How can my computer tell me it's done with startup?
February 28, 2006 10:32 AM Subscribe
How can XP notify me when the startup process is complete?
I know that my computer (XP Pro, SP2) is not ready once my desktop is displayed, because the system is sluggish and I can see the hard drive light flashing away for a minute or two more. I hate watching that stupid little flashing light, thinking "Is it done? How about now?" Drives me crazy!
What I would really like to do is to turn the computer on, log in to my user account, and then do other stuff until something is displayed on my screen indicating that the startup process is complete. Is there an application out there that will notify me when startup is done and the system is 100% ready to use? Or, is there some way to put this functionality into a batch file?
(btw, the issue here is not really boot speed -- the process is actually reasonably fast. It's just that I feel like I'm eight again -- "Are we there yet?")
I know that my computer (XP Pro, SP2) is not ready once my desktop is displayed, because the system is sluggish and I can see the hard drive light flashing away for a minute or two more. I hate watching that stupid little flashing light, thinking "Is it done? How about now?" Drives me crazy!
What I would really like to do is to turn the computer on, log in to my user account, and then do other stuff until something is displayed on my screen indicating that the startup process is complete. Is there an application out there that will notify me when startup is done and the system is 100% ready to use? Or, is there some way to put this functionality into a batch file?
(btw, the issue here is not really boot speed -- the process is actually reasonably fast. It's just that I feel like I'm eight again -- "Are we there yet?")
Best answer: I noticed you said you had to login to your user account. One other approach to this problem that I've used with some success is to implement a workaround that allows the startup apps to load before I've actually logged in. This link tells you how to do that. In this case you simply hit the power button and walk away. Whether this is useful for you depends on whether the "other stuff" you do would fit better into an uninterrupted block of four minutes rather than two blocks of two minutes with entering a password between.
posted by cacophony at 11:29 AM on February 28, 2006
posted by cacophony at 11:29 AM on February 28, 2006
Startup processes are not all synchronous and many run in parallel. To identify "when startup is complete" would require defining "startup" and "complete", which are undefined.
When have you "finished starting work"?
Cacophony's suggestion might work and it might not. It does seem reasonable to look at idle time as some indication that your computer is "running" and not "starting", assuming that "starting" puts a higher load on it than running does. Which isn't necessarily true.
Your problem, I bet, mostly exists because you probably have too many applications set to startup when you log on. Most of them will appear in your system tray. Some won't. Get a variation of a "startup utility" and see what you don't need and can eliminate.
Finally, you may be able to tweak how XP handles starting applications and services with regard to how this affects the GUI. I imagine there's a number of obscure registry tweaks. But one thing that is available to the end user is the My Computer (right-click) --> Properties --> Advanced (tab) --> Performance ("settings") --> Advanced (tab) --> Processor Scheduling. There you can choose which to emphasis, the application(s) that you're using, or stuff running in the background. I don't think you'll see much difference, though.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:37 PM on February 28, 2006
When have you "finished starting work"?
Cacophony's suggestion might work and it might not. It does seem reasonable to look at idle time as some indication that your computer is "running" and not "starting", assuming that "starting" puts a higher load on it than running does. Which isn't necessarily true.
Your problem, I bet, mostly exists because you probably have too many applications set to startup when you log on. Most of them will appear in your system tray. Some won't. Get a variation of a "startup utility" and see what you don't need and can eliminate.
Finally, you may be able to tweak how XP handles starting applications and services with regard to how this affects the GUI. I imagine there's a number of obscure registry tweaks. But one thing that is available to the end user is the My Computer (right-click) --> Properties --> Advanced (tab) --> Performance ("settings") --> Advanced (tab) --> Processor Scheduling. There you can choose which to emphasis, the application(s) that you're using, or stuff running in the background. I don't think you'll see much difference, though.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 1:37 PM on February 28, 2006
Response by poster: Although EB's first suggestion is probably on target for 95% of people with this issue, I'm pretty sure that I don't have too many applications running at startup. My OS install is about a month old, and I have been hyper-vigilant about not letting parasites take hold (Quicktime, I'm looking at you ...) In fact, I just ran tasklist, and its output tells me that there's nothing running right now that I don't want to run.
I'll give cacophony's suggestion a try. Thanks!
posted by harkin banks at 1:56 PM on February 28, 2006
I'll give cacophony's suggestion a try. Thanks!
posted by harkin banks at 1:56 PM on February 28, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
tasklist /fi "IMAGENAME eq System Idle Process" /fi "CPUTIME gt 0:00:10"After the system is idle for at least 10 seconds cumulative that will return this:
Image Name PID Session Name Session# Mem Usage========================= ====== ================ ======== ============
System Idle Process 0 Console 0 16 K
Otherwise it will return
INFO: No tasks running with the specified criteria.You may have to tweak it above 10 seconds to get the results you want.
posted by grouse at 10:44 AM on February 28, 2006