More Services = 50% Less Boot Time

[Larry(LJL269)]

There are always quite a few posts here about
minimizing boot time and the responses often concern
minimizing the number of startups and services. It's
not intuitive that by turning 2 services on automatic
your boot time could be reduced by 50%. Yet I'm
running 2 Windows XP's and that is exactly what
happened in both.

I was concerned about the very long time it was taking
from my wallpaper appearing to when my icons appeared
(line 1) and that about 25% of the time my taskbar
could not be activated. I had posted twice here but
got no responses so I decided to experiment by
disabling startups and services via MSconfig's General
tab and note the effect on boot time which is given in
the following table:
------ Time in Sec From ------
Logo to Wallpaper
Disabled Wallpaper to Icons Total
-------------- ------------ ------------ ------
1 None 56 94 150
2 Startups" 58 80 138
3 Startups+ 110 0 110
Services*
* MSconfig leaves a few critical ones enabled

Line 2 told me that startups were not the problem and
line 3 there was an awful lot of time being taken to
just load a few services. Looking at services, I found
2 that were set to manual running right after I boot so
I changed them to automatic, enabled all startups and
services and timed the reboot to get:

38 38 76
So by changing 2 services from manual to auto my boot
Time went from 150 to 76 seconds. A screen shot of the
services I have set to auto can be found at
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/server/ExportData/Auto.gif

Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Larry
Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Rock]

There are always quite a few posts here about
minimizing boot time and the responses often concern
minimizing the number of startups and services. It's
not intuitive that by turning 2 services on automatic
your boot time could be reduced by 50%. Yet I'm
running 2 Windows XP's and that is exactly what
happened in both.

I was concerned about the very long time it was taking
from my wallpaper appearing to when my icons appeared
(line 1) and that about 25% of the time my taskbar
could not be activated. I had posted twice here but
got no responses so I decided to experiment by
disabling startups and services via MSconfig's General
tab and note the effect on boot time which is given in
the following table:
------ Time in Sec From ------
Logo to Wallpaper
Disabled Wallpaper to Icons Total
-------------- ------------ ------------ ------
1 None 56 94 150
2 Startups" 58 80 138
3 Startups+ 110 0 110
Services*
* MSconfig leaves a few critical ones enabled

Line 2 told me that startups were not the problem and
line 3 there was an awful lot of time being taken to
just load a few services. Looking at services, I found
2 that were set to manual running right after I boot so
I changed them to automatic, enabled all startups and
services and timed the reboot to get:

38 38 76
So by changing 2 services from manual to auto my boot
Time went from 150 to 76 seconds. A screen shot of the
services I have set to auto can be found at
http://web.tampabay.rr.com/server/ExportData/Auto.gif

Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Larry
Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

And what two services did you set to automatic that made all the difference?

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 01:00:10 -0700, Rock

|And what two services did you set to automatic that made all the difference?
Sorry Rock but I was so shocked I forgot to note what
they were. I figured method is more important than
specifics but they r included in set defined by url I
gave.

If settings r in Registry I've got them saved & could
find out which changed.

Larry
Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Torgeir Bakken \(MVP\)]

Sorry Rock but I was so shocked I forgot to note what
they were. I figured method is more important than
specifics but they r included in set defined by url I
gave.

If settings r in Registry I've got them saved & could
find out which changed.

Hi,

Yes, they are in registry. Each service have a registry key under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\

The registry value "Start" defines the startup type:

2: Automatic
3: Manual
4: Disabled

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

ConfigSafe is app that backups my registry & is capable
of comparing any 2 registries it has saved. I knew that
would be useful 1 day An extract of the report for
Start subkeys of
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
follows:

Changes Starting : 06/03/2005 05:00:12
Changes Ending : 06/04/2005 10:06:12

Where 2= Automatic & 3= Manual & [key name]

[UMWdf] Windows User Mode Driver Framework
Start 2 -> 3

[6to4] IPv6 Helper Service
Start 2 -> 3

[ShellHWDetection] Shell Hardware Detection
Start 3 -> 2

[ALG] Application Layer Gateway Service
Start 3 -> 2

The 1st 2 I dont remember doing but last 2 ring a bell.
I'll check what is reported for my 2nd XP registry next
time I logon.

