[Solved] Slow startup

Yes it is, when first started it shows a black screen that asks me to choose which OS to use, but will default to W7 after 30 secs. The W7 is on a second hard drive. When citing bootup time, I start counting after the black screen is gone and the W7 bootup starts.

 

Emsisoft is fine.

I just wanted to make sure you weren't running a bloatware antivirus.

My second question just asked if the computer seems ok once it's booted up.

 

I think we were both typing at the same time- see my answer to your previous post. So, should I go ahead with your original suggestion?

 

Yes go ahead, and it's good news that it runs fine after it boots.

Did you read my suggestion about not turning the computer off and letting it go into sleep mode instead?

 

OK, I won't be able to do it until tomorrow, need to get my butt out the door shortly. I'll post back then.

Not sure what sleep mode is...

 

Sleep mode is a very low power state that shuts down just about every component on the computer except for the memory (Ram). Once you take it out of sleep mode, the system will "boot up" about 100 times faster than if you were to do a full shutdown. Plus, it remembers where you left off. That is, if you leave a program open and the computer sleeps, when you wake it, that program is still open and you can continue where you left off.

Here's some more info and talk tomorrow:

https://www.pcworld.com/article/169941/Why_You_Should_Use_Sleep_Mode.html

 

Had a few minutes this morning to follow your and Seth Anthony's original suggestions. In msconfig, when I check "hide all microsoft services", the "apply" button remains ghosted and if I then leave that program and return, the "hide" button is no longer checked.

 

Followed your original suggestion, but no time to look any further into what, if anything, has changed. Won't be able to spend any more time on this until later today, after 5pm or so, eastern time.

 

There is a sequence to do this.
Put a checkmark in box "Hide all microsoft services"
You are then left with a list.
You then click on "Disable All" box, Then "Apply" box, then "OK" box.
Will ask to reboot system, to apply changes.
Click "Yes"

 

This didn't work- followed your sequence but after clicking "OK" the window disappears, no option to reboot, and when I reopen that window, nothing has changed.

 

After following this sequence, the computer now boots up in about 50 sec., as opposed to about 1:40 previously. I also tried your suggestion about "sleep" mode, and that worked as you said, less than 10 sec. Are there any security issues with using "sleep" instead of "shut down"?

Also, while doing the "Sleep" thing, I had a pop-up message from Emsisoft that their program had failed to boot up. How can I tell if it is running? Update- on the msconfig window, Emsisoft is shown as stopped and I can't get it running.

 

Yes, it's checked in both services and startup. But the listing still shows "stopped." I even tried enabling all and it still didn't start. Just tried unchecking and rechecking, still says "stopped." "apply" button is ghosted.

 

Not sure where this stands- the event log on the Emsisoft page shows several stops and starts, related to my efforts in the msconfig window, but the most recent entry says "protection started" as of about 10 minutes ago. But msconfig still says "stopped."

 

Well, it's been quite an adventure. After a restart with everything but Emsisoft disabled, I got an odd opening screen, with the tray area in white and the start window white also. Went back into msconfig and checked "enable all" and now computer seems to start as usual, everything looks normal, and Emsisoft shows as "running." But I'm back to my original slow startup. Where do I go from here? I'm beginning to think I should have left well enough alone.

 

It's quite possible Emsisoft is contributing to your slow start.

 

This is one of the things I tried yesterday. The problems I kept running into were that the "apply" button was ghosted and/or Emsisoft showed as stopped even when checked in both startup and services. But, at the same time, the Emsisoft log showed as running. So either I was missing something or there is some other factor to this. Yesterday I went back over this whole thread to see if I followed the advice correctly and I think I did.

My sincere thanks to all who took the time and effort to help me, as you all have in the past. My tentative plan at this point is to live with the slow startup and, after the first start in the morning, use "sleep" mode rather than shutting down during periods of non-use during the day. Perhaps I should go to System Restore and turn back the clock to be sure that during the last couple of days I have not screwed something up that I haven't as yet noticed.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to all. Looks like my level of understanding and insight is insufficient for getting under the hood of this beast.

 

At this point, nothing is disabled.