WHY YOUR PC STARTS SO SLOWLY

DETECT & REMOVE slothful software

Over time you may install many programs that automatically start up with your PC, thereby increasing its overall boot time. Free program Bootracer measures how long your PC takes to start up and lets you disable programs that slow this process. The latest version shows you all the programs that start with your PC and how long each one delays your PC’S start up time, so you can remove those that are a drag on your boot time.

STEP 1

Bootracer comes as a ZIP file, so you’ll need a file-compression program to install it (we recommend Peazip, www.peazip.org). To download Bootracer, go to www.snipca.com/26358 and click the Download Now link at the top right. Open the downloaded zipped file, click the ‘bootracer.msi’ setup file 1 , then click Yes, Next, select ‘I accept the license agreement’ 2 , click Next 3 again, then Yes to install the program.

STEP 2

Bootracer doesn’t create a desktop icon. To do that, search for bootracer on your PC, right-click the search result, then click ‘Pin to Start’. Now open your Start menu and drag its icon to your desktop. First, you need to restart your PC to let Bootracer record its boot time. Click the Boot Time Test button 1 , then click Yes 2 . After your PC restarts, you’ll see a pop-up displaying its boot time (in seconds) and an analysis (Good, Average or Bad).

STEP 3

Open Bootracer to see your boot time (in seconds) 1 . You’ll see a breakdown of the entire process at the top, including how long your BIOS took to load (Windows Boot) and how long before your desktop was ready to use 2 . To find out which programs are slowing down your startup process, click Enable Control 3 . Next, click Enable Startup Control, tick Enabled, then click ‘Restart your PC and Analyze Results’. Your PC will now restart.

STEP 4

Reopen Bootracer, click ‘Which programs slow down start-up?’ 1 , then click the Analyzing Results tab 2 . You’ll see three options 3 measuring start time, load time and total startup time. Start and load times are explained on the right 4 . Click Total Startup Time 5 to see a list of all the programs that start up with your PC.

STEP 5

Each start-up program is listed with its start-up time 1 . Select any 2 , then click the ‘i’ button 3 to see its start and load times (see Step 4) at the bottom 4 . You can safely disable or remove any third-party programs that take too long or any you don’t use. Leave any programs that came pre-installed or that you’re not sure about. Right-click any program, then click Control Startup Programs.

STEP 6

In the window that opens, you’ll see a list of all the items that start up with your PC - in the order they start. Items at the top are typically needed to make sure your PC starts without problems. Scroll down and you’ll see non-microsoft programs. You can disable these or remove them from the list. Untick any program 1 to disable it. To remove a program, select it, then click Delete 2 . Click the Refresh button 3 when you’ve finished.

STEP By default, your PC leaves a one second gap between 7 starting each program or app on your PC during startup. Bootracer lets you reduce this gap. To do this, click Bootracer’s Advanced button 1 , click Options, then the Startup Control tab 2 . Here, change the ‘Delay between starting apps’ time from 1000ms (milliseconds) to 500ms 3 , then click Save 4 or ‘Save and Reboot’ 5 (if you want to restart your PC and check your new boot time).

STEP Next, select the Boot 9 Time Trend tab 1 on the main interface to see a graph 2 showing your PC’S boot times since installing Bootracer. Click the History button 3 to see a further breakdown of this graph, with your best, worst and average startup times 4 . You can print this list or save a copy of it (useful for comparison at a later date). To do that, click the ‘Save as’ button, click ‘Save to DOC’ 5 , then rename and save the file on your PC.

STEP If you click the ‘Speed up’ button 1 on Bootracer’s 8 main screen, you’ll see two options - Remove Malware and Fix Clean Boost, which we don’t recommend. The first option automatically downloads malware-removal tool Unhackme, while the second prompts you to install Ccleaner Professional. Instead, we recommend Kaspersky Internet Security 2018 (see our Reader Offer, page 70) and the free version of Ccleaner ( www.snipca.com/26366). Run both programs, then restart your PC to further reduce your boot time 2 .

STEP Bootracer has a built-in tool that lets you 10 take a screenshot of its main interface – useful if you want to take a screenshot of your graph 1 . To do this, click the Advanced button 2 , then ‘Take screenshot’. In the window that opens, use the dropdown menu to select your screenshot’s save location 3 . Name the file at the bottom 4 , then click Save 5 . ●