Curing the Vista Slow Startup Blues

Do you have the Vista slow startup problem? Do you hit your power button and go make a pot of coffee while you wait for your computer to boot in the morning? There is nothing more annoying than a slow computer, it makes you want to take a big sledgehammer to it.

Here's a few tips you can try to fix your slow startup problem. First of all you want to disable any programs that are in the startup menu that you do not absolutely need. There is no sense in waiting for programs to load that you do not use on a regular basis. Or if you are not sure which one is slowing your startup. You can disable them one at a time.

If that did not help, you can disable your Windows sidebar. You'll also want to remove any icons from your desktop that you do not absolutely need. The same goes for your task bar and quick start menu. All of these will slow down your boot time.

Check to make sure your anti virus program is not scanning at startup. Some programs are set to scan. When windows boots, by default. You will also want to do a full anti virus scan to make sure you do not have a worm or any other type of virus that is working in the background slowing your operations down.

The largest reason for a slow boot time is a corrupt or damaged Registry. The registry will become corrupt from installing and uninstalling programs. Perhaps you have loaded programs onto your new Vista computer and were not compatible and then uninstall them. They leave behind files, which Windows tries to reference on startup. Since they are no longer on your computer. Your system goes through a long search trying to find them. You need to clean and optimize your Windows registry to eliminate any bad or orphaned files.

You can do this manually if you are an experienced computer technician. It is not recommended for most users. Windows does not have a built-in tool for repairing, cleaning, or optimizing your registry. You will need to download and run a third-party program to do this.

A good piece of software that will do this for you with a click of the mouse is a wise investment for any computer. You will have it for years to come, and can schedule it to do weekly maintenance. This will keep your PC fully optimize and running fast. It's like giving your computer a tuneup.