The Complete Guide to Speeding Up Your PC’s Startup [Step By Step]

You just hit the power button your PC, and now you've got enough time to brew a fresh pot of coffee for the entire office—because that's how long it takes for your computer to go from "on" to "ready to work." If your PC's bogged down by a bunch of programs that automatically start up when it does, it can take forever to get started every morning. Without a major hardware upgrade, there's not much you can do to cut the time it takes for Windows to actually boot—but you can trim and tweak the amount of time it takes for your desktop to get to a working state. Let's take a look at a few ways you can cut your Windows' desktop's loading times using built-in utilities and third-party tools.

When you install a new piece of software on your computer these days, more often than not it will set a little bit of itself to start up automatically when your PC does, either to check for updates, make it seem faster, or just remind you that it's there at all with a little icon in your system tray. Problem is, when you install lots of software but don't use it all, these little startup entries can suck away CPU cycles, memory, and time. Reclaim them by removing the ones you don't need.

Remove Startup Items Without Downloading a Thing

While many programs promise to clean up your startup for you, you can make quite a few adjustments in Windows itself, without using any kind of extra tools.

The best, safest, and most basic place to start is in your Windows Start menu's Startup program group. Navigate to it and see what programs appear there. Right-click on any one and choose Delete if you don't need it starting up on its own.

Once you've done that, it's time to bring out the big guns. Windows can also start up items planted in your registry automatically. To see what those are, from the Windows Start menu, choose Run..., and type msconfig then hit Enter to start the Windows System Configuration Utility. Switch to the Startup tab to see a more comprehensive list of what's starting up automatically. Here's what it looks like.

Now, this list can seem opaque and confusing. What is ctfmon or RTHDCPL? The command column, which sometimes lists a full path to the item's location, can sometimes give you a clue as to what the heck an item actually is. As always, Google is also your friend in these situations. From here you can uncheck items to stop them from starting up. Don't uncheck stuff just because you don't know what it is; uncheck stuff you know you don't need. For instance, if you're not a big iTunes or Quicktime user but you've got the installed for occasional use, uncheck QTTask and iTunesHelper.Once you've unchecked items in this utility, when you restart your computer, Windows will prompt you, saying that it's using "selective startup." That's ok—you can always renable items by typing the msconfig command in the Run box again.

Messing with msconfig takes somewhat of a brave and savvy Windows user, but a few third-party Windows tweaking and cleaning tools offer startup managers that are more user-friendly.

Download and Run a Startup Cleaner Utility

There are literally a gazillion Windows tweaking utilities that include startup management capabilities, but lets take a look at two good ones.

CCleaner (which stands for "Crap Cleaner", see our original review) can scan your system for all sorts of extras and get rid of them, but you're interested in the Startup manager. Hit the Tools button, then the Startup button to get there. Here's what your list will look like. As you can see, it offers a little more information than msconfig above (in the Program and File column), and that may help you decipher what's program is what. You can disable and delete items from your Startup using those respective buttons.

If you don't want to install more software in order to clean up your system (which makes sense), System Explorer (see our original review) offers a portable version, and its startup manager is beefy, with hooks into the registry, an online virus checker, and even Google searches for file names. In the System tab, hit the Startup tab to take a look at what's auto-starting on your PC. Here's what it looks like.

As you can see, using the right-click context menu you can go straight to the registry editor, or do a search on ProcessLibrary.com or Google for the item. Also, the program's publisher and file path are included, which offer more information about what's what and what you can afford to disable.

Besides CCleaner and SystemExplorer, Lifehacker readers also like MZ Ultimate Tweaker and RegToy.

Delay Item Start to Get to Work Faster

Of course, it's not that one program that's starting up automatically and slowing down your whole PC—it's all of them in aggregate. You may audit your startup list and realize that yes, you do want all these programs to start. But maybe you don't need them to start up at the exact moment you're dying to get into Outlook and read your email, or work on that urgent report. The Startup Delayer utility (our review) does just that—it delays items from starting up from anywhere from 20 seconds to several minutes to hours so you can start working sooner. For instance, if your printer driver pre-loads but you're not printing the moment you log on, you can delay it for a minute or two. Similarly, I really don't need the Java Updater process starting its work before I do, so it is a good candidate for delaying. Here's what Startup Delayer looks like.

