Measure and Improve Boot Times

1. FIRST STEPS

Download bootracer_ freeb. zip from www.greatis.com/ bootracer and extract the MSI file inside. Double- click this to install the program. Click “Finish” when complete. The main window opens automatically— click “Boot Time Test,” then “Yes” to restart your PC and perform the first boot test.

2. TEST AND REVIEW

Windows restarts as normal with one difference: When the desktop appears, you’ll see a countdown timer appear in the bottom-right corner. When complete, a stopwatch showing your boot time is displayed. When the summary screen appears, click “Know more” to review the result in detail.

3. DETAILED ANALYSIS

BootRacer splits the results into four parts—see the main text above for a detailed explanation of each. BootRacer performs the same test each time you restart Windows, so restart again to repeat the test at least once to get more results to compare. Click “History” to see the trend over time.

4. TAKE CONTROL

BootRacer can be used to monitor (and control) individual startup programs and processes. Click “Startup Control,” then click the button next to “Disabled” to enable it. Click “Next,” leave the “Enabled” box checked to measure program start times, and click “Restart your PC and Analyze Results.”

5. MONITOR APPS

Now, when Windows reboots, startup apps are paused until the desktop has finished loading, then each one is timed. Keep an eye out for programs that take much longer than others to complete loading— click “Which programs slow down startup?” to analyze the results in greater detail.

6. MANAGE STARTUP

Click “Startup Control,” and you can disable (clear the check) or even delete startup items like other apps, such as CCleaner. Click “Set Order,” and you can even change the order in which startup programs are run, ensuring important apps launch before others. Click “Finish Reordering” when you’re done.