Windows Startup – The Problem
If you think it is taking longer and longer to boot your computer you are not going crazy, it most likely is taking longer. The main reason usually is not some physical problem with your machine, or that it is just getting older. As odd as it may sound, the problem can be summed up as pride.
That’s right; pride has caused most software companies to produce software that starts up every time you turn on your computer. They offer a few reasonable sounding explanations, but on further examination these explanations don’t hold up.
One “reason” for these AutoStart programs is so that the software can automatically update. Sounds good but most commercial software is not often updated; the vendor usually has stated working on a completely different version even before you bought this one. If you are downloading a program it is usually the latest version and if you buy it from a store the installation program should look for updates during the install process. An important exception is your security software but that is a no-brainer always leave it set to run on startup.
Another “reason” given for having programs AutoStart is that they will then run in the background and be ready for you instantly when you need them. That whole theory is a farce because do you want to wait for the program to load every time you start your computer or do you want to wait for the program to load when you want to use the program. You are going to wait for it one way or another. Another problem with this approach is that your computer has only so much memory to run programs, if you have a bunch of them running in the background you will not have any memory left to run them in the foreground. Your computer is going to run slow all around because of the background programs.
So yes your computer probably is taking longer to start up than it used to, but it is not the computers fault. It is the fault of prideful software developers. There are a number of things you can do to fix the problem. Some address the problem head on and others compensate for the problem. My advice is to use all of the suggested measures and you are sure to have not only a faster booting computer but one that runs faster overall as well.