Don't Fall for the Myths

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions and misguided "secrets" to speeding up your PC published out there. Don't fall for them. If you delve deep enough into Windows optimization tips online you'll find tips about deleting page files, cleaning out your registry, setting your PC to use multiple cores manually, and lots of other authoritative-sounding tweaks. Before you do any of that, check out the How-To Geek's awesome guide to debunking Windows performance-tweaking myths.

Have you had any startup editing revelations? What's your favorite PC startup speed-up utility? Post it in the comments.

The Blue Badge Unlocks Windows 7 Preview’s Protected Features [Windows 7 Preview]

Windows 7 hacker Rafael Rivera has updated his Windows 7 Preview (build 6801) unlocker tool to enable the "superbar," rotating desktop wallpaper, and Aero gestures. Even if you patched your system using the previous command-line way, you can still run the Blue Badge unlocker to get early access to incomplete features.

Best Android Apps to Boost Your Mobile Productivity (So Far) [Android]

You've already seen our hands-on review of Google's new mobile operating system, Android—so now it's time to take a look at what kinds of apps third-party developers have made available for the platform. The first phone running Android has been out in the wild for two weeks now, and every day new applications have appeared in the Android Market that add fun and functionality to your handset. Best of all, most of them are free. Let's take a look at our favorite free apps (so far) that make working and living a lot easier in Android.

Note: There are plenty of games and social networking apps available for Android, from Pac-Man to Solitaire to at least seven dozen Twitter clients, but this review's gonna stick to the stuff that makes doing stuff (besides eating virtual pellets) faster. For a longer list of apps that include games and kill-the-time type stuff, check out Gizmodo's marathon Android App review.

Alright, let's make your Android phone more productive. To install any of these apps, hit up the Android Market on your phone and search for 'em by name.

Any Cut

My one must-have app, Any Cut creates one-click shortcuts on your home screen to common activities, like texting your sweetie. To Android's credit, sans Any Cut, you can already make a direct shortcut to a Gmail label (like "to respond"), and there are configurable application keyboard shortcuts baked into the OS. But Any Cut goes that extra mile towards making repetitive actions a one-click task. Here's the Any Cut two-step workflow to create a shortcut:

Here's what a shortcut to text Terra looks like (tap that to launch a new SMS message with Terra's phone number all filled into the To: field):

Caller ID

Should you pick up the call from that unknown number or not? The WhitePages.com's Caller ID app helps you decide with a little more information—specifically, whether the number of the incoming call is a cell or landline, and where it's located. Worked like a charm for both a San Diego landline and NYC cellphone, though disappointingly it only includes cities, and not specific listings.

TooDo

You want your to-do's in the cloud, and you want them on your phone. There are quite a few list apps available for Android, but TooDo is my pick for the serious GTD crowd. TooDo is a very rich to-do manager that does all the things a featureful desktop task manager does—including reminders, categories, and dependencies—with some sweet location-aware goodness too, like geographical-based reminders (ie, if you're within range of the dry cleaner, pick up the pants). Since Android has had all kinds of trouble pinpointing my exact location, I can't tell you whether or not the geo-reminders actually work. To be honest, TooDo had so many options and controls, it was almost too overwhelming. The developer says attaching audio and video notes to tasks is even on the way. But the kicker feature? TooDo syncs with Remember the Milk and Toodledo, so you don't have to peck out your list on the phone keyboard.

Compare Everywhere

Having only heard of bar scanner apps and never using one myself, Compare Everywhere gave me a serious "holy cow" moment. Point the camera at a bar code—on a book, DVD, or any kind of product—and the phone auto-detects it, vibrates when it's scanned the code, and brings up the product details, with prices at online stores and brick-and-mortar retail locations near you. Then you can add the item to a list—like your shopping list or wishlist. Magical.

Here's what the scanner looks like pointing at the back of my book. Note this acts just like a bar scanner—you just swipe, no need to hit the shutter button:

Here's the product lookup result on this scan:

Cab4Me

You're exhausted and stranded in a neighborhood you don't know at all because your best friend left the bar with that hottie and left you high and dry. Instead of starting to Google for a local cab company, fire up Cab4Me, which finds cabs near your current location. Tap one to make the call.

