Windows OS - Instant On

[Winows Instant On]

I would be more than willing to buy a new version of Windows if it had
Instant On. As an old programmer and considering the quantity of memory and
disk space that modern computers have, it is rediculous that we have to wait
4 or 5 minutes for the OS to start.

If you don't have updates and the last session ended normally, there is
really no reason you can't just load memory with a saved image of the last
version with very minor modifications. If not instant, the OS should boot
within a couple of seconds at the most.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Uh-huh...

Well, it's not a toaster, is it?

Help! My computer is slow!
http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

Changing your posting name from "pissed and disgusted" to "WindowsInstantOn"
won't disguise the fact that you're one and the same person with a urge to
whinge and rant. One look at the headers makes it obvious. Now take your
pills and settle down!

 

[bobster]

4-5 minutes?? My windows XP/SP3 Intel dual 2.2 machine boots up ready to
use in 45 seconds or less. That is not "instant on" but sure beats 4-5
minutes. There must other problems with your computer, unrelated to the OS
that need addressing. This board has had many suggestions on how to speed
up slow booting machines. Search them out or Google the problem.

I do agree with you that "instant" booting would be nice

==========================================================================
message I would be more than willing to buy a new version of Windows if it had
Instant On. As an old programmer and considering the quantity of memory and
disk space that modern computers have, it is rediculous that we have to wait
4 or 5 minutes for the OS to start.

If you don't have updates and the last session ended normally, there is
really no reason you can't just load memory with a saved image of the last
version with very minor modifications. If not instant, the OS should boot
within a couple of seconds at the most.

 

[Bob I]

I use Standby. If you really have to Power Off, use Hibernate.

 

[Twayne]

In

I would be more than willing to buy a new version of Windows if it had
Instant On. As an old programmer and considering the quantity of
memory and disk space that modern computers have, it is rediculous
that we have to wait 4 or 5 minutes for the OS to start.

If you don't have updates and the last session ended normally, there
is really no reason you can't just load memory with a saved image of
the last version with very minor modifications. If not instant, the
OS should boot within a couple of seconds at the most.

You'll never achieve a couple second startup with XP unless it's stable
enough on your system to just not shut it down, which is what I do; I set it
to blank the screen during non-use and I also power down the drives, which
do take a few seconds to spin up. You do pay a dollar or so more a month
for electricity, but it's always available. I use the night times to run
backups for my 5 hard drives.

Assuming you know you are free of viruses and spyware (easy enough to scan
for - ask here if need help), then Hibernate and Standby will be your best
speed ups for starting. In addition to that, here are a couple more links
that might provide useful information:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Windows-XP-Startup-Faster

http://www.ehow.com/how_4838976_fix-windows-xp-slow-startup.html

Twayne

 

[Twayne]

In

I would be more than willing to buy a new version of Windows if it had
Instant On. As an old programmer and considering the quantity of
memory and disk space that modern computers have, it is rediculous
that we have to wait 4 or 5 minutes for the OS to start.

If you don't have updates and the last session ended normally, there
is really no reason you can't just load memory with a saved image of
the last version with very minor modifications. If not instant, the
OS should boot within a couple of seconds at the most.

Good luck; a MAC isn't going to do that either. It takes longer than that
just for most drives to spin up.

 

[Lem]

I would be more than willing to buy a new version of Windows if it had
Instant On. As an old programmer and considering the quantity of memory and
disk space that modern computers have, it is rediculous that we have to wait
4 or 5 minutes for the OS to start.

If you don't have updates and the last session ended normally, there is
really no reason you can't just load memory with a saved image of the last
version with very minor modifications. If not instant, the OS should boot
within a couple of seconds at the most.

Um ... it's called "hibernation" and it's been around in Windows (in
some form) since Windows 95. IIRC, the default "off button" in Win 7
puts the computer into hibernation instead of powering it off.

 

[Bill in Co.]

4-5 minutes?? My windows XP/SP3 Intel dual 2.2 machine boots up ready to
use in 45 seconds or less. That is not "instant on" but sure beats 4-5
minutes. There must other problems with your computer, unrelated to the
OS
that need addressing.

