June 2015 Tech Tips – Speed Up Your Startup

Here’s your quick Tech Tip for the month of June to help you be more productive. As always, reach out anytime! We are here to help.

We all dread restarting our computers, primarily because sometimes it just takes so long! Luckily, powering-on your PC doesn’t have to be such a tedious task. Speed up your start-up using these 3 simple methods:
     

Clean Up the Startup Folder
There are many programs that are pre-programmed by Windows, or the application     itself, to automatically start when booting up your PC. To view and make changes to this list of programs, simply type the below address into the Windows Explorer bar, and delete the shortcut of the program that you no longer want to open during start-     up. Please note, this does not delete the program from your computer. 
C:UsersUser>Your User Name>AppDataRoamingMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuProgramsStartup

Activate Fast Startup
This feature is available in Windows 8, and will work whenever you choose to shut down or turn on your computer. However, this feature does not work if you choose to restart it. Fast Startup was specifically designed for this purpose, and can be activated by pressing the “Windows Key + W” on your keyboard.

Task Manager Halt
While using option one is highly effective, there are some hidden start-up programs that will not be listed in the Start-Up Folder, and can only be found listed in the Task   Manager. The Task Manager can be accessed by pressing “Ctrl + Alt + Del” on your       keyboard, and start-up programs can be found under the “Start-Up” tab. From this page, you can decide which programs you would like to open or halt on startup.
   

Another important fact to keep in mind, is that while regularly rebooting your PC can take an unideal amount of time, it can contribute to an overall better performance and lengthier system lifetime.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions!