Generally speaking, the slow startup problem exists only in Windows 10 or other previous versions. Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora etc.) on the other hand have quickest boot time if compared with MacOS/Windows. I have had many of friends asking me about how can they make their computer start (boot) faster into the operating system so they can start doing their stuff right away.
There are many factors to consider when optimizing the startup process of Windows 10. On this page, I will try highlight few of them which would make your system boot faster.
How to Fix Slow Windows 10 Starting Up and Boot Times:
Disable Unwanted Start Up Programs
You must have noticed that whenever you start your PC, you get different tray icons on the right corner of Taskbar. These programs are often unneeded and they create hindrance in loading the core processes of Windows, eventually slowing down the PC. Example of these programs are; Adobe Creative Cloud, CCleaner, Skype, Malwarebytes’ (free version), Synaptics Touchpad Software or Bloatware from hardware OEM. You can stop these programs from loading on PC startup easily.
- Press CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to open Task manager, click ‘More Details‘
- After the window is expanded with other settings, click on Startup Tab
- Then Right-click the unwanted programs and click ‘Disable‘
Next time when you boot into Windows, these programs will no longer start automatically.
Disable Unused Services
Services are important background processes that are set to start automatically on startup. For example, getting a local IP address from your Router, Windows Update check, Time Update and so on. Most of them are from Microsoft but 3rd party software such as Antivirus, Nvidia Graphic Driver, Steam, OpenVPN etc. also create automatic background services for checking updates or sniffing your personal data.
You can safely disable the services created by additional programs that you installed.
- Right-click start menu, click Run.
- On run Dialog box, type services.msc and press Enter, this will open Services app.
- You will see a huge list of services, don’t be overwhelmed or confused
- Inspect carefully, you will see services such as Nvidia Telemetry Container, Google/Chrome Update Service, Adobe Update Service, Steam Client Service.
- Double-click any to open their properties.
- From the startup type drop box, either select “Manual” or “Disabled” according to your preference, click OK.
Buy and Install a Solid State Drive (SSD)
Using a chip/flash based drive called SSD will make your computer 10 times faster and your Windows 10 will boot under 60 seconds guaranteed.
The reason behind is that traditional magnetic storage based Hard Drives rely on mechanical motors to read and write data. This makes HDD kind of slow according to modern storage standards. Listen to my advice and buy a minimum 240 GB SSD, they are a bit costlier but worth every penny. Install Windows and frequently used programs and games on it, keep the old Hard Drive for storing other cold data that is not accessed often.
Tip: There are PCI-E SSD (16 Gb/sec) available too which are installed in Graphic card slot. They are even faster than 2.5″ SSD that are plugged into SATA III 6Gb/s ports.
Enable Fast Boot in BIOS Setup
BIOS is a firmware/instructions that is stored in a chip of your motherboard. Its job is to configure your main components through a specialized graphical interface. BIOS also lets you configure which hard drive (boot device) to use for loading Windows 10. By default, BIOS are configured to scan for different boot devices such as. Network, USB, HDD etc. and boot OS from whichever method that is available first. While this is convenient, this also adds a couple of seconds into the boot time, slowing down the Windows startup. You can safely enable many optimizations in Boot section of BIOS.
For this you need to enter the BIOS (firmware) configuration of your motherboard by repeatedly pressing F2, DEL, or F12 immediately after you power on your PC. Note that BIOS access key is different on every manufacturer, so you’ll have to find it out. Once you entered the setup, use arrow keys to navigate and Enter to edit. Press F10 to save changes and exit.
Now after restarting and booting into Windows 10, Open Task Manager then click Startup Tab. You will witness significant reduction on Last Bios Time on right-corner.
Tip: Always enable AHCI host controller when using SSD, otherwise your SSD will not be able to utilize its full potential (maximum read and write speed). Also, enable UEFI mode in boot settings to maximize compatibility. Both of these features must be enabled before Windows 10 installation, don’t enable them afterwards as they require advanced manual intervention in registry and drive partitions.
