Soluto, A Tool to Help Speedup Startup

Read about it on DownloadSquad, ZDnet, Techcrunch, or PCWorld.

Soluto Website

<width='400' height="300"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11786742&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=00adef&amp;fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11786742&amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;show_title=1&amp;show_byline=1&amp;show_portrait=0&amp;color=00adef&amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width='400' height="300"></embed></object>

 

I just delete or disable startup entries I don't need with CCleaner. Yes it does that too.

 

Yes, but how do you know WHICH ones to disable? That's the whole point of Soluto, it helps you understand what is being loaded and why you might or might not want it. CC leaves you pretty much on your own in that regard. Plus is has a "crowd source" aspect to it where users can share their knowledge of what can safely be disabled. My friend Robert Scoble did a great interview with the team behind this.

Why can Soluto do what Microsoft can’t? They get rid of Windows frustrations (exclusive first look) ? Scobleizer

Take a look! I am VERY intrigued by this app.

Gary

 

Overload : -(

But we'll see.

 

Here is an alternate download link

http://dlgbit.winfuture.de/c97d5399...39d/4bfcd160/Tools/Soluto/solutoinstaller.exe

 

You have just brought down their website by making all of us go there at the same time

 

Nah, it doesn't download, inside the installer itself.

 

anti frustration software that frustrates you because you cant download it

They even seem like they knew it would happen with the e-mail me when I can download again entry box.

 

I am intrigued as well--but given the amount of bad information out there, I wonder how useful it will be.

I can only comment on the concept as I have not loaded it, but things to ponder include:

If we have 10,000 users setting static page files on Windows 7 because it was posted on the internet 10 years ago for Windows 98, but people think it still applies, the "crowd" is wrong.

If 4,398 people disable Windows Search in Windows Vista, what does that mean for Windows 7 users where Windows Search performs significantly better? What does it mean when people want to use search and the service is disabled (and htey do not realize the connection?)

The sheer number of systems with their difference hardware configurations may make a difference between user experiences.

etc

 

I am always leary of programs like this. Plus, cutting 10-15 seconds from my boot process isn't top of my priority considering with Windows 7 I rarely have to reboot, and almost never shut down.

 

CCleaner shows you the name of the startup item and it's directory which is even better than Soluto's way of identifying a startup item.

 

CCleaner gives you no clue whatsoever as to what a particular item is or does, just where it is located. The whole idea behind Soluto is to provide information about items. I'm in wait and see mode on this, but I like the concept a lot. And I trust Robert Scoble... when he says I should pay attention to something, I do. He has a pretty good track record and I have known Robert for many years.

Gary

 

Yes it does. You look at the start-up item name and then it's start-up directory. So YES, you CAN tell what it is and what it does.

 

You as an educated user might be able to tell what it is by the directory--that does not apply to 90 percent of the population

 

If you can't tell what a start-up item is by it's name and directory you probably have over 9000 viruses/malware/spyware on your system.

 

Do you really need a software to know what's starting up with Windows? Just spend some time with the Windows taskbar, Windows services, msconfig, and Google.

 

You guys are speaking so ill of it without even having used it yet...

 

They are speaking as computer experts, not as people who can barely turn on the PC.

This program is not meant for them. It's meant for the thousands of people who turn on a computer, do something, and turn it off.

 

Those thousands of people wouldn't worry about boot times, I guess.

 

I beg to differ, coolguy, that is ALL they worry about.

I deal with these people every day. The most common thing I hear from people is, "My Computer is slow. I don't know what to do. I can barely turn a computer on, but I know this is not right."

 

Search still runs really fast even without the indexer doing its thing haha.

I optimise my startup by trial and error really, but when you get to grips of what to hit, its easy,

Also if you click hide all non microsoft associated services, junk you find there will definately slow your machine down

 

The thing with boot time is that it doesn't much matter anymore. We're not running Windows XP; there's no magical degrading of performance over time if you just leave your computer on or in standby most of the time. I rebooted my desktop today for the first time in a week because there were new ATi drivers. I'll also turn it off completely if I'll be gone for more than a couple days. Other than that, it stays in standby when I'm not using it, a state it both enters and exits in less than 3 or 4 seconds.

