Anything Out There that can Monitor Bootup?

[J-Mac]

Ever get to where your PC takes forever to boot up at some point? There are a lot of tools that let you see just what programs and processes are in the startup config. And some let you disable the ones that don't really need to start with Windows. But when it all slows down and you don't know which program/process is causing it - or what order things are starting up in - there's no way I can find to see just what happens during the startup, to see what causes the delay.

 

I've been looking all over for something that will make a record of what happens during startup - can't find anything.

 

Usually that means that there is nothing that can do that. Does anyone know if there is something that can do this? Free or pay?

 

If so, please post and let me know.

 

Also, what is available that can diagnose Windows issues in general? About a million years ago - or actually about three years! - I used Norton SystemWorks for this. While it did monitor and give you some good info, it could choke ten elephants with its massive bloat! Anything better available for diagnosing Windows? You can only do so much by looking at the Event Viewer and trying to decipher those binary Windows error codes.

 

Thanks!

 

J-Mac

[TheFiresInTheSky]

You can only do so much by looking at the Event Viewer and trying to decipher those binary Windows error codes.

GOOGLE!

just google that number that you get and it usually comes up with whats causing the problem.

 

EDIT: took some searching and digging but i think i found a couple.

boot analyzer for 95/98, FREE

and

boot analyzer for XP, NOT free

im thinking thats something like what your asking for, am i right?

[Mike Rochip]

You might give Bootvis a try. It's a discontinued free tool from Microsoft that monitors the bootup and then presents a series of graphs indicating how long each process is taking.

 

Since I don't really know how to interpret the graphs I'm not sure how helpful it is.

 

It monitors:

 

Boot activity

CPU usage

Disk I/O

Disc utilization

Drivers delay

Process creates

 

The Microsoft Bootvis page is here.

If after reading the info you want to use the tool you can download it here.

 

Hope this helps.

[J-Mac]

GOOGLE!

just google that number that you get and it usually comes up with whats causing the problem.

 

EDIT: took some searching and digging but i think i found a couple.

boot analyzer for 95/98, FREE

and

boot analyzer for XP, NOT free

im thinking thats something like what your asking for, am i right?

 

Thanks neighberaaron,

 

Of course I used Googl - didn't see very much in this area, did you?

 

I checked Boot Analyzer - doesn't do much of anything, really.

 

But thanks for looking.

 

You might give Bootvis a try. It's a discontinued free tool from Microsoft that monitors the bootup and then presents a series of graphs indicating how long each process is taking.

 

Since I don't really know how to interpret the graphs I'm not sure how helpful it is.

 

It monitors:

 

Boot activity

CPU usage

Disk I/O

Disc utilization

Drivers delay

Process creates

 

The Microsoft Bootvis page is here.

If after reading the info you want to use the tool you can download it here.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks Mike.

 

I did find Bootvis and I have used it. Like you, I'm not really certain what to do with the data. It records a lot of information, but nothing that you can really look at and see individually what happened when. It apparently could do that, since it does record a lot of events during that boot. But for whatever reason they never built the ability to separate out the individual data points. And sadly it is no longer supported by MS or anyone else.

 

I do appreciate your help!

[Humpty]

Don't know if this is much help.

 

Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch and open the layout.ini. file which should show your optimal boot layout.

 

Some info on layout.ini and prefetch

[Andavari]

You can also create a boot log using the built into Windows tool called msconfig, although what useful information it will create for an end-user I don't know.

1. 
   Here's how:
   
2. Click Start->Run->Type in: msconfig
   
3. Go to the tab BOOT.INI
   
4. Select /BOOTLOG
   
5. Click Apply, then restart Windows.
   The boot log should be located in C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt
   

If you don't want a boot log created at each startup you have to disable it in msconfig. Note: If CCleaner is set to automatically clean on Window startup and if you have it configured to delete Windows logs it will remove the boot log.

 

Edit: Updated the msconfig information since I had never used it before.

[Mike Rochip]

I did a Google search for "boot tool" and the majority of the sites were flagged red or yellow by McAfee SiteAdvisor. Including Freedownloadcenter where software is hardly ever free and apparently is dangerous as well . I guess boot tool is one of those key search terms that sends you on a trip to Malwareland.

[Mike Rochip]

Something that I didn't notice about Bootvis is that if you select an area in some of the graphs and then right-click within the selected area a context menu appears with additional options. The option for Show Summary Table presents the information in a spreadsheet format and goes in to quite a bit of detail. There may also be options for viewing the results differently auch as by process or by module. If you choose Show Detail Graph you can do the same things in the new graph that is displayed.

 

You may already know that but I thought I'd mention just in case.

[hazelnut]

Here is a bit of info about how an empty prefetch folder can slow down boot times

http://www.xpforum.co.uk/forums/archive/t-587.html

[Mike Rochip]

Here is a bit of info about how an empty prefetch folder can slow down boot times

http://www.xpforum.co.uk/forums/archive/t-587.html

 

Oh no. You said the "P" word. Run away, far far away, while you still can! Have you forgotten about the Ccleaner Prefetch Wars of 2005 and 2006? I was reading about the same thing in another forum and they were fighting about it tooth and nail like this forum was in days gone by.

 

Just kidding with you and the link you provided is one of the saner discussions about prefetch I've seen in a while. Seems like leaving it pretty much alone is the best bet.

 

I just let Ccleaner clean the Old Prefetch Data once in a while and that seems to be OK.

 

I just hope no one ever mentions prefetch and the Yahoo! toolbar in the same thread.

 

Uh oh...

