How To Speed Up Logon Times In Windows XP

When you logon to your Computer does it seem like it takes forever before you can start using Windows XP? If you answered yes, one reason for slow logon times could be caused by the number of Programs that are set to auto start during the logon process.

During the logon process, one task Windows performs, is to load all programs set to auto run and found in the Startup folder. Behind the scenes, Windows does not set the startup load order of programs. Instead it just starts them up one after another without waiting for a program to load first before starting another program. This creates a bottleneck resulting in a slow down to occur until all Programs have loaded.

To restore order and your sanity, a freeware utility allows you to set the load order and speed up logon times for Windows…

Before we get started, let's clarify what startup and logon times really mean.

Startup, restart, or power on all mean booting up your Computer. This is the time it takes to initialize the BIOS and load the Operating System which includes loading device drivers, starting Services, etc, all the way up to the point where you see the logon prompt.

Logon refers to the time it takes to start Windows Explorer shell, load your profile, startup Programs that are in your startup folder or set to auto run. It is this phase or process that the freeware utility Startup Delayer (www.r2.com) can help speed up logon times.

Startup Delayer is easy to install and setups quickly. To get started, download Startup Delayer and install by clicking on startdelay_v2.3b125.exe and follow the instructions.

NOTE: Startup Delayer is not compatible with Vista, but will run on all previous versions of Windows including XP.

After installation has completed, Startup Delayer will open, showing you a list of Programs that start when you logon. The first thing you want to do is activate it by clicking on the red icon on the toolbar labeled SD and selecting Graphical Version.

When in Graphical Version mode, Startup Delayer will display showing the status of each Program as it is starting during the logon process.

Next, double click on each Program and set the delay to the time you want to specify then click save. I like to start with three seconds for the first one and increment by three to five seconds for each Program until I'm finished.

Once you have made you settings, you are finished and ready for a faster logon time. Inthe future, as you install programs, open up Startup Delayer and and set the delay time for the new program.

Other settings include manually adding programs by selecting File \ Add Program from the menu, adding more information to the interface by adding columns (right click and select Columns) or stopping Startup Delayer by selecting Actions \ Deactivate Startup Delayer.

Next time you startup you will see Startup Delayer panel, showing you the status of each programs it is starting.

Over time you can make adjustments to further decrease logon times.

Now you may think by setting the order of how programs load, may seem like it will increase the time to logon.

But by setting the order, your Computer will not need to multi task and provide additional resources to handle multiple programs loading at once. Loading programs one by one, will allow the Computer to respond quicker and eliminate the switching back and forth to allocate Processor time and valuable resources. This benefit will be greatly notice for Programs that require significant resources to start up.