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Anybody know what Windows Vista does at startup?

ScottRNelson

ScottRNelson

Adventure and Dual Sport
Joined
Aug 3, 2002
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Meridian, ID
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Honda XR650L, KTM 790 Adv R
I finally gave in and upgraded my old Windows ME computer to a new Vista system last January. It took me about a month to get rid of all of the annoying features and have it generally behave the way I want it to.

But one thing still annoys me. It takes less than 30 seconds from power on until the main screen is up and ready to take commands, but it goes off for another two full minutes doing something that uses most of the CPU power and an extra 400 MB of memory before it finally settles down. I make it a point to start up the Task Manager as soon as the menus show up so that I can watch this. When the computer was new, it was busy for about an extra half a minute and total usage was about 900 MB before the CPUs went idle and memory used dropped to about 650 MB. Now, it gets up to about 1100 MB and the full two minutes before it's truly ready.

I thought it might be due to indexing of the hard drives, but I've turned that feature off all of the different ways that it can be turned off (I think there are three different things), so I don't think that is it. I can't see any unexpected processes running in the Processes or Applications tabs of the Task Manager.

Also, there are no extra startup items showing when I run msconfig and look at the Startup tab.

My concern is that after a couple of years it will be taking ten minutes and 1.5 GB before things finally settle out.

Any ideas of where to look or what might be happening on my computer at boot time?
 
I'm subscribing to this because I recently purchased a Vista equipped laptop and yes, it takes forever to get started! I also looked at the task manager and was shocked to see that CPU Usage was at something ridiculous like 90%. I just bought the thing a week or two ago...It should be performing better than it does.

Also having a weird issue with the volume control (HP touch thing), that's another matter but if anybody has insight it's appreciated.
 
Not sure exactly what it does, but my PC which has had Vista since last December, comes up in less then a minute. I built a new system last month, and it loads in about 35 seconds.

Did you upgrade it, or was it a clean new install?

The fact you said it took a month for it to settle down, makes it sound like an upgrade. A new install does not load anything when the system comes up.

Reformat and start clean.
 
The computer is a Compaq and still has the software as installed from the factory.

My comment about taking a month to get it right mainly means that it took me that long to get it to look and behave the same as Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines that I'm used to rather than in the way Microsoft "thinks" I want it to work. That mainly involved finding the right settings to make it work the way I want it to.
 
Yeah my suggestions would be to aquire a version of XP but if you really want to stay with vista..bring up the run command.

I dont remember it being where its suppose to be in vista so CTRL ALT DELETE to get to the task manager.

Click new task.

Enter MsConfig.

Go to the startup tab and remove things you dont want to start when the computer boots.
 
Already did the msconfig thing, as noted in the original message. No unneeded startup tasks.
 
Try switching the theme to classic.

And windows vista is just a memory hog. How much ram does your system have?
 
}Dragon{ said:
ME to Vista? :rofl

Damn- that's adventerous! You should try to get a copy if XP if you don't like it.
Click to expand...

My HP ME laptop was Win2k compatible, so I upgraded with no issues. I tried to install XP on it, and it wheezed and gasped for breath, so I went back to Win2k. There was no way in hell it was going to run Vista.

ME to Vista? :rofl :laughing
 
Sane_Man said:
Not sure exactly what it does, but my PC which has had Vista since last December, comes up in less then a minute. I built a new system last month, and it loads in about 35 seconds.

Did you upgrade it, or was it a clean new install?

The fact you said it took a month for it to settle down, makes it sound like an upgrade. A new install does not load anything when the system comes up.

Reformat and start clean.
Click to expand...

Most of these new computers won't let you reformat in any way other than re-imaging it, which includes all of the useless garbage you wish you didn't have to install in the first place. Even my Toshiba is that way, but at least I have XP (haha, neener!).

Sane-Man, I bet your system runs well because you installed the OS only. God, I wish I could do that on my Toshiba. I would bitch about how much XP Media Center blows, except this is a Vista thread so nobody wants to hear it. :p
 
PhaTeLeSS said:
Most of these new computers won't let you reformat in any way other than re-imaging it, which includes all of the useless garbage you wish you didn't have to install in the first place. Even my Toshiba is that way, but at least I have XP (haha, neener!).

Sane-Man, I bet your system runs well because you installed the OS only. God, I wish I could do that on my Toshiba. I would bitch about how much XP Media Center blows, except this is a Vista thread so nobody wants to hear it. :p
Click to expand...

Thats because the disks they gave you are restore disks and not original copies of the OS. Aquire a copy of XP else where.
 
dstryr said:
Try switching the theme to classic.

And windows vista is just a memory hog. How much ram does your system have?
Click to expand...
Switching to classic theme was the very first thing that I changed on the system.

It has 2 GB of memory, which is perfectly good enough once the system has been up for three minutes or more.
 
PhaTeLeSS said:
Most of these new computers won't let you reformat in any way other than re-imaging it, which includes all of the useless garbage you wish you didn't have to install in the first place. Even my Toshiba is that way, but at least I have XP (haha, neener!).

Sane-Man, I bet your system runs well because you installed the OS only. God, I wish I could do that on my Toshiba. I would bitch about how much XP Media Center blows, except this is a Vista thread so nobody wants to hear it. :p
Click to expand...

I have a HT PC, that has an "acquired" (free) copy of Media Center 2005 on it. Runs great. :thumbup
 
PhaTeLeSS said:
Ah... Yeah my machine runs on only one gig of ram and it's quicker than everyone else I know. How was this "free" copy "acquired?"
Click to expand...

If you own a store bought PC you can contact the manufacturer and get the original install discs sent to you. They will argue with you that you need to buy a new hard drive or you can reinstall using a hidden partition on your original HDD.

It is the hidden partition that will install all the crap you don't want. The CD's will give you the capability to install the OS only and you will never have KEY issues or invalid OS copies.

If you still get free tech support it is no big deal but if it is an older computer....

The trick is convincing them that you need the CD's because your hard drive is broken and that you do not need tech support. Dell is the worst on this. Just keep repeating the same thing over and over. No I do not need tech support.... I need the install CD's... I already bought a new hard drive.... I do not need tech support.... I do not need to purchase a hard drive from you...

It takes about a half hour on the phone as long as you do not make a mistake and say anything else.

To the OP, what your computer is doing is running software apps that are post the original operating system. When you install things like flash and adobe reader, you need to be sure and not install the other crap like toolbars for Yahoo. Peripherals like printers can do the same thing. I do not buy HP printers for this very reason. Anti-Virus also is a burden. Choose what you install wisely by keeping everything to a minimum.

IF your computer came with brand X cd burner and brand X antivirus and then you installed your favorite programs that are brand Y, you will see a performance problem.
 
If I recall correctly Vista allow services to startup with a delay. Right click My Computer>Manage>Services. You may have a number of services that are starting delayed at the same time. Just a guess since I've downgraded from Vista and don't have it currently installed. I recommend running XP along with the others though.
 
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