Slow Startup and even SLOWER Shutdown

Hey all,
I've been using my inspiron 1420 for 3 weeks now... things run fine.. HOWEVER... i noticed the startup times REALLLY slow... and shutting down its even SLOWER!
I installed most of the Vista updates... so I'm wondering if that's the reason why its so slow... does anyonoe else have slower start up times and shut down times after installing updates?

THANKS!

 

All computers slow down over time... here's what I do to fix.

1. Defrag the hard drive. After only 3 weeks it should be OK but check anyway.
2. Remove unnecessary startup programs. Any hidden bloatware?
3. Check your memory & virtual memory use. It could be you're running out of RAM. Feed it lots of RAM if you have under 2gb.
4. Check that the virus scanner isn't doing a full scan on boot, or that Live Search isn't doing a full index. If the drive is crunching away for no good reason that's probably why. Those "helpful" startup tasks are not really that helpful when you're trying to actually use your computer.

One of the main reasons I'm so annoyed with Windows software is all the programs that insist on staying memory resident. Everybody thinks their software is all-important so it get stuck in memory, sitting there doing nothing.

Even Apple isn't above this with their always-running iTunes. Real Player, Media Player, same thing. AOL Messenger and Yahoo Messenger are also big culprits. I got rid of them all and run Pidgin instead.

 

Pidgin is sweet!

 

yeah, and also use foobar2000 for music player because it's WAY faster than winamp and itune..use utorrent if you download stuff from torrent

 

Do this trick as advised by forum member flamenko to cut ur shutdown time


1. Press the Start Orb (bottom left and then go into the Run command (remember Windows key + R).
2. Type 'Regedit' (without the quotes) and hit enter.
3. As the Registry File is so large, Im going to ask you to go top right and maximize this to full screen...and follow me.
4. Click the little triangle to the left of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/ SYSTEM/ CurrentControlSet/ Control.
5. Click on the "Control" Folder. Select "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" Right click on it and select Modify. The default value is 20000. Setting it to a lower 4 digit value, say 5000
6. Simply exit when done.

The 20000 signifies a 20 second delay wheres 5000 signifies a 5 second delay. I cut 20 seconds off my shutdown time by changing this as it suggests so don't try and figure out exact time reduction by numbers...just play with it bit by bit.

You may want to remain at the 5000 mark as Vista does need time to shut software down. If this is not enough, come back and increase the size.

Also try all other vista tweaks by him....they help
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=166532

 

Disable the sidebar; it greatly slows startup.

 

Do any number of the Tweaks below....Good luck.

 

Tweaks, below?

 

Yes...Click on 'Top Vista Tweaks IM ADDING MORE below my signature block.

 

Right, sorry, didn't see that.

 

Its a Friday night for us Southern Ontario boys...