Windows 7 can be rather slow to boot up, and this is especially true if you happen to have either an older computer or a computer with low specs. Luckily, there are ways you can speed up the boot process without having to upgrade or buy a new computer.
In this guide I’ll give you step-by-step instructions on how to to greatly improve the boot time for Windows 7.
Change startup programs
Depending on what programs you have installed, your boot times may be slower because you’re having to load all those programs when Windows 7 is first starting up. Limiting what programs run upon startup can help improve boot times by a considerable amount.
To do this you’ll need to use Msconfig. To open Msconfig, click the start menu and then in the search bar type ‘Msconfig’ and then run it.
At the top should be a tab that says ‘Startup’, click it and from there you’ll be presented a list of all the programs that run when Windows 7 first starts up. Be sure to disable all the ones you don’t want starting up automatically.
Change the number of CPU cores to use
Using Msconfig you can change how many CPU cores are used when booting. If you have a multi-core processor then this can help improve boot times.
In Msconfig, select the tab at the top that says ‘Boot’ and then select ‘Advanced options’. You should see an option to select how many processors you want running during boot. Select the number that correlates to how many cores your CPU has.
Enable No GUI boot
When booting, Windows 7 uses a flashy GUI to make it look more impressive when you startup your computer. While it does look nice, it can make booting up a little slower.
To disable this you’ll be using Msconfig once again. Select the ‘Boot’ tab at the top, then enable the option for No GUI boot, and to keep the settings from reverting back to default, enable the “Make all boot settings permanent” option.
Clean the Registry
Sometimes having too many unused or corrupted entries in the Windows registry can cause your computer to run much slower, and of course increasing the time it takes to boot up.
There are many programs you can use to clean and repair the registry. The one I personally recommend is CCleaner, as it is completely free and does its job well.
Defragment your hard drive
Defragmenting your hard drive is an important step to both improving boot times and your computer’s health in general.
Thankfully, Windows 7 has its own built-in program to defragment your hard drive with. You can access it by either going to the Control Panel or by typing in “Disk defragmenter” in the start menu search bar.
The disk defragmenter gives you a wide range of options for how you want to defragment your hard drive and when. I would recommend setting up a schedule for it to run once a week, so as to keep your hard drive as fragment free as possible.