 

Not too worried about startup given that I have an SSD and very few startup programs, but this looks very interesting. I still shutdown my computer at the end of every day, and cutting a bit of time definitely doesn't hurt - this tool seems quite polished, I'll try it out once they send me the beta download link.

 

Soluto wins TechCrunch Disrupt.

 

From what Robert has said, this is just the beginning of what these guys want to develop. Personally I think they are on to something. Their approach seems to be to inform folks as to what is going on under the hood in a way that allows folks to decide what is right for them. For example the person who uses iTunes every single day may very well want all the iTunes startup items enabled, where someone (like me) who only has iTunes installed because it is a requirement for my USB turntable software doesn't need that crap.

Other similar "tuning" software just assumes you don't need it. Or treats the user as an idiot incapable of making such decisions give the proper information. I like their approach, inform the user and let the user decide.

Some of you may remember a rather heated exchange I had with a "tweak tool" author here some time ago. The guy was a novice programer and I took him to task for the lack of transparency in what his app did. Soluto is exactly the sort of tool I was calling for. One that informs/teaches the user.

Gary

 

I can already see Soluto causing problems. Since it tells the user what is best for them to do, Soluto may suggest that some programs such as Realtek HD Audio manager or Logitech Mouse & Keyboard software be disabled from start-up. Uneducated users will then do this and then wonder why their audio is not working correctly and why they cannot access the audio control panel. Same thing for mice, users might notice their mouse is not working correctly, things such as customized functions will not work if the Logitech software is not running.

This applies to a range of other issues as well. I think it is best for users to become with MSCONFIG or at least CCleaner and manually research which start-up items would be acceptable to disable for them. Otherwise they're just asking for trouble with this tool.

Sometimes the simplest way of doing something causes more problems than a slightly more complex method.

 

This is precisely where I think Soluto is on the right track. The sharing of info among users would allow for the folks who run into the audio issue because they disabled the Logitech software to work together to figure it out.

MSCONFIG or CCleaner require that manual search which can be a very difficult task to weed through all the "noise" trying to find real "signal".

Also I don't think Soluto takes the approach of telling the user what is best for them. I think it tries to help the user make that determination. Something that neither MSCONFIG or CCleaner does. Both of those require the user to do their own research and don't provide any sort of sharing of that research. Let's face it MSCONFIG and CCleaner are both "geek" tools. They server some of us very well. But we are a VERY small minority. And as gerryf19 pointed out, an all too common complaint of those outside that minority is "why is my machine so damn slow".

I do agree that the crowd sourcing aspect of the app can lead to "crowd stupidity" as easily as it can lead to "crowd intelligence", but I honestly believe if enough folks like you and I participate the "stupidity" can be tamped down. If we just throw up our hands and say "aw, this is a useless piece of ...", there is no chance of it succeeding. It is the "social networking" aspect of this app that I think is quite compelling.

Gary

 

You can now download Soluto from their website.

 

I'm liking it.
Didnt help much with boot time, as i barely have anything at startup. But i like direction in which they'r headed.

 

I like the idea, but as with any beta, your milleage will vary.

Installing it actually--wait for it--slowed my computer start up by about 20 seconds.

 

Yeah I had a streamline start myself it says it cut 15 seconds off, but of course its measure thing based on the 6 seconds it added when I installed it. Plus it seems like it takes a LOT longer to get onto my log on screen and it does not count that time.

Keeping programs from starting? Been doing that for ages with MSConfig and a few other things, would not bother with the program. What got me interested was the option to delay programs so they load when idle. So say photoshop I can have that load for me when idle rather than not have it start at all and thats pretty cool and why I am using it.

