I'm curious how fast people's systems start up.

As a side effect, I'm stress-testing Astahost's polling system.

BTW, here's an interesting article called "Making Ubuntu boot in 19 seconds":

http://lightningcrash.blogspot.com/2007/08...19-seconds.html

Do you include the time for loading applications after you login or do you stop counting when you get the login screen ?

It doesn't take too long, I think it's about 20 - 30 seconds. Then again, I don't have a lot of startup programs as I usually eliminate them.

xboxrulz

I could certainly get down below the 30 second mark but I would have to remove password protection (boot straight into an account) and remove some startup programs. Some of the biggest time hogs for me is my antivirus (Avast!), PGP, and BCWipe. Actually I suppose if you count until the last program has loaded it could take me around 10 minutes.

Voted: Between 30-60 seconds, WinXP

My Windows XP takes quite a bit of time while the bootscreen is shown. Even after a clean install the bar scrolls for 7-8 times. It didn't always used to be like this. I've had boot ups in less than 15 seconds with moderate amount of things installed. But, the system is pretty slow these days. I am not sure what it actually does there besides the Hardware detection, font & driver loading. Perhaps, I need to change the Hard Disk?

Logon Phase is pretty fast as there is just one account and that too password-less. Besides, the startup items are at minimal. There aren't any extra fonts installed either.

This post has been edited by turbopowerdmaxsteel: Sep 1 2007, 07:33 AM

Over 2 minutes unfortunately I have only myself to blame, though. I formatted my hard disk two years ago and installed Windows XP with Service Pack 1, and since then I've just been adding and removing all sorts of (un)useful programs. It first takes more than a minute to show the login screen, and when I login, there is a torrent of programs that start right away. Two for protection, two for communication, and probably even more which I don't know of I've become way too messy...

You've got to be be the most patient person in the world. I can't recall how many times I formatted my system in that period. But, it would be surely in three figures. Sometimes, I used to re-install Windows 3-4 times in a day. Just to see if I could optimize the booting a bit more. The maximum my system has gone unformatted would be around 4-6 months which is a recent feat. I owe it to the additional memory module & DVD-RAM drive which have helped in keeping the cluttering at a minimum.

I could only imagine 2 year longevity @ XP, on machines which are used almost mechanically for the same old data entry jobs and stuff. Hats off to you, pyost.

Heh, you are not the only one who is shocked by the durability of my system - I am too But it was a long time ago I learned what to do and what not to do in order to keep my computer "clean". Sure, I've had problems with Windows XP, but was able to solve all of them without deleting all the garbage I've got on C:

Armed with registry cleaners, disk defragmenters & Anti Viruses, aren't you? Care to disclose the secret behind the long life of your Win XP?

To be honest, I can't remember when was the last time I defragmented. And no, I didn't clean up my registry Just the good ol' Kaspersky AntiVirus along with ZoneAlarm. And Total Commander for deleting unnecessary files I might be extremely lucky, who knows