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry


On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 15:41:37 +0200, "Torgeir Bakken

|Yes, they are in registry. Each service have a registry key under
|HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
|
|The registry value "Start" defines the startup type:
|
|2: Automatic
|3: Manual
|4: Disabled
|
|torgeir, Microsoft MVP Scripting and WMI, Porsgrunn Norway

Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[frodo]

this is not that uncommon. Services that are REQUIRED should be set to
automatic, so that they start in optimal order (more below) rather than
waiting for some dependent service to start them explicitly.

What I always do w/ a new system is reboot, and then first thing fire up
the computer management console and look at the services. sort the list
by Status so all started services are at the top. If there are any
services started that are not set to "automatic", then set them to
automatic - they are clearly requried to get the system up and running
initially, so they should be automatic.

Then reboot. You MAY see an improvement right away. But to see the
maximum improvement you need to let the "boot time optimize defrag" take
place. And for it to do its job well the "idle process background task"
needs to run. The latter updates the \prefetch\layout.ini file and the
former processes that file and arranges the files on the disk in optimum
load order. These normally happen automatically every day or so, IF you
leave your system idle for a period (say about 30 minutes). But, you can
force these two steps manually:

to run the idle process api, create a shortcut w/ the following "target"
line (or just type it at the command prompt):

%windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

put the shortcut somwhere convienent (I like it in the system tools
folder). Double click it. You'll see the disk light go for about 15
seconds. If you have not disabled "background defragment" (via tweakUI,
cacheman, or some defragers like perfect disk), then this will ALSO kick
off the boot defrag, which will add another minute or so to the process.
If you have disabled the defrag then you can also initiate that manually,
by typing this command line:

defrag c: /b

[assumes c: drive].

[if you use a defragger that does its own "boot optimize "defrag, like
perfect disk, then run it instead.]

Now reboot. You should see an improvement.

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 01:00:10 -0700, Rock

|And what two services did you set to automatic that made all the difference?

ConfigSafe is app that backups my registry & is capable
of comparing any 2 registries it has saved. I knew that
would be useful 1 day Thx to torgien's post, I could
use this to get an extract of the report for Start
subkeys of
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\
I found 4 not 2 changed keys:

Changes Starting : 06/03/2005 05:00:12
Changes Ending : 06/04/2005 10:06:12

Where 2= Automatic & 3= Manual & [key name]

[UMWdf] Windows User Mode Driver Framework
Start 2 -> 3

[6to4] IPv6 Helper Service
Start 2 -> 3

[ShellHWDetection] Shell Hardware Detection
Start 3 -> 2

[ALG] Application Layer Gateway Service
Start 3 -> 2

The 1st 2 I dont remember doing but last 2 ring a bell.
I'll check what is reported for my 2nd XP registry next
time I logon.
Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

Greetings & thank you for your response.