 

I just found out about this program today and I have a few questions about it. My laptop running Win7 is pretty polished and I only have a few things in my startup (from MSCONFIG). But I'm thinking this might be a useful tool for my less experienced friends, etc.
But here's my questions:

Most of us use MSCONFIG -> Startup Tab or CCleaner to narrow down the programs that are booting during startup. Soluto, on the other hand, seems to focus more on delaying or pausing services. While it does seem to turn off some startup applications, it's main goal is shortening the amount of services. Which brings me to a few questions:

While I do believe that adjusting the startup programs from boot using MSCONFIG or CCleaner is important, I'm not a big fan of disabling services (especially on Win7). Maybe I'm incorrect on this but hasn't it been shown that it's not worth turning off services since they barely affect the boot time? But according to this program, you can shave off minutes of your boot by disabling some services.

Any thoughts?

 

This is an MSCONFIG for dummies... I have never used such an easy and intuitive program to reduce start-up times and I recommend it to everyone! Was about to start a new thread when I saw one already up. I shaved my boot time from 2:06 to 1:35. It allows you to stop programs from launching, and there is also the option to "delay" the program (launch the product when the PC is done starting up and is idling)

 

Is this software really that powerful? I would like to try though.
Or is it this softwares only disable those start-ups and services(which is not needed) by itself and improve the booting speed like that?
If so, it's not so impressive already.

Long time didn't visit NBR, I am like a newbie now. LOL.

 

I wouldn't call it "powerful" so much as "polished." The program does what it needs to, and with a very pretty interface. I agree with a lot of the above posts in that it didn't do much for my system; but mine is pretty streamlined as well. Like ronnieb said, it is indeed MSCONFIG for dummies. I won't be using it myself, but at first glance it seems like a great program for the computer-illiterate.

 

i tested it. I was like OMG. Nothing special except it calculates how much and how long my booting speed was. Really made for dummies.

I used to play around with Registries, Services and Start-ups by myself manually. I don't need this.

Just uninstalled this software just now.
Anyway, thanks TS for sharing this little software.

 

OK... so I gave this thing a look - even though I am against sending things off, I must say it does seem like an interesting tool.

I am not one for switching all sorts of stuff off - but it does allow the user some insight, and that's where the value lies.

MSN apparently slowed down my boot by 5 seconds if it starts automatically - quite interesting - yes, I use it a lot, but not always... so starting this manually makes sense.

Else - well, it interesting to use it to look at what launches - but I'm keeping all the Intel and NVidia stuff as I believe MS knows how to build an OS
(And I don't want to risk loosing any functionality)

 

To me this is the essence of what this app is all about. I applaud them for taking the approach of educating the users and trying to create a mechanism for sharing of knowledge. I hate "black box" tweaking apps.

Gary

 

I haven't used Soluto, but I do think that by providing information on what the specific start-up item does makes the job easier to identify just how crucial is it to computer operation.

Ccleaner does tell you the name of the program for example, but even for me who is well educated about computers it is difficult to ascertain just what an unfamiliar program does (because at times, some of them are named in a 'gibberish' capacity and the directory location cannot always be a 'dead giveaway' - plus CCleaner doesn't give you specific info on what it actually does - although I AM familiar with most programs and their abridged names so I know for the most part on which are safe to disable).

If I see a program at start-up I'm not familiar with, I will use Google to track it's description down and ascertain if it's needed.

I personally don't need a Realtek Icon sitting next to the clock all the time because I rarely access the options to enable the echo effect for music listening (and when I do use those options, I usually use Control Panel to get to it).

I don't disable or delete the Syanptics program from start-up because on notebooks it has a tendency to disable the touch-pad (it happened several times, so I just decided to leave it from now on).
Although apart from the Synaptics and MSE I don't have other things starting up with the OS (and this kind of set-up works on a lot of computers).

For other people when I'm modifying/cleaning their computers, I first have to see if they have any critical programs at start-up which are used for Internet connection and whatnot (because in rare occasions I encountered a problem of disabling a program at start-up that completely incapacitated the Internet for some reason - but that's because it was set up in the most stupidest way one could imagine).

 

gone are the days when playing with registries and using stuff like MSCONFIG was fun.

These days, these kids want to have everything easy.

 

there's a way to delay the start of windows services in microsoft manager. for startin apps i think you can use the registry.
but soluto seems like a good application for doing that.