Posted 08.12.2009 at 12:01 pm
8 Comments
Revved-Up Laptop Start Your Engines
Dave Helfrey
Good news for the busy and the impatient: It’s easy to speed up your start-up. PC users can boot up within 15 seconds using new “instant-on” Linux software like Presto ($20) and Phoenix’s alternative OS, HyperSpace ($40 per year), both of which bypass Windows at start-up while still offering access to e-mail and other frequently used programs.
If you aren’t ready to pay for new tools, or you use a Mac, there are other steps you can take. Begin by clearing programs that have weaseled into your start-up routine, loading automatically and slowing boot time to a crawl. In Windows, go to Programs in the Start menu, open the startup folder, and delete programs like iTunes and QuickTime. (They won’t be wiped out; you’ll just have to launch them manually.)
On a Mac, go to System Preferences/Accounts, and disable the culprits under the Login Items tab. To tidy a particularly congested OS X, download OnyX, which clears unnecessary data your browser has saved to the hard drive and performs other system-maintenance tasks. Finally, if your computer has less than two gigs of RAM, consider buying more. That will speed everything up.
Got a question for our geek chorus? Send it to us at h20@bonniercorp.com.
Want the latest news on grown-up toys and gadgets, product reviews, sneak peeks, and more? Subscribe to Popular Science and enter to win $5,000!
8 Comments
To comment, please Login.
Download Our iPhone App
Stay up to date on the latest news of the future of science and technology from your iPhone with full articles, images and offline viewing
Follow Us On Twitter
Featuring every article from the magazine and website, plus links from around the Web. Also see our PopSci DIY feed
Become a Fan On Facebook
Share links with friends, comment on stories and more
December 2009: Best of What's New
In our December issue, Popular Science names the 100 best innovations of the year: bombproof wallpaper, self-parking cars, the fastest helicopter, and 97 more. Plus inventor profiles and videos.
Check out the best of what's new here.
Popular Science Photo Pool
Popular on Popsci
Most Viewed
Most Commented
Most Emailed
Today on PopSci.com
Copyright © 2009 Popular Science
A Bonnier Corporation Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Also, defragmenting your hard drive is a good way to save on loading times. By restructuring where data is located on the hard drive you save time from having to read from different locations.
Along with just defragmenting your hard drive, I would suggest using a program like Smart Defrag by IObit. This program has an extremely fast and efficient defragmenting engine. It also has quite a few convenient features: You can perform a quick defrag if your rushed for time, or you can run the deep optimization which intelligently arranges your files in a way that provides for optimal performance. The way I understand it is that the files that are used most often are kept at the beginning of the platter for faster access time. Also it allows for defrmentation of the MFT. But, my favorite feature is the Auto Defrag. Instead of scheduling Windows Defrag Tool to run every so often, you can just allow Smart Defrag to run in the background and keep your pc optimized at all times.
Also, for anyone with Vista or Windows 7, you can use the new ReadyBoost technology which allows for the use of a flash device (NAND memory) to increase random disk read times. This is accomplished by using the flash device as a drive cache and using another technology called SuperFetch which basically analyses the usage of your system drive at boot time and creates a cache that is optimized for the next subsequent boot.
This is just scratching the surface with the possibilities of tweaking your OS to start up quicker, optimize performance, and create a more reliable environment.
... I just keep mine always on.
I run Windows XP and use Diskeeper to defrag in the automatic mode and it helps keep things real fast. Besides that I run a regular diskcleanup and keep the startup trim.
ummmm don't put crap on your computer like downloads or 20GB files! seriously my friends comp crashed because some one hacked it and loaded 500GB of stuff and he has a 520GB hard drive!!
I rarely shut down my PC these days, so boot-up time is not an issue. Even so, on the rare occasion that I do, my system boots up very quickly despite being about two years old.
Keep the install clean- avoid installing junk programs, and ensure that applications don't sneak into the startup list (use MSconfig to disable as required). Defrag with a proper defragmenter like Diskeeper to keep the drive optimized, and you're good to go.
It's a good news but I am not sure how to use in Windows XP. I usually defragment hard drive for faster loading.
-----------------------
http://earnmoneyonlinehub.com/
You can start by installing Linux in it like Ubuntu or openSuse, great distributions that allows you to do most of the common things you do now in windows without the viruses and slowness of windows.