Speed up boot times using Bootvis

Posted on March 31, 2008 at 5:49 am

Wish you could speed up the boot time in Windows? One of the most tedious aspects of computing is undoubtedly the infamous boot. The tiring, long and boring process that no one likes. Why not speed it up a bit? Apart from saving you from wanting to tear your hair out, a faster boot up can be really useful when you need some information quickly.

There are a number of ways to speed up you Windows boot up, but the most effective is to use a free tool made by Microsoft called Bootvis. You can download Bootvis here. Its a small 1MB download, so go right ahead and download it.

  1. Once you’ve downloaded Bootvis, run the file and install it by following the on-screen prompts.
  2. Run Bootvis by navigating to "Bootvis" under "Microsoft Bootvis" in your start menu.
  3. You should now be looking at the home screen of Bootvis:
    image
  4. Looks complicated doesn’t it? Well that’s what this article is here for. Luckily, there isn’t much you have to do to optimize your boot times. First, just click "Next Boot + Driver Delays" under the "Trace" menu.
  5. Now, a screen will pop-up asking for the number of repetitions (shown below) . image
  6. Leave it at the defaults, and before clicking OK, save anything you are working on, because you will be prompted to reboot your system. Once you’ve saved anything important, click OK, and allow your system to reboot.
  7. Once your system has rebooted, it will appear as if nothing is happening, but Bootvis is actually loading up detailed graphs of the trace. Leave it alone for a few minutes, and Bootvis will eventually pop-up.
  8. Now, you will be looking at the graphs I mentioned earlier (shown below). They may look very complicated but it’s more for Bootvis than for you.image
  9. Now, click "Optimize System" under "Trace". Once again, Bootvis will prompt you to restart. Allow it to do so.
  10. Once you have rebooted, Bootvis begins the actual optimization, as is pictured  below.

image

Allow Bootvis to finish optimizing, and you’re done! Your boot ups should now be noticeably nippier!

This is a guest post written by Om J. Bathija, a tech enthusiast and blogger.

» Filed Under Computer Tips

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Comments

7 Responses to “Speed up boot times using Bootvis”

  1. dragon said on : April 3rd, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    does it cause any problems later , i am using vista ( home premium ) .


  2. Bidyut said on : April 23rd, 2008 at 8:22 pm

    I use Win XP, and have recently downloaded Bootvis…and I find my system booting up faster…but it doesnt show the graphs….and a window pops up mentioning “Bootvis has encountered a problem and needs to close”…and then I have to click the “close” tab…and it closes. Any suggestions??

    regards
    Bidyut


  3. Daniela Bordis said on : May 12th, 2008 at 3:24 am

    Hola les escribo porque estoy con un problema en una Notebook Toshiba Satellite A 55 Series Celeron M ( 1,40Ghz) con 512 de memoria ram; la cual luego de haberle instalado el Nod32 version 2.70 se ha vuelto demasiado lenta en el inicio de Windows Home; por lo que tuve que instalarle el Bootvis y realmente no entiendo muy bien los parámetros gráficos y la configuracion del mismo ya que no son similares con respecto a otros foros.
    Les escribo a Ud./s porque este sitio me parecio mas simple; esperando una resuesta satisfactoria les saluda atte.

    Daniela Bordis


  4. Oswald said on : February 17th, 2009 at 9:29 am

    Per Microsoft, this does not speed up boot time:

    http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/.....fault.mspx

    From Microsoft’s page, “Please note that Bootvis.exe is not a tool that will improve boot/resume performance for end users. Contrary to some published reports, Bootvis.exe cannot reduce or alter a system’s boot or resume performance. The boot optimization routines invoked by Bootvis.exe are built into Windows XP. These routines run automatically at pre-determined times as part of the normal operation of the operating system.”


  5. Velkro Smaak said on : February 17th, 2009 at 8:58 pm

    @Bidyut – I’m getting that same error :-/


  6. Mark said on : February 19th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    I went from a 6m 40s boot up on a Lenovo X41 tablet PC to 6m 10s… sigh. So, a difference, yes. Worth it for 30s? Took me about 30m, so I suppose I’ll need to restart 60 more times to break even. :)


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