ToddlerLock

Sometimes your productivity (or just plain sanity) depends on how quiet the kid is. ToddlerLock turns your phone into an interactive toy, with bright shapes and colors on screen and (optionally) fun sounds. Your kid can draw on screen and press the keys to make new shapes appear; a complicated key combination quits the app. Good for long grocery lines and funerals.

Hotspot Locator

When the slow data connection is killing you but you need to get some serious surfing done on your phone, locate a T-Mobile hotspot near you to get some free wireless love. This app will get you there.

Translate

When you don't speak the language, you don't want to futz with the web interface to Google Translate. The Translate app offers a cleaner way to look up translations quickly. Type in your phrase and set the "from" and "to" language and go—up to 150 language pairs are available; this one's a must-have for international travelers.

Musical Productivity

While music isn't always under the "personal productivity" umbrella, there are still a few Android apps that let you get music-related tasks done a lot quicker.

Ringdroid

Turn any MP3 on your phone to a ringtone without touching your desktop with Ringdroid. Using the app you select the start and end of your tone on a song timeline, and preview it before you save. (That sound you hear is iPhone owners eating their hearts out while they manually sync ringtones from iTunes.)

Shazam

Just like the popular iPhone app, Shazam identifies songs you hear on the radio or elsewhere. Just hold the phone's microphone near the radio's speakers while it plays the song in question, and Shazam will guess what it is.

Shazam only works with recorded music, not humming or live versions. Scroll down the result to search for the song on YouTube and in Amazon MP3 (included on the phone so you can purchase the tune on the spot).

TuneWiki

See the lyrics displayed in time with a music video using TuneWiki, the awesome app that will finally settle arguments about what the hell that line was, anyway. YouTube videos work too (pictured), although the lines aren't always synced—but you can tap the screen to advance to the next one. Your best bet is to check out TuneWiki's lists of popular songs (of the day, week, month, etc) to see the synchronization go as the song plays.

G1 owners, what Android apps have become your must-haves? Let us know in the comments.

System Explorer All-In-One PC Monitor and Manager [Featured Windows Download]

Windows only: When you want to manage your PC's processes, startup items, network connections, windows, tasks, open files, and installed software, you can do that all using the free all-in-one monitoring tools System Explorer. The long list of functionality in System Explorer's broken down into four categories: Monitoring, Autoruns, Software, and Settings (they're tabs across the top). From there you can drill down and manage running processes, files, tasks, and more. While we've seen a few souped-up task manager type apps (like TaskExplorer), System Explorer packs in even more features with a small memory footprint and USB drive-friendly portable version. Check out a few screenshots of System Explorer in action.

Under Monitoring, here's the Processes tab for straight up task manager-like functionality, with built-in hooks to ProcessLibrary.com and Google to look up what the heck a particular running file is, anyway:

Under Autoruns, here's the Startups section, where you can trim what autostarts with your PC:

Under Monitoring, hit the Performance tab to see live-updating graphs of what's eating up your RAM and processor:

System Explorer is a free download for Windows XP and Vista, portable version available. Thanks, thelord!

BumpTop Beta in Action [Featured Desktop]

Reader electrikjesus is beta-testing the BumpTop desktop interface that turns your desktop into a 3D space and lets you move, pile, fan, and lasso your documents the way you would on a physical desktop. From the BumpTop web site:

BumpTop is a fresh and engaging new way to interact with your computer desktop. You can pile and toss documents like on a real desk. Break free from the rigid and mechanical style of standard point-and-click desktops. Interact by pushing, pulling and piling documents with elegant, self revealing gestures. BumpTop's stunning interface makes clever use of 3D presentation and smooth physics-based animations for an engaging, vivid user experience.

Have a refresher on the BumpTop video we posted last year, and get another glimpse at eletrikjesus' custom BumpTop theme.

Here's a video that made the rounds awhile back that shows how the BumpTop works with a touchscreen.

Here's eletrikjesus' custom BumpTop theme applied to the desktop:

Right now BumpTop is in invite-only beta, hit up the web site to request an invitation. For more before and after images and a beta test impressions, see also beta tester C.T. Overdrive's impressions. Nice look electrikjesus! We're all jealous of your BumpTop. Don't forget to submit an image and explanation of your tricked-out desktop in the Lifehacker Desktop Show and Tell Group.