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Windows 8 To Feature 'Fast Startup Mode'

2011-09-10 11:32:13

The biggest problem I have when running Windows, especially in a corporate

environment, is all of the crapware that doesn't start until I log in. Those

are the programs that decide to do massive tasks as soon as they're started.

They bog down the network connection and thrash the hard drive doing their

startup scans. They make the desktop completely unusable for significant

lengths of time after login.

I suppose the fast boot to a login screen is useful. I'm able to get to the

while the startup applications take forever to do whatever it is they are

doing. But it still doesn't solve the core problem of having a computer that is

up and useful to the end user in a reasonable amount of time.

Now, it should be obvious that the blame here is not entirely on Microsoft.

They have no control over what crap the end user (or corporate IT monkeys)

install on the desktop. They can't control what gets started up when the user

logs in. Microsoft has no way to prevent an idiot from writing an anti-virus

package that does a complete system scan (that bogs down the entire system

while it's running) when it is first started by the user. There's nothing

stopping a startup program from waiting for a slow network connection to time

out, causing the entire startup process to basically hang. There's nothing

Microsoft can do to prevent a program to rebuild it's entire search index at

startup, thrashing the disk to the point where the entire system is

unresponsive while it's running.

But Microsoft is not entirely blameless either. The root of the problem was the

decision to make the console the central focus of operation.There is absolutely

no reason why so much of the software has to start up as soon as the user logs

in. There is no reason why it cannot be tied to the startup of the computer.

And if that software was tied to computer startup there would be no reason it

could not be identified for hibernation just like the kernel, resulting in not

only a faster boot time but a faster time to actual usefulness of the desktop.