|this is not that uncommon. Services that are REQUIRED should be set to
|automatic, so that they start in optimal order (more below) rather than
|waiting for some dependent service to start them explicitly.
I am surprised XP would take ~1 min to figure this
out!!!
|
|What I always do w/ a new system is reboot, and then first thing fire up
|the computer management console and look at the services. sort the list
|by Status so all started services are at the top. If there are any
|services started that are not set to "automatic", then set them to
|automatic - they are clearly requried to get the system up and running
|initially, so they should be automatic.
Exactly what I did- I'm ether getting smarter or
luckier
|
|Then reboot. You MAY see an improvement right away. But to see the
|maximum improvement you need to let the "boot time optimize defrag" take
|place. And for it to do its job well the "idle process background task"
|needs to run. The latter updates the \prefetch\layout.ini file and the
|former processes that file and arranges the files on the disk in optimum
|load order. These normally happen automatically every day or so, IF you
|leave your system idle for a period (say about 30 minutes). But, you can
|force these two steps manually:
|
| to run the idle process api, create a shortcut w/ the following "target"
|line (or just type it at the command prompt):
|
| %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks
|
|put the shortcut somwhere convienent (I like it in the system tools
|folder). Double click it. You'll see the disk light go for about 15
|seconds. If you have not disabled "background defragment" (via tweakUI,
|cacheman, or some defragers like perfect disk), then this will ALSO kick
|off the boot defrag, which will add another minute or so to the process.
|If you have disabled the defrag then you can also initiate that manually,
|by typing this command line:
|
| defrag c: /b
|
|[assumes c: drive].
|
|[if you use a defragger that does its own "boot optimize "defrag, like
|perfect disk, then run it instead.]
|
|Now reboot. You should see an improvement.
News to me. TY- I shall try it & see if I can
decrease boot time further.

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry

Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

|What I always do w/ a new system is reboot, and then first thing fire up
|the computer management console and look at the services. sort the list
|by Status so all started services are at the top. If there are any
|services started that are not set to "automatic", then set them to
|automatic - they are clearly requried to get the system up and running
|initially, so they should be automatic.
1 way to set services would be to set them all to
Manual then do as u suggest above. Is there any reason
to Disable any service? if it is never needed it will
never run. Anyway if there is a reason u could disable
as last step.

Comments/suggestions/corrections appreciated.
Thanks- bye- Larry

Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[Rock]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

Then reboot. You MAY see an improvement right away. But to see the
maximum improvement you need to let the "boot time optimize defrag" take
place. And for it to do its job well the "idle process background task"
needs to run. The latter updates the \prefetch\layout.ini file and the
former processes that file and arranges the files on the disk in optimum
load order. These normally happen automatically every day or so, IF you
leave your system idle for a period (say about 30 minutes). But, you can
force these two steps manually:

This optimization runs every three days during idle time.

<snip>

 

[Don Taylor From:]

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 18:09:31 -0000, (e-mail address removed) wrote:
|What I always do w/ a new system is reboot, and then first thing fire up
|the computer management console and look at the services. sort the list
|by Status so all started services are at the top. If there are any
|services started that are not set to "automatic", then set them to
|automatic - they are clearly requried to get the system up and running
|initially, so they should be automatic.

1 way to set services would be to set them all to
Manual then do as u suggest above. Is there any reason
to Disable any service? if it is never needed it will
never run. Anyway if there is a reason u could disable
as last step.

I suppose if a service is sitting there just waiting to be
used by any little net vandal that comes along and somehow
manages to ask it to do something, that might be a reason
to disable every service that has no legitimate and frequent
purpose. That argument has been applied in the past to
software in general, "Why do you want to delete X off your
system, you don't have to use it if you don't want to."
And the answer again is, just because X is easily hijacked by
malware, leaving a loaded gun on the table for the next net
vandal to pick up and use against us all makes no sense.

Leave all your RPC ports open, if you don't ever use them,
they won't hurt you

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

The 1st 2 I dont remember doing but last 2 ring a bell.
I'll check what is reported for my 2nd XP registry next
time I logon.

I'm on my 2nd XP now where [UMWdf] Windows User Mode Driver
Framework & [6to4] IPv6 Helper Service did not change but
the same 50% decrease in boot time was realised so
apparently that decrease is due solely from changing
[ShellHWDetection] Shell Hardware Detection
& [ALG] Application Layer Gateway Service
from Manual to Auto.

Any advise given is my attempt to show appreciation for all
the excellent help I've received here but I'm no MVP so it
may only apply NUGS (Normally, Usually, Generally, Sometimes

 

[frodo]

Q: should you disable some services.
A: Yes, there are a few that really SHOULD NEVER RUN; if left in manual
they COULD still be started, and that may not be a good thing.

