I want to speed up my startup

[JOSHSKORN]

I've been toying with the idea of overclocking but I don't know where to go. It's weird, it seems like when I upgraded my from Corsair XMS 2GB to Kingston ValueRAM 4GB, that my actual startup seems slow, but afterwards, my computer seems to work much better. I've also installed Oracle 11g on my computer which seems to take up about 500MB of RAM, roughly.

When I start up my computer, what I see is the blue lock on my network icon on the system tray for a good few minutes. If I just wait to use my computer a few minutes, it's just fine and it goes away. I've tried using the internet during the time when the blue lock is still on and it seems to work. This kind of makes me want to believe that the service that changes the icon seems to run last. I don't know, honestly, but that's just a guess.

I should also mention that I know about the free tools like CCleaner, Malwarebytes, Microsoft Security Essentials and Spybot Search & Destroy. I've run all these and my system is clean. My specs are:
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Processor: E6750
RAM: 4GB Kingston ValueRAM
Video: NVIDIA 8800 GTS 320MB

Any idea what I should do? By the way, I did run some sort of startup booster that required 6 restarts. It's here. However, I seem to have been missing something, as when I tried to EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch registry settings I could not locate them.

I was told that with Windows 7, I don't need a 3rd party optimizer, like what's in those software suites. Please help. Thanks.

 

[Petey7]

To enable prefetch and superfetch go to the start menu and type services and press enter. Scroll down to see the settings for both (should be automatic). Also go to the start menu and type msconfig and press enter. Go to the boot tab and press advanced options. Make sure both boxes are unticked. Some say that ticking both makes a difference, but only if you are setting it less than the max, as is sometimes done in advanced troubleshooting to see if RAM or a CPU is faulty. If the boxes are ticked and you untick them, make sure to tick the Make all boot settings permanent box before pressing OK.

Changes to Superfetch will take some time as it remembers what is loaded at start up and after logging in. You can also look at the start up tab in msconfig and see how many entries there are. Untick any that you don't need or might be causing the problem.

 

[whs]

Your best be is not to use any of thoe "wonder programs". They will just mess up your system. Instead, disable all the startup programs (except your AV program and the ones you have set yourself).

 

[Airbot]

You can take a look at the things in here. Maybe a couple that would help out.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/11728-optimize-windows-7-a.html?ltr=O

 

[HonorGamer]

Your best be is not to use any of thoe "wonder programs". They will just mess up your system. Instead, disable all the startup programs (except your AV program and the ones you have set yourself).

I can see why you would do that on a custom built computer, but what about ones that people just buy?

 

[karlsnooks]

Simple. You uninstall them.

Please follow previous advice and uncheck everything in the STartUp tab of MsConfig, that isn't absolutiely necessary. This will do no harm. If you find that you went too far unchecking, then smple recheck the item(s) you need.

I stripped mine down. Here's a snip of mine showing ALL programs that the startup tab "starts".

 

[Petey7]

Your best be is not to use any of thoe "wonder programs". They will just mess up your system. Instead, disable all the startup programs (except your AV program and the ones you have set yourself).

I can see why you would do that on a custom built computer, but what about ones that people just buy?

It is probably more important to do it with ones that you go out and buy because manufactuers put a whole lot of preinstalled software on their computers. Anything that is trial software can go ahead and be removed but the user may not want to delete everything that was preinstalled, so setting that software to not run is probably a good idea. Although, if the user is not aware of what should and should not be disabled, it's probably best to leave well enough alone or use a bit of trial and error, assuming you know how to correct any problems you may cause.

EDIT: I just want to add that I sometimes go a step futher and remove the item from the list completely. Some programs will have this as an option, others you can remove from the startup folder in the start menu, and those that remain you will have to go into the registry to remove (not recommended for inexperienced users).

 

[HonorGamer]

That is exactly what I was thinking. I just bought a brand new Acer laptop i think on thursday, and theres loads of processes that i don't know what they are.

 

[karlsnooks]

Petey,
With CCleaner you can remove the item completely from the startup tab.

In CCleaner | in the left-hand column click on Tools | in the Tools display click on Startup | highlight an item and choose Delete

 

[karlsnooks]

That is exactly what I was thinking. I just bought a brand new Acer laptop i think on thursday, and theres loads of processes that i don't know what they are.

Don't disable processes. Far too risky. Disable items in the startup list.

You can also
Control Panel | Programs and Features | right-click on any programs you don't want and choose Uninstall.

 

[Petey7]

Thanks for the tip karlsnooks. I do not use CCleaner though. I have nothing personal against it. I just have other ways of doing everything that is does and therefor do not see a need for it.

 

[HonorGamer]

I just have other ways of doing everything that is does and therefor do not see a need for it.

Kinda like going through windows default and doing it?

Thanks thought.

 

[karlsnooks]

No. Suggest you investigate CCleaner.

CCleaner

 

[Petey7]

What I mean is I have a little program called TFC for clearing out temporary files. The best thing about it is that it doesn't need to be installed. I carry it on a usb drive and anytime I'm working on a computer I run it once when I'm done. A lot of the other stuff it does, like disabling startup programs and deleting restore points, can be done manually, and I have no interest in any type of registry cleaner.

 

[karlsnooks]

You might be interested in this "trick"
Open up your C drive , navigate to the root (top-lievel folder) in Windows Explorer.
In that top long bar, type in %temp%
Now select all, right-click and choose delete.

 

[HonorGamer]

Wow, never seen that before. I did that, and CCleaner does not clear out all of those files.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

OK I just took a shot in the dark and tried something. Apparently it worked! I reviewed a few replies and apparently at some point in time I had tried those as well, which did nothing for me.

As I mentioned, I have Oracle 11g on my computer and figured this was the culprit, considering when I go to my Process Manager and sort everything by RAM, this is always on top without fail.

Basically, and I'm going to assume that will work across the board, look for anything that is starting up that is hogging the memory (but make sure it's not required for Windows to function). For me, it was Oracle 11g, for you, it could be who knows. Find out what their services are (only the ones that have the startup type listed as Automatic), and change the Startup type from Automatic, to Automatic (Delayed Start).

 

[mickey megabyte]

You might be interested in this "trick"
Open up your C drive , navigate to the root (top-lievel folder) in Windows Explorer.
In that top long bar, type in %temp%
Now select all, right-click and choose delete.

or you can just type/paste %temp% into your start-menu searchbox...

 

[karlsnooks]

Josh,

I do not recommend that approach,but I know that you are far wiser and more experienced than I.

Realizing that, I ask that you make a restore point aforehand.

System Restore - How to use
System Restore Point - How to Create

Incidentally, If you would like to know more about what ram is being used where and what files are involved, then be sure to ckedk out the files tab of RAMMAP.
RAMMap

 

[HonorGamer]

or you can just type/paste %temp% into your start-menu searchbox...

I must be on a learning spree today, because i didn't know about that either. lol.

And imma try that RAMMap program