Mysterious Disk Reads on Xp Startup

[Piyono]

The narrative:
It's been a good 4 years since I've needed to reinstall XP Pro on my main machine. A little TLC goes a long way. However, Despite my using a utility (Codestuff Starter) to keep a trim list of startup programs, Windows can take well over 2 minutes to boot to a responsive desktop from the powered down state. Compared this to some 30 seconds for any of the new machines that I regularly prepare for clients (format, install XP, firewall, AV, FireFox, Flash and other software).

The pre-question:
I got the brilliant idea to run Sysinternals' FileMon at startup to see what was slowing down my boot time and I was shocked to see the names of programs that not only are not in my startup list, they have absolutely no startup options and no relevance, no connection to the boot process whatsoever (to my understanding).

I headed back to Sysinternals (now owned by MS, of course) and found another nifty piece of software called Autoruns, which serves up a dauntingly comprehensive list of startup programs and routines. I searched through that to see if I could find any trace of the program names that came up in the Filemon log but found nothing.

The question:
Where in the registry (?) are these useless (?) startup items hidden and how the heck do I eliminate them?


Piyono

 

[Bozo]

First look here:
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Gaining-Speed-Empty-Prefetch-XP.html

Then go to Start>Run type in msconfig press enter.

There you will find what is starting and it's Registry address.

Bozo :joker:

 

[Mercutio]

In my experience, the two things that slow down system startup more than anything else are Antivirus software, unnecessary services and having too damned many fonts installed.

I suspect the programs that don't have any startup options are services. Hijack This can show you which of those services came from a source other than Microsoft.

 

[Mercutio]

I am normally better at counting small numbers than that...

 

[LiamC]

Ximinez: NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope.... Our four...no... Amongst our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise.... I'll come in again.

 

[Buck]

Shared folders will also delay startup time.

 

[sechs]

In my experience, the two things that slow down system startup more than anything else are Antivirus software, unnecessary services and having too damned many fonts installed.

Hey. Maybe you don't need them, but I actually use al 21 Helvetica fonts.

 

[Mercutio]

I figure I need about five fonts, total.

 

[ddrueding]

Is there a list somewhere of the ones Windows needs? The ones that couldn't be deleted safely?

 

[sechs]

Do you really need anything more than the system font?

 

[ddrueding]

I don't think there is just one "system" font for Vista. I think there are at least 5. I'm curious what happens if you remove all but one?

 

[sechs]

Did they really do away with the "System" font?

I imagine that it'll look shitty, but if you left just one font of your choice, would Vista not be forced to use it?

My only furthur thought is that it might need to be a raster font, rather than a vector font, as the "System" font is.

 

[ddrueding]

I imagine that it'll look shitty, but if you left just one font of your choice, would Vista not be forced to use it?

That would be the ideal behavior, but I'm afraid it would just BSOD or something.

 

[Piyono]

It just so happens that I'm also a busy graphic designer, so a billion installed fonts are par for the course.

Bozo, my prefetch folder is empty save for one item and the layout.ini. MSCONFIG is fine, but the startup manager programs I use are considerably more sophisticated and comprehensive.

Merc, my services list is really quite minimal.

I'll try uninstalling some fonts, but my hunch is that it's not gonna make a big difference. Remember that FileMon logged disk reads that seem totally removed from the startup process. These are references I can't find anywhere in the registry. I suspect that if I figure this out I'll get to the root of the slow boot problem.


Piyono

 

[Mercutio]

USB devices?

 

[Piyono]

I have 3 external USB hard drives and an internal billion-in-one card reader, also USB. The card reader is bus-powered and turns on with the system (although its power LED stays lit always, sucking 3 watts even when the computer is off...), but the hard drives are only powered up when I need them, although their USB cables are always attached.



Piyono

 

[Buck]

Swap file location and fragmentation? Do you have a switch in your boot.ini file purging your swap file during shutdown?

 

[Piyono]

Swap file is on C:.
Nothing special happening in boot.ini.

Piyono

 

[Mercutio]

Is there a list somewhere of the ones Windows needs? The ones that couldn't be deleted safely?

The way fonts work, in general, is when you don't have the font specified, the system uses a close substitute.
I would GUESS that Windows would operate on some minimal number of fonts, since I have worked on PCs where the font folder has become corrupted.

I have also observed Office 2000 being unable to start because the Tahoma font was not present on a PC, though.

 

[ddrueding]

Strangely, Tahoma is likely the one I would keep.

 

[sechs]

Aesthetics are clearly lost on you guys.

 

[Mercutio]

That's not true! I like boobs of all shapes and sizes!

 

[ddrueding]

I fail to see how inconsistency in the fonts of the UI are a positive aesthetic...

 

[sechs]

I fail to see how having only one font for the UI is a positive aesthetic...