SP2 turned off a lot of the more troublesome guys. here's a few I prefer
to have disabled.

Remote Registry -- 99.999% of us don't ever want this to run

Alerter -- popups, like Messenger; sp2 has this off now

Netmeeting remote desktop - if you never use remote assistance then
disable this open door
SSDP Discovery and
Universal PnP -- can be helpful getting around routers and
firewalls;
can be helpful to bad guys too! W/O it user must
perform 1-time router setup, a good learning
experience in my book.

Telnet -- who ever runs a telnet server? If you know you need it
then you do, otherwise leave it disabled.


Just 2 cents...

 

[Larry(LJL269)]

Greetings & thank you for your response & suggestions.
Some I couldnt find or I got similar entries as noted
below:

|Q: should you disable some services.
|A: Yes, there are a few that really SHOULD NEVER RUN; if left in manual
|they COULD still be started, and that may not be a good thing.
|
|SP2 turned off a lot of the more troublesome guys. here's a few I prefer
|to have disabled.
|
|Remote Registry -- 99.999% of us don't ever want this to run
Didnt find this

|
|Alerter -- popups, like Messenger; sp2 has this off now
Already done
|
|Netmeeting remote desktop - if you never use remote assistance then
|disable this open door
I disabled Remote Desktop Help Session Manager

|SSDP Discovery and
|Universal PnP -- can be helpful getting around routers and
| firewalls;
| can be helpful to bad guys too! W/O it user must
| perform 1-time router setup, a good learning
| experience in my book.
Already done
|
|Telnet -- who ever runs a telnet server? If you know you need it
| then you do, otherwise leave it disabled.
Dont have this but do have Telephony- Same
thing? If I do, will have to change Remote Access
Connection Manager from its current Auto setting too.

Your help is MUCH appreciated. Thanks- bye- Larry


Any advise is my attempt to contribute more than I have received but I can only assure you that it works on my PC. GOOD LUCK.

 

[frodo]

telephoney is needed if you use/have a modem

 

[Jeff]

Remote Registry -- 99.999% of us don't ever want this to run

I do not find any service named 'Remote registry' on my XP home system, but
I have the following similarly named services listed:

Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
Remote Access Connection Manager
Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator

I use a home LAN and a dialup modem. Are any of the above needed?

 

[davmil]

yes! Leave the RPC alone. Don't mess with these unless you're 100% sure of
what they do and are prepared to troubleshoot errors generated. For these
5,
man / man/ disable /auto / manual
dm

 

[frodo]

I do not find any service named 'Remote registry' on my XP home system, but

[Perhaps only on XP Pro systems??]

I have the following similarly named services listed:

1 Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
2 Remote Access Connection Manager
3 Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
4 Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
5 Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator

I use a home LAN and a dialup modem. Are any of the above needed?

#4 is MOST VERY important, leave it alone [automatic].
[XP won't even let you change it; W2K did, and system would then hang!]

#2 is usually always needed, leave in auto.

the others can be set to manual and will start on their own if needed.
they are not "security problems" and don't need to be disabled.

 

[Jeff]

Thank you.

--

Jeff Stevens
Email address deliberately false to avoid spam
(e-mail address removed)

I do not find any service named 'Remote registry' on my XP home
system, but

[Perhaps only on XP Pro systems??]

I have the following similarly named services listed:

1 Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
2 Remote Access Connection Manager
3 Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
4 Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
5 Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator

I use a home LAN and a dialup modem. Are any of the above needed?

#4 is MOST VERY important, leave it alone [automatic].
[XP won't even let you change it; W2K did, and system would then
hang!]

#2 is usually always needed, leave in auto.

the others can be set to manual and will start on their own if needed.
they are not "security problems" and don't need to be disabled.