It might be irritating to wait for your computer to boot up, particularly if you’re pressed for time. Inappropriate boot sequence, an excessive number of launch applications and services, and other factors are common causes of this slowness. To have your computer ready for use as soon as you switch it on, follow these instructions.
1. Activate Quick Startup
When Windows shuts down, Fast Startup enables it to preserve the system kernel, loaded drivers, and system information to a unique hibernation file rather than completely shutting everything down. This speeds up the boot process by restoring this stored state when your computer turns on instead of starting from zero.
Type Control Panel into the search box and launch the application to activate Fast Startup on Windows. Click “Choose What the Power Buttons Do” in the left sidebar after selecting Hardware and Sound > Power Options. Click the “Turn On Fast Startup (Recommended)” box in the Shutdown Settings section.
Click “Change settings that are currently unavailable” and provide administrator permission to activate this option if it is grayed out.
2. Disable Programs for Startup
When you install some programs, they automatically get permission to run at startup. These starting programs might slow down the time it takes for your computer to be ready for use by using system resources like memory and CPU. While some, like antivirus software, are necessary, others might not be required and may cause boot time to be unnecessarily slowed down.
Examine the application list and turn off any apps that aren’t needed. Click the Start button with a right-click, then select “Task Manager.” To see a list of applications and their startup effect (low, medium, or large), choose the “Startup Apps” option.
Choose the programs you don’t need, then right-click on them and choose “Disable” to stop them from starting up.
3. Defragment your HDD or get an SSD.
Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) use magnetism to read and write data on the disk’s surface and contain moving elements. Solid-State Drives (SSDs), on the other hand, employ flash memory in conjunction with electrical circuits and lack moving components. SSDs are thus much quicker than HDDs. If your laptop has an HDD, switching to an SSD will significantly reduce the time it takes for your operating system to load up.
You should defragment your hard drive if you’re not ready to move to an SSD and would want to continue using an HDD. An HDD’s read and write rates may decrease as a result of data being fragmented (scattered) over time. By rearranging the data on your HDD into continuous chunks, defragmenting it speeds up Windows bootup and improves read times.
4. Set Your OS Drive as a BIOS Priority
The BIOS searches each drive to locate and boot the operating system when you have many drives attached to your computer, such as an SSD, HDD, or USB drive. A slower boot time results from the computer taking longer to find the drive containing your operating system if it is lower in the boot order. This is because it also checks the other drives that do not contain the OS.
Putting your operating system drive at the top of the boot priority list will fix this. This will stop the BIOS from searching OS in other drives and speed up the boot process. In order to accomplish this, restart your computer, press the relevant key or keys to access the BIOS/UEFI settings, select the “Boot” or “Boot Order” section, and place your OS drive at the top of the list.
5. Reduce OS Selection Timeout
When you have several operating systems installed on your laptop, the system provides an OS selection window, allowing you to pick which OS to boot into. This slows down the starting process by adding a few additional seconds to the boot process. If you don’t choose, the system may take up to 30 seconds to boot into the default operating system.
To save time during boot-up, you may reduce the timeout to 5–10 seconds if you don’t often use the other operating system. Press Win+R, enter sysdm.cpl, and press Enter to do this. You may adjust the “Time to display list of operating systems” to 5 or 10 seconds by clicking the “Settings” button in the Advanced page.
In this manner, you’ll have ample time to choose your favorite operating system, but if you go away after hitting the power button, you won’t spend 30 seconds during bootup.
6. Disable Extraneous Services
After installation, certain programs are automatically granted access to perform background services. A launcher may keep applications ready to start, a remote desktop application might check for incoming connections, a browser might run an update service, or certain apps might keep their support assistant running. Your computer may become slower as a result of these background services.
To remedy this problem, identify and switch off superfluous services that don’t need to run consistently. Press Win+R, type msconfig, and press Enter. Navigate to the “Services” tab, then select “Hide All Microsoft Services” to omit important system functions. Review the remaining services, uncheck those you don’t need, click “Disable All,” then “Apply,” and press “OK.”
7. Optimize Paging File
A paging file is a part of your storage disk that functions as additional RAM when your computer’s actual RAM runs out. It allows your device to free up RAM for important activities by storing less often accessible data there. The paging file size is often set to a standard number by default, which may not be sufficient. Boot time may be improved by increasing the virtual memory.
Navigate to Settings > System > About > Advanced System Settings to expand virtual memory. Navigate to the “Advanced” tab in the System Properties box, then choose “Settings” from the Performance section. Go to the “Advanced” tab again and choose “Change” under Virtual Memory. Choose “Size” after unchecking “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives.”
Set the maximum size to four times your RAM and the beginning size to 1.5 times your installed RAM. Set the starting size to 24576 MB and the maximum size to 65536 MB, for instance, if you have 16 GB (16384 MB) of RAM. Last but not least, choose “Set” and then “OK.” If the capacity on your disk is restricted, use as much as you can.
You may shorten the time it takes for your computer to start up by using the advice above. The procedure is accelerated by each step, therefore you must not skip any of them. Keep in mind that increasing boot speed requires constant attention, including removing new starting programs, turning down unused services, and taking other steps to ensure a continuously quick boot.