Windows 7 fails to help PCs start-up and shutdown fast enough
If there is one thing that annoys me about Windows-based PCs, it is the amount of time it takes for them to start up and shutdown every day. Both Windows XP and Vista suffer this “twiddle your thumbs” fate. Could Windows 7 change things? No, not by the looks of it.
I have for years, in fact ever since I started up and shutdown my first Windows-based PC, wondered why on earth it takes so long for these things to happen. Like a good energy-saver, I power down my PC every night, and often at some midway point during the day as well. And it takes an absolute age for it to both shutdown and start up again.
I mean, OK, I can understand to a certain extent why it takes a couple of minutes for a PC to boot up. Windows has many processes which all need to start up and be running in order to make Windows as easy-to-use as it is. There is also the oodles of software and drivers most of us force our PCs to deal with.
Most days I have time to make a cup of coffee and get dressed between the time it takes for me to press the ‘On’ button and the computer actually being ready and willing to bow to my whim. I often make it to my desk in time to see the applications loading up on the task bar while I twiddle my thumbs waiting for the piece of technology in front of me to decide it’s ready to go.
Shutting down is even worse. While it doesn’t take as long to achieve, my PC often chooses this time to crash, forcing me to switch it off manually and risk damaging the system in the process. As Larry Magid at CNET inquires, why do we put up with it when we wouldn’t do so if it was any piece of equipment other than a PC?
While XP and Vista suffer from these long-winded and often fatal shutdown and start-ups, Windows 7 is an all-new opportunity for Microsoft to remove this annoyance from its users and increase the efficiency of workers at the same time. Unfortunately, while the beta versions already released do offer a little improvement, it isn’t enough to save me from getting vexed waiting for things to happen.
There is a chance that performance will improve by the time the final version hits the market, but I doubt it’ll be enough to soothe my agony. Maybe Microsoft should make this a key part of its plans when it comes to developing the next operating system.
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March 29th, 2009
In Windows 7 my system startup from power on in 40 secs and shutdown in 8 secs.
My Specs: Asus M3n72-d MB, 8gig Corsair Memory 800, 1TB Hitachi HD, Geforce 9600, 512mb GPU, Phenom 9500 cpu
March 29th, 2009
“Most days I have time to make a cup of coffee and get dressed between the time it takes for me to press the ‘On’ button and the computer actually being ready and willing to bow to my whim. ”
Are you still using your 5 year old pc??
March 29th, 2009
On Vista, one could do some hacks to make the start up times and shut down times improve to that approaching the performance of XP. Surely some these hacks (if needed) can be applied to Windows 7.
Disable System Restore
Disable Windows Indexing
Disable windows Defender
Disable Aero
Disable Side Bar
Minimize start up programs to one or none.
Replace Antivirus with AVG
March 29th, 2009
Erm… if your computer sucks… don’t blame it on the Operating System
March 29th, 2009
I upgraded my HP dv8211tx from XP Home to Vista HP. Start-up and shut-down is far faster in Vista than in XP. As well, I have a HP m9180a desktop running Vista Ultimate and again the start-up and shut-down times are quite fast. I suspect the author needs to have another look at his computer.
March 29th, 2009
Some thought Vista’s 5 minute start up to desktop a part of the “trusted and safe computing experience”. lol
And did they ever fix that “little” problem of Vista eating up teh hard drive space?
I would love to see how Windows 7 would run on a Atom netbook with a 16 SSD if they didn’t fix the hard drive issue. Two days and the SSD would be filled up…rotfl
And whats with the newer laptops with Vista are coming with as much as 4 GB Ram and desktops with as much as 6 GB Ram.
4 GB just to run a “OS “? lmao…
March 30th, 2009
Well, my gaming laptop, which came with Vista Premium installed, boots fast enough, really, but it takes 2-3 minutes to shut down (and also crashes often at that point).
Also, it generally crashes on wakeup after sleep or hibernation, so what I do is I just leave it on if I’ll be using it within an hour or two, and power it down otherwise.
Sadly, though, I loose NAS drive and network printer connectivity generally if I sleep/hibernate, so I have to reboot in those cases if I need those items. I have time to get coffee in those pauses, for sure.
I’d be happy if Windows 7 allowed laptops to wake up from sleep and hibernation at all *and* retain network peripheral connectivity. My wife’s MacBook seems to do all these things effortlessly, and shuts down much faster than my HP, too.
Obviously a faster boot and shutdown sequence would be a BIG help, too, but maybe Microsoft could get basic things done FIRST like sleep, hibernation, and network peripheral connectivity…
March 31st, 2009
“Windows has many processes which all need to start up and be running in order to make Windows as easy-to-use as it is”
FINALLY!!! A writer on this site FINALLY acknowledges something that any pc user would say is OBVIOUSE, Windows is INCREDIBLY easy to use!!!
March 31st, 2009
Also, I must say a couple things in response to what you guys responded. The time Vista takes for me to awake from sleep/hibernation is INCREDIBLE!!! Like about 3 seconds or 5 tops. No word of lie!!!
But, I must say, Ralph is right and wrong on what he said (he said more than one thing). Who needs 4 or 6 GB’s of RAM? Umm, well, let’s go back 10 years. The year? 1999. The amount of RAM on an average computer (sold) out there?Around 128 MB’s. Now, what about 5 years? 2004. The amount of RAM on an average computer (sold) out there? Around 500 MB’s. Now, this year, 2009, the average amount of RAM on an average pc is what? Around 3 GB’s. Do you see some kind of a pattern here? Oh yeah, it’s called that technology gets more and more advanced (and cheaper for advanced stuff), and people adapt and buy more advanced stuff. I call that normal!!
But, I must admit, it really is true. This is REALLY a mysterious, strange, and QUITE ANNOYING issue that I notticed on Vista almost immediately after first using it a few years ago. “And did they ever fix that “little” problem of Vista eating up teh hard drive space?”. Yes, that’s right, Vista mysteriously eats up your hard drive space, and then mysteriously gives it back to you within several hours or a day, and then, starts eating it up again. REALISTICALLY, if your computer is reporting you have 30 GB’s of free space, you probably have more like 23, with all this mysterious Vista space eating/space puking (when it gives it back).
March 31st, 2009
@Joe:
Disable system restore for a few days and see if the hard drive “eating” goes away.
I do agree that XP (and Ubuntu) runs much better with 1 GB than 512 MB ram. True with today’s apps needing more RAM.
But 4 GB?
April 6th, 2009
Seriously, you claim to want to be productive and you shut down your PC? Have been been living in a cave for so long you’ve never heard of “Hibernate”?
April 7th, 2009
Who gives a shit about shutdown or boot up when Vista gets really fast back from Hibernate. :’D Definetly professional wrote up this article.
April 7th, 2009
Where it was said btw that Vista requires 4gig ram? I have tested it with just 1 gig and it works perfectly, requires very little more than XP..
And who gives a shit if it requires let’s say 8 gig ram as the ram is very cheap stuff now?
May 7th, 2009
well, i just installed win7 rc1 and im actually using it now on my old acer aspire 5100 laptop with around 700Mb of RAM and boy is it fast.i mean, seriously i can’t even believe it runs this fast and smooth to think that the previous XP OS in this machine was quite sluggish. i think microsoft did something right this time.
and it boots/shutdowns fast too.