Thank you once again for emailing your questions, comments, and suggestions to cate@rlis.com. Please keep doing that! Remember, you can browse the column archives any time.

Links
Using msconfig http://rlis.com/columns/column44.htm
Using Autoruns http://rlis.com/columns/column46.htm
Microsoft Update http://update.microsoft.com/
Office Update http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/maincatalog.aspx
AVG upgrade instructions http://free.grisoft.com/doc/3/lng/us/tpl/v5
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?Sub=20618
RSS Feed: http://rlis.com/rlis.xml

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Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.