slow start up and shut down in new Vista laptop

L

Llyd

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 26, 2003
Messages
154
So I finally bit the bullet and bought a laptop for school; most worthwhile scholastic investment I've made since dropping Chem107.
Anyway, I got the Gateway MT6451 with Vista Home Premium. So far I've loved it and have enjoyed Vista thoroughly! My one beef is how slow start up and shut down are. Once it's been running for about 10-15 minutes, it runs great, but it's getting it to that point. Same thing for shutting down. I click Shut Down, go to the bathroom, solve world peace, and come back when it's done. Exaggerated, but not when you are rushing from class to class. I've gotten rid of superfluous programs, etc., but I'm betting there are some services I could eliminate at start up that would help.
There used to be a sticky about this, but even after trying his tips, I haven't noticed a big difference. In fact, it may be slower.

So, any programs I can use with Vista to analyze my start up or just any general tips would be great. Let me know what you need to know!

grace and peace,
matt
 
do a start>run>msconfig click the tab for startup. disable all. reboot, see if that helps your boot time at all. if it does you have to much programs/services starting up with the computer. might want to do a fresh install of vista. to make sure you don't have any of the preinstall crap left.

edit: because i responded w/o reading the whole thing.
 
Don't just go right for disabling everything from msconfig. That's going too far into the drastic side. Using msconfig, or StartUp CPL, disabling only those things that aren't necessary, such as IM programs, etc. Then see how it is, and go from there. Chances are, it's on offending application that's causing the slowdown.

As for the shutdown slowness, you do the same, but in reverse. When you're ready to shut down, manually close one running program, usually in your system tray, and then shut down. Repeat that process until you have a quick shutdown. Then you'll know which program was causing it.
 
That laptop has integrated ethernet, wireless and firewire, all of which are acting as available networks. It also has a dial-up modem. Disable all alternatives which you don't actually use, because they'll be causing delays.
 
dang...i'd even recommend a format to make sure you got rid of all the shit gateway loaded on there. but i have a feeling all they gave you for a restore disc is just an image of the drive as it was shipped. is that true? otherwise, back stuff up to a thumb drive and format away lol. i've done that with every laptop i've gotten...saves a lot of trouble, believe me.

i also recommend reading thru TweakGuides' Vista guide...there is a ton of good stuff in there including what services you can disable, registry tweaks, and other things. plus its downloadable so you can view it offline.

http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html
 
Ditto removing extra crap you don't use right off the bat, but not totally scratching your startup items.

I must add I have found Vista to be slower than XP at startup and shutdown, I've seen this on every Vista machine I've ever used. A downside, but really not too much of a bother...
 
blast... I was worried when buying this thing that I might have to do a fresh install. I'll check to see if I can fix it without doing so, but otherwise if it didn't come with a Vista disk then I'll wait for Vista to be available through A&M for $20. I'll try some of these tips and let you know what happens. :)
 
You don't need to reformat. You only need to uninstall any preinstalled proprietary software which you don't want to use. Identify it. Uninstall it. Have a cleaner system just as you would've had with a clean install from a Vista DVD.

If your Recovery media is only provided as a hard drive recovery partition there'll be a tool available to enable you to create a set of recovery disks. Do that before making any other changes, so you can restore the laptop to factory shipped state later. (That should be done even if only to retain resale value.) Then use Add/Remove Programs to get rid of any unwanted stuff.

That's all you need to do.
 
Llyd said:
blast... I was worried when buying this thing that I might have to do a fresh install. I'll check to see if I can fix it without doing so, but otherwise if it didn't come with a Vista disk then I'll wait for Vista to be available through A&M for $20. I'll try some of these tips and let you know what happens. :)
Click to expand...

Vista Ultimate is now listed on software.tamu.edu but it is sold out and is expected to be in July 1st at 1pm. You can still place an order for it though.

Have you tried using sleep? It works extremely well in Vista and is a lot faster than shutting down and booting up.
 
Killroy said:
Have you tried using sleep? It works extremely well in Vista and is a lot faster than shutting down and booting up.
Click to expand...


100% true. I really don't see any advantage at all to shutting down a modern computer nowdays :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top