My sentiments too. 4-5 minutes is ridiculous! Something is wrong with
his system here.

 

[Peter Foldes]

You can add another one to the 2 the OP already used. "SlowBootTimes"

 

[VanguardLH]

I would be more than willing to buy a new version of Windows if it had
Instant On. As an old programmer and considering the quantity of memory and
disk space that modern computers have, it is rediculous that we have to wait
4 or 5 minutes for the OS to start.

If you don't have updates and the last session ended normally, there is
really no reason you can't just load memory with a saved image of the last
version with very minor modifications. If not instant, the OS should boot
within a couple of seconds at the most.

Two methods come to mind:

- Don't power down. Instead have your host go into Standby low-power mode.
That's "instant on" worked before. Since you aren't exiting Windows,
everything is still in memory.

- Go into Hibernate low-power mode. That copies the memory into a disk file
and powers down the host. Upon power up, the file gets copied back into
memory.

Nothing runs unless it is in memory. If you don't wipe memory (by powering
down) then, yep, everything is still there for "instant on". Hibernate
works by copying the memory somewhere (because obviously you are removing
power) and then copying it back from the hiberfil.sys file on the disk back
to memory. So a faster disk means a faster transfer to memory.

 

[Jose]

I would be more than willing to buy a new version of Windows if it had
Instant On. As an old programmer and considering the quantity of memory and
disk space that modern computers have, it is rediculous that we have to wait
4 or 5 minutes for the OS to start.

If you don't have updates and the last session ended normally, there is
really no reason you can't just load memory with a saved image of the last
version with very minor modifications. If not instant, the OS should boot
within a couple of seconds at the most.

After agreeing on a definition of operational, we can measure your
system time (in tenths of a second) from power up to operational.

I charge $1 per second of reduction in time. The tenths are free.

 

[HeyBub]

Two methods come to mind:

- Don't power down. Instead have your host go into Standby low-power
mode. That's "instant on" worked before. Since you aren't exiting
Windows, everything is still in memory.

- Go into Hibernate low-power mode. That copies the memory into a
disk file and powers down the host. Upon power up, the file gets
copied back into memory.

Nothing runs unless it is in memory. If you don't wipe memory (by
powering down) then, yep, everything is still there for "instant on".
Hibernate works by copying the memory somewhere (because obviously
you are removing power) and then copying it back from the
hiberfil.sys file on the disk back to memory. So a faster disk means
a faster transfer to memory.

I do that. From power-on to ready for work is less than fifteen seconds.

 

[Unknown]

Ever hear of hibernating?

 

[Doum]

My sentiments too. 4-5 minutes is ridiculous! Something is wrong
with his system here.

I just did a test on my Pentium4

P4 - 3.00 ghz - 2 gb RAM (4x512 mb PC3200 400Mhz dual-channel)- 4 HD 2
sata, 2 pata on PCI controller, 3 opticals on board IDE controllers.
Windows is on a SataI hard disk.

The BIOS took 35 seconds to load and detect everything, it took 1 minute
to hear the Windows "welcome sound" (1:35 so far) another minute for the
icons to begin to appear on the desktop and taskbar and the total time
from "Push button to idle" was close to 5 minutes.

On startup it loads InterVideo WinCinema manager, there's a OneNote icon
appearing on the taskbar, a magnifier about indexing, APC PowerChute and
ZoneAlarm security suite. It must load other stuff that don't have icon
on the taskbar.

Once loaded it works quite well and I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong
with it.

I did the same test on my Core2Quad, 2.83ghz, 8gb ram, 6 HD (4 sata-
2pata), 1 sata optical, dual-boot XP-32bits/Seven-64bits.

BIOS detect : 20 seconds, choosing OS : 1 second, overall boot time for
XP 32 : 2 minutes 40 seconds

With Win7-64, it takes about 1 minute overall including the BIOS
detection time.

I am not complaining, I am reporting the facts and I am satisfied with
those computers performances, I think boot time is irrelevant if the
machine works well once up and running.