Thursday, October 11, 2007

Slow Windows login (Gone in 60 seconds)

I decided that today was going to be the day I solved why my Windows XP always takes excactly 1 minute to "think" after clicking the login button and until it shows my Windows desktop and starts to load traybar applications etc..

First try was to minimize the profile size. If I were using a roaming profile this would certainly have helped, because the size of my profile folders were around 800 megs. I moved out the Thunderbird mail profile and sqeezed some more unnecessary bits out of it and came down to around 150 megs. Still a bit much, but the change in login speed should be noticeable. Result: Nada. Still took a minute to think it all over before letting me in.

The solution was right under my nose the whole time - actually letting me know upon each login that "some network drives could not reconnect". Of course not - I use my laptop on different places and I am not always connected to those network drives. I just find it convenient to have them all ready for use in explorer. No longer. I disconnected them and did a login, and the whole minute's wait was gone.

The login was no longer "Gone in 60 seconds" - the 60 seconds were gone. :)

I just wonder where I can find the time to fetch my coffee now...

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