[hazelnut]

I was a bit in two minds Mike as to whether to post the link or not, but as it was a valid reason for a boot slowdown on that users part I thought I would.

 

Let's hope no one takes this post as a reason to re-start an old argument!!

[zaphirer]

www.mlin.net

 

StartupCPL, very very useful program.

I actually used this program and still do, not just a Google result.

[burtman]

Just delete the lot !

 

Quite frankley, I've cleared out my prefetch folders (and many more folders) evey boot and it has made absolutely sod-all difference - ever.

 

Although I can't count in milli-seconds so I might have sped up by .05 seconds ....

[Humpty]

Just an observation on my part.

 

If using Perfect Disk and there is no layout.ini file within prefetch PD will not show any colour coded boot files and cannot do a smart placement defrag.

 

Also the default defragger in WinXP can freeze when trying to defragment the drive Windows is installed on if the C:\Windows\Prefetch\Layout.ini file is deleted and hasn't been rebuilt.

[J-Mac]

Hey folks!

 

Lots of good responses! I'm not getting email notification for some reason - glad I checked back in.

 

I'll reply where necessary to each post.

 

Don't know if this is much help.

 

Navigate to C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch and open the layout.ini. file which should show your optimal boot layout.

 

Some info on layout.ini and prefetch

 

Thanks Humpty - this is good info. My prefetch folder has over 5,000 lines in it - never been cleaned out. And this is a new PC - only a little over two months old.

 

I can't seem to connect to your link, though.

 

You can also create a boot log using the built into Windows tool called msconfig, although what useful information it will create for an end-user I don't know.

1. 
   Here's how:
   
2. Click Start->Run->Type in: msconfig
   
3. Go to the tab BOOT.INI
   
4. Select /BOOTLOG
   
5. Click Apply, then restart Windows.
   The boot log should be located in C:\Windows\ntbtlog.txt
   

If you don't want a boot log created at each startup you have to disable it in msconfig. Note: If CCleaner is set to automatically clean on Window startup and if you have it configured to delete Windows logs it will remove the boot log.

 

Edit: Updated the msconfig information since I had never used it before.

 

Good info - I set it to create the boot log, but haven't restarted yet.

 

I'll let you know what I find.

 

Thanks Andavari!

 

I did a Google search for "boot tool" and the majority of the sites were flagged red or yellow by McAfee SiteAdvisor. Including Freedownloadcenter where software is hardly ever free and apparently is dangerous as well . I guess boot tool is one of those key search terms that sends you on a trip to Malwareland.

 

I know. There are not many - if any - legitmate apps for this apparently.

 

Something that I didn't notice about Bootvis is that if you select an area in some of the graphs and then right-click within the selected area a context menu appears with additional options. The option for Show Summary Table presents the information in a spreadsheet format and goes in to quite a bit of detail. There may also be options for viewing the results differently auch as by process or by module. If you choose Show Detail Graph you can do the same things in the new graph that is displayed.

 

You may already know that but I thought I'd mention just in case.

 

This sounds promising - I really have to get deeper into Bootvis.

 

Thanks Mike!

 

Here is a bit of info about how an empty prefetch folder can slow down boot times

http://www.xpforum.co.uk/forums/archive/t-587.html

 

Interesting thread. Thanks hazelnut!

 

www.mlin.net

 

StartupCPL, very very useful program.

I actually used this program and still do, not just a Google result.

 

zaphirer,

 

This is a nice little free app for seeing what is in the startup config. I already have that capability with a few other apps, plus good old msconfig.

 

But I need to see what is happening once the boot is actually underway - see what the holdup is.

 

Thanks!

 

Just an observation on my part.

 

If using Perfect Disk and there is no layout.ini file within prefetch PD will not show any colour coded boot files and cannot do a smart placement defrag.

 

Also the default defragger in WinXP can freeze when trying to defragment the drive Windows is installed on if the C:\Windows\Prefetch\Layout.ini file is deleted and hasn't been rebuilt.

 

No Perfect Disk, so I do have the layout.ini file. I use Diskeeper 9 for defragging.

 

Thanks.

[J-Mac]

Just to report back, the bootlog in msconfig is kind of funky. After restarting msconfig also opens along with a dialog that says since I modified my msconfig it is now in selective mode, and that msconfig and that same dialog will open with every restart until I change it back. And then as soon as I close the msconfig window it wants me to restart again. That's a circle that could go on forever!!

[Mike Rochip]

If you are seeing the message below just make sure msconfig is set up the way you want it to be and then you can check the "don't show this message" box in the lower left corner and the message won't appear anymore. It's just a reminder that you made changes to msconfig. Any time you hit Apply or OK in msconfig it will generate this message even if you didn't make any changes. If you don't make changes you can hit Cancel and the message won't come up when you reboot.

 

NOTE:

If you ever need to make changes to a Windows service such as Automatic Updates it's better to do that by going to Start>Run> type in "services.msc" [without the quotes] and then click OK than to do it in mscong.

 

[J-Mac]

If you are seeing the message below just make sure msconfig is set up the way you want it to be and then you can check the "don't show this message" box in the lower left corner and the message won't appear anymore. It's just a reminder that you made changes to msconfig. Any time you hit Apply or OK in msconfig it will generate this message even if you didn't make any changes. If you don't make changes you can hit Cancel and the message won't come up when you reboot.

 

NOTE:

If you ever need to make changes to a Windows service such as Automatic Updates it's better to do that by going to Start>Run> type in "services.msc" [without the quotes] and then click OK than to do it in mscong.

 

 

Cool. Thanks Mike!

[Mike Rochip]

You're welcome! Glad I could help.