Wait once computer starts.

Question

I have a dell dimension with 1.6 GHZ and Windows XP and whenever I start up my computer and login, I have to wait maybe 2 minutes before any programs will run. Is there anything I can do? Also if I wait a couple minutes at the login screen everything will run fine then.

pofolks4 · Answer

That's caused most likley by your programs loading. I wait mainly for my Anti-virus.
Check out this site and see if you can uncheck some startup programs.
http://www2.whidbey.net/djdenham/Uncheck.htm

Dell Dimension 8200
512 Rambus Ram
40 Gig HD
1.9 GHz processor
64 mb nvidea G Force Ti 200
Windows XP home edition
Voytera Turtle Beach soundcard
Logitech Optical Mouse & Keyboard
Harman/Kardon 695 speakers
Panda Titanium AntiVirus
Zonealarm Pro
HP Officejet v40 printer

bigmoney · Answer

go to start>run> in the open box type msconfig and click on ok, you will then get a system configuration utility box, with a bunch of tabs across the top...click on startup and on the bottom left choose disable all. Click apply, then click close, it will then ask you to restart. Go ahead and restart. After you boot up you will get a box saying you are using selective startup, put a check mark in the box for "Don't show me this in the future" and click on ok. It should be a lot faster then.

volcano11 · Answer

Bigmoney,

I don't have any experience with Windows XP, so you may be right. My point is that one should not just go in and disable a bunch of stuff from starting, without knowing what one is doing. Please explain what gets disabled when you do as you suggest.

Steve

bigmoney · Answer

With XP, the files needed to start up 'System files' Are not listed there as they are in ME or 98, so by disabling them you will not disable the system files as mentioned by Volcano

haaba01 · Answer

Hi volcano,

If I download the program called TweakBios would this do the same thing you referenced in your above reply? Barb

Dell 4300 XP Home Edition
Pent 4 1.6HGz
40 GB Western Ditigal
128 MB Sdram (Duh)
ATI Rage Ultra 16MB
NEC NR 7800A Cd RW/Floppy
Conexant HSF V92 Modem
Creative SB Live Sound
Altec Lansing Speakers & Subwoofer
Epson 880 Printer
HP ScanJet 3400
ZoneAlarm
Norton Antivirus 2002

bigmoney · Answer

anytime you install a program such as AOL it throws a startup program in there, and with XP those are the only ones in there that are starting up, so when you disable all of those programs. only the uneccesary items such as aol tray icons, msn messenger, stuff that can't be started up when you use them will be disabled from automatically starting up. All the system files are in the registry in XP and can't be disabled without editing the registry

bigmoney · Answer

very ture Volcano. Don't mess with Dell Bios because you'll get serious errors.

volcano11 · Answer

spear33,

Note that if you follow Bigmoney's advice you may be disabling things that are necessary to run your computer or protect your computer. For example you will disable your antivirus software from running at startup, you will disable system restore and scheduled tasks. You may or may not want these things running from startup, but if you blindly follow Bigmoney's advice without thinking about what you are disabling, you may be in for Bigtrouble.

Where is the boot process stalling? Is it before Windows loads? If so, and you have a lot of memory, you can enable fast boot in the BIOS setup program which will stop the system from running a memory test which may take a long time on systems with a lot of memory.

Steve

volcano11 · Answer

Barb, I have no experience with TweakBios so I can't say. But, Dell's BIOS is very limited in what you can change, so I would be wary of using such a program. Steve

haaba01 · Answer

nt = No Text

Dell 4300 XP Home Edition Pent 4 1.6HGz 40 GB Western Ditigal 128 MB Sdram (Duh) ATI Rage Ultra 16MB NEC NR 7800A Cd RW/Floppy Conexant HSF V92 Modem Creative SB Live Sound Altec Lansing Speakers & Subwoofer Epson 880 Printer HP ScanJet 3400 ZoneAlarm Norton Antivirus 2002

Denny Denham · Answer

bigmoney,

While some of the files available in the Windows 9X family of operating sytems (such as PCHealth) are hidden from the startup tab of msconfig in XP, items such as the firewall (if used) and antivirus are available there. It isn't too much of a stretch for me to imagine a novice user simply unchecking them if he/she thought that by doing so would speed up the boot process.

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For help in deciding what can be eliminated from your Startup list, take a look here.
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bigmoney · Answer

But you also have to realize a novice isn't going to have all those extra because XP has a firewall, and tehy would have to know how to disable it to use another etc... so a novice isn't going to need all those extra or advanced features.

tonyh1 · Answer

Check in Task Manager/processes for dellmmkb.exe. Not much you can do if this is what is causing the delay after login unless a Dell techie can help

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Wait once computer starts.

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