Windows: Dual (or triple or quadruple) booters know how annoying it is to wait around for the boot manager when rebooting. Free system tray utility iReboot lets you pick your OS as you restart, so you can go make a sandwich instead.
Windows only: StartupSelector is a small utility that allows you to save and load different startup configurations so your system is ready to tackle any task at hand with the right tools running depending on what’s on your plate.
Windows: StartupSelector is a simple application for saving your Windows startup configuration and swapping it with previous backups for customisable startup configurations on the fly.
Windows only: We won’t judge you by your startup sound or music, but your co-workers might. Keep your startup silent and embarrassment-free with system tray utility Auto Mute, which runs in the background and mutes your sound on logoff, suspend and shutdown.
Mac only: If you have more than one startup volume on your Mac (say, if you’re using Boot Camp), free utility QuickBoot lets you reboot from one of those volumes straight from the menu bar, with just a few clicks.
Firefox 3.5 pulls data from certain file locations for randomised security purposes. Sometimes, though, that can lead to annoying slow start-ups in Windows. You can speed things up by cleaning out certain folder locations.
Google webspam wrangler Matt Cutts treated himself to a solid-state hard drive—the kind made from memory chips—and timed a customised boot of Ubuntu 9.04. It was up and running Firefox in about 18 seconds.
Windows only: Startup timer utility BootRacer checks your startup speed between reboots, eliminating the need to hold a stop watch while tweaking your machine for faster boot speeds. Once installed, testing your boot speed is as simple as launching BootRacer and clicking the Race It button, which will prompt you for a few settings and then reboot your machine. By default the application is set to run at every boot and display your results with a tray icon balloon, but that can be easily changed in the settings. Once you’ve got your baseline timing, you should use Gina’s complete guide to speeding up your PC’s startup to increase your rating—and more importantly, your boot speed. BootRacer is a free download, Windows only. The utility only worked on Windows XP in my testing, but Windows Vista is supposed to be supported—so if you get it working, let us know in the comments.
BootRacer [via Shell Extension City]The Windows Vista for Beginners tutorial site walks through tweaking your startup items to improve performance—a common practice, but this time with a helpful twist. Most of the techniques are nothing new to Lifehacker readers (see Gina’s complete guide to speeding up your PC’s startup), ranging from trimming startup applications to using Startup Delayer to keep everything from starting at once, but this guide goes the extra mile, attempting to answer the often unaddressed question: What should I disable? The post is geared towards the less tech-savvy, but could be helpful for anybody as a resource to share with others that don’t have the know-how but are tired of slow startup speeds.
Streamline your Startup Applications & Improve Windows Performance [Windows Vista for Beginners]The latest Windows 7 beta offers an even speedier startup than its predecessor: for me the beta boots to a fully functional desktop in under 30 seconds, faster than the preview.
