Tweaking Win98 2nd Edition for fastest bootup to desktop

[fuji]

I would like to know if there is a standard to setup Windows 98 2nd Edition for fastest boot up to active desktop. I had to reinstall my OS and I can't seem to get a fast bootup like before when I first purchased this system. The following system description is provided:

1. AMDK-7 Athalon 600, FIC SD11 w/200mhz FSB, 8MB 2D/3D AGP video card, Yamaha 64bit sound, 13.2 gig ATA66 7200rpm HD, 128 PC133 SDRAM, V.90/56Kbps Fax/Modem.

2. AMDK6-2 2D/3D 500Mhz, Amptron PM599LMR all-in-one motherboard, 64MB PC100 SDRAM, 10.2 ATA66 WD 7200rpm HD, 100Mhz FSB.

3. Media GX all-in-one motherboard, 64mb PC100 SDRAM, 8.4 gig HD.

4. AMR800LMR K7 mainboard, 200 FSB, 128PC133 SDRAM, 15.3 ATA66 7200rpm HD, TNT 64M 32mb AGP video, onboard 56k modem, sound, LAN, AMD K7 650 Athalon.

[stylin19]

for starters, you might want to go into msconfig and check what is running on startup.

click start\run, type: msconfig, select startup and uncheck anything that may not be necessary.

good luck

[MeSmiley]

The backup utility supplied with Windows 98SE attempts to detect new tape devices on boot. This can cause a significant delay in the boot process. If you don't use any tape devices, you can delete drvwppqt.vxd and drvwq117.vxd in the Windows\System\Iosubsys folder. Alternatively, simply uninstall Microsoft Backup if you don't use it. I found that my boot up time on Windows 98SE was reduced drastically.

You can also disable the Windows startup sound to further reduce booting time slightly.

[ArnoldLLerch]

http://www.microsoft.com/ntworkstation/downloads/PowerToys/Networking/NTTweakUI.asp

After you download and install the powertoy, go to the "Boot" tab and uncheck the "Display splash screen while booting". Set your "Always show boot menu" to 5 seconds or leave it unchecked. Then go to the "Explorer" tab and lose the little arrow. Next go to the "IE" tab and uncheck the "Allow Logoff" box. This will shave a bit of time off of your bootup. The splash screen eats RAM initialization, the little arrows consume graphics memory and any little thing like "logoff" you can lose speeds up the process. By the way, Tweak UI is free and it was developed by Microsoft to work with WIN9X.

ARNi LEE
Waiting for FMD


[This message has been edited by ArnoldLLerch (edited 02-28-2001).]

[daveleau]

Thanks Arni,
After reading your post I realized I had not installed TUI on my system here at home.
dave

[G]

Hi Fuji,

Boot in under a minute: Windows ME has this ability but older flavours of Windows can be coaxed into booting nearly as fast as tweaking a file called C:\Msdos.sys. Simply open a command prompt and type the command ATTRIB(space)-R(space)-S(space)-H(space)C:\MSDOS.SYS(Enter) Then type NOTEPAD(space)C:\MSDOS.SYS(Enter) Scroll down to the section labelled [options] and add

DoubleBuffer=0
DrvSpace=0
DblSpace=0
Logo=0
BootLog=0
DisableLog=0
SystemReg=0

Note: there may be other entries to but these can be left alone. If you do not have some of these entries then these can be edited into the file. It may be the case that you do not have some of these programs installed and that is one of the reasons why there is no entry.

Line 1 keeps Windows from loading a low-level device driver that’s generally only needed if you have an Isa SCSI card. Lines 2 & 3 keep Windows from trying to determine whether you need drivers for disk compression. FAT32 isn’t compatible with disk compression anyway, so there’s no point. Line 4 turns off the Windows logo, which increases boot time (sometimes significantly, sometimes not). Line 5 turns off Windows’ boot delay. The boot delay gives you a little more time to hit Ctrl at boot up to get to the boot menu. Line 6 turns off logging; while logs can be a useful diagnostic tool, more often than not they’re just slows the boot process. Line 7 keeps Windows from scanning the Registry at boot up for hardware profiles. Unless you have a laptop, you’re probably not using these.

After you’ve added these lines, save the file, then enter the command: ATTRIB(space)+R(space)+S(space)+H(space)C:\MSDOS.S YS(Enter) at the command prompt. With these modifications you should improve your boot up times even if you have boot up password protection or a rollback program such as GoBack etc. The modifications go some way to improve boot up nevertheless.

Note: Msdos.sys may be hidden. This will be because ‘Do not show hidden or system files’ is activated. Go to My Computer, view, folder options, view, hidden files. Activate ‘Show all files. You will be able to find Msdos.sys now using ‘Find’ or under C:\Msdos.sys. Make whatever alterations you wish and then change ‘Show all files’ to Do not show hidden files or system files - unless you prefer not to.

All the best,
G

[ArnoldLLerch]

Hey G, that worked cool but to open MSDOS.SYS all you have to do is right click while holding the shift and select "Open with" from the menu, scroll down and select notepad, scroll down, add lines to options and "Save". Seems to work just fine. My boot up has definitely improved. However, some of the lines you suggested were already there from Tweak UI, such as Logo=0. When I got through there I added a shortcut to MSDOS.SYS to my programs menu.

ARNi LEE
Waiting for FMD

[darkmallard]

The MSDOS.SYS trick will help, but you should make certain to follow stylin19's suggestion to go into MSConfig:

- START > RUN > MSCONFIG > Startup tab.

- Uncheck EVERYTHING except System Tray.

- Also, rename your autoexec.bat and config.sys files to autoexec.old and config.old. This will prevent real-mode drivers from loading, but as long as you stay within windows, you will not be affected.

- Also, delete all the *.tmp and *.chk files on your hard drive and run disk defragmentor.

[G]

Hi all,
I'm glad my suggestions contributed somewhat to everyone's posts above. I didn't feel it was necessary to repeat what had already been mentioned. There are many ways to skin a cat ArnoldLLerch <grin>

All the best,
G

[voogru]

lotsa usefull stuff in here!

i think ill try some of it! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif


-voogru

[Variable]

You might try this link: http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/Forum9/HTML/001143.html

I had the same question about a year ago...

[ArnoldLLerch]

Wow G! First time I actually timed my boot was just now. Celeron 533 on Chaintech Slot 1, 66 to 100, 2x to 8.5x, 224 RAM, 6Gig Maxtor HDD primary and Maxtor 10.5Gig HDD primary slave. Boot time from power on to the message board here was 1 minute 20 seconds. I don't know if that's good by anyone else's bench but it's a lot faster than the 3 minutes it used to be. System resources seem a little higher also.
Pretty kewl guys!

ARNi LEE
Waiting for FMD

[This message has been edited by ArnoldLLerch (edited 03-09-2001).]

[G]

Hi ArnoldLLerch,
Glad to have been able to contribute to this post on boot up times.

All the best,
G