Fixing the Windows Vista Slow Startup Problem

Article By: Editor | Topic: Advice, Fix Windows Errors

Windows Vista is the newest flavor of Microsoft’s line of operating systems to hit the marketplace, and much like its predecessor Windows XP, some people have bouts with slow boot times and slow start up using Vista.  Quite honestly, there are a plethora of potential causes for slow PC start up with Windows Vista - we’ll outline a few of them here along with some potential remedies that may be able to help you fix your slow start up problem.

Are your drivers outdated?

The consensus amongst some Windows Vista users is that their slow start up problem was caused by out-of-date drivers; predominantly graphics drivers, but we’ve seen many others identified as culprits, too.  While manually searching for outdated or corrupted drivers can be cumbersome – these problems can certainly be a major contributor to your Windows Vista slow start up predicament.

There is a quick and effective way of checking your drivers – it’s through the Driver Agent website.  This service allows you to scan your PC for outdated and corrupted drivers and optionally - download and install them.  Now, this is a paid service, but it’s well worth the investment, especially if you have multiple Windows computers in your home.

Do you have a bug?

Spyware and viruses are a common factor in Vista slow startup problems – these malicious programs almost always try to load when your computer is booting, which eats away at your available resources and slows down your computer’s startup time significantly.

If you do not have a spyware or virus scanning tool installed on your PC, we recommend AVG antivirus.  They have a free version that is effective in identifying and removing many malicious programs that may not only slow down your PCs boot up time, but that can compromise your computer’s security as well.

Have you cleaned your registry lately?

Your Windows registry is the central office for all of your PCs activities; it stores and collects data and settings that are required for your computer’s operation.  Through general computer usage, your registry can become bloated and even corrupted, but by cleaning your registry you may be able to speed up Windows Vista’s startup times.

While PCs today do not include a registry cleaning tool installed by default, we’ve used the RegCure registry cleaner with great success. It will give your registry a comprehensive cleaning and possibly help speed up your computer’s boot up time, though a registry cleaning does help your PC run more efficiently overall.

The Windows Vista slow start up problem is something that you may be facing today, but there’s a good chance that if you use the steps outlined above - you’ll not only enjoy a faster computer startup time, you’ll have a safer and more efficient system as well.

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