Start up and shut down times

[SweatyOgre]

What causes a longer start up and a longer shut down time? My comps been taking awhile to shut down lately.

[InsaneWallaby]

I'm not really sure on this one. Most likely, there's either more processes to shut down, or more searching to shut down the processes. I find that a clean reformat fixes it all, but nobody ever likes to do that.

Try defragging. I'll edit the post if you need help figuring out how, so long as the computer is in Windows--I don't know much about Linux or Macs, yet.

[SweatyOgre]

Yea, my OS is windows XP. It's not the processes, it takes awhile during the "Windows is shutting down..." but even longer for the "Saving settings..." steps.

[InsaneWallaby]

How much stuff do you have on your computer? And, how long has it been since a reformat or when you bought it?

Defragging usually helps solve my problems when my computer gets slower, especially during a shutdown. When my computer slows (or even stops) shutting down, I usually defragment the drive. If your computer is sitting around with 40 or 50 Gb of stuff on it, and its been ages since a format or a defrag, I would definitely try a defrag. If you don't know what a defragment is, let me tell you: As a computer goes on, the computer writes to any old empty spot on the hard drive. Over time, it becomes a jumbled mess. Let me give an analogy--would it be easier to access a dollar of pennies out of a jar of change, or access a dollar of pennies out of a jar of pennies? Defragging pretty much sorts out the hard drive, and makes it so the computer can access the information faster.

I can't guarantee that a defragment will fix your problem, but it usually will help any other processes out dramatically if it has been ages since your last defragment.

[Sicloan]

Its all about how many processes you have running. On start up, if there are more progarms and processes your machine has to open it will take longer to start up, and the reverse is true on shut down.

Defragging is an option that will fix part of the problem. but disabling applications that dont need to start can dramatically fix it.

[SweatyOgre]

I already know what a defrag is and how to disable start up programs. I have the bare necessities upon startup, which is norton anti virus, norton firewall, and a few nVidia programs for my vid card. I'll try to defrag, but I don't think that'll do anything for shut down time.

[jd-inflames]

It also depends on how much RAM you have. I noticed startup and shutdown times going a lot faster after I increased from 256mb to 768mb.

[SweatyOgre]

I only have 512 since my mobo requires the weirdest kind of memory. Once I find someplace that has it, I'm gonna buy 2 gig sticks. For awhile, I'm stuck with 512.

[jd-inflames]

512 should be fine. Go to msconfig and see if there is anything in there that you don't need for startup. That should help a little bit.

[Chris]

Simple, your power management settings. When you first upload windows, every 30 minutes or so it will shut down the hard drive or the PC. Here is what you do

Right Click on Desktop > Properties > Screen Saver > Energy Save icon > change settings > Done! > download porn. Why did I include the last one? Well, just a test to make sure it works ^_^.

Note that is DURING the computer's running.

As for startup and shutdown, its your ram and how many programs and processes it needs to stop before it can completely shut down. My friend tells me its just better to leave your PC on all the time, to conserve power. IT takes more energy to start up or shut down a computer.

[SweatyOgre]

jd: I already run the absolute minimum needed processes.

I have the bare necessities upon startup, which is norton anti virus, norton firewall, and a few nVidia programs for my vid card.

hellwolf: Why did you tell me about power management? I already know what it is, what it does, and it has nothing to do with start up or shut down times. And I will never ever leave my computer on constantly. Aside from the fact that power could go out, which isn't good for it to just have its power cut off, it can get struck by lightning if there's a storm while I'm asleep. Not only that, shutting down doesn't take nearly as much power as running it for even a few hours does.

I've decided to just put up with it. It's only taking about a minute to do it instead of its previous 20-30 seconds.