Thread: Windows 8 Booting and Starting Faster than Windows 7

It would be interesting to asee what figures other users get. There is a lot of emphasis on the start up and shutdown times, which I do not consider, in my environment, as very important.- For home use, I switch on my computer early morning and make a cup of coffee. At the end of the day, I switch off and go to bed!
But, for what it is worth, Somewhere on these pages I posted my own figures, I trhink during the consumer release. The results have not changed much. But, in spite of my first comments, I am always surprised when I see other users start up and shut down figures. I worked hard with Windows 7, customising and tweaking to its limits. The article states that the author has the two OSs installed as totally separate entities. Now, let me say this is a comparison, not a speed test for either OS. As a comparison, on my test computer, kinf of Ford model T vintage, I cannot get even close to those figures. The Bios load varies from machine to machine, so my timing is from after the bios load, to a working desktop - without HD activity. Iknow we can plunge in whilst the HD lights are still active, but I wanted the same comparison. It was important, from this point of view, that no antivirus programs were running.
Windows 7 started in 40 secs. Windows 8 in 47 secs.
The remainder of the authors tests were dedicated to certain specialised operations, my own were quite simply opening the same web page (This one, as it happens, as it has always been the slowest for me): Opening Windows Explorer and performing an function, and opening a (64Bit) App. Plus other insignificant uses.
In these backyard tests, as did the author, I did find some of window 8 ops a little better, some a little slower. Unfortunately, I did not see any mind shattering differences which we make me recommend its purchase to those who are happy with Windows 7 - least of all to company multi purchasers.
I am assured, from my own tests, that there is a small performance move forward. This has mainly been achieved by using all those services more economically. Because of this, I will be using Windows 8, rather than Windows 7, in the very near future. In fact, reading posts here and on other forums, I feel I am getting more satisfaction from it than many others!
Only a personal observation, but I do not sense (visually), any performance improvements whilst using Windows 7.

Boot-up time might not be important on a desktop (except when people are standing around you waiting to see something, and by the time the computer is up and useable, they're getting annoyed.....). It's even more annoying when the computer is "up", but it's doing so many things on its own that it doesn't respond to your for what seems to take forever. On a laptop, it's a different story. I would much rather have an on/off switch, with instant reaction, perhaps as long as my phone takes to boot up, but not much more.

I was wrong on my Toshiba. I pressed the power button, and in less than half a minute, the computer shut down - or so I thought. I'd press the button again a while later, and again, less than half a minute to logging on. When shut down, all the lights were off, and I assumed so was the computer.

Now something has changed - it still works just as it used to, but when "off" one of the status lights blinks slowly, making me think the computer isn't really "off".

When I shut the computer down the old fashioned way, with the menu system, it's really "off", and this process is also faster than I remember from before, especially on this laptop.

Is this a reason to buy Windows 8? Maybe not. It's a nice bonus though.

Personally, I would love to get rid of all the baggage that comes along with Windows 8 (Metro, apps, and all the other stuff I don't care about) and simply have the better and faster OS that the whole thing is built on. That's enough of a reason for me to say that I'll be upgrading most of my PC's once it becomes available - when possible. Apparently I won't be able to on my Sony VAIO TT laptop, as the only drivers available for it are for Vista.

Originally Posted by Mike Myers

Boot-up time might not be important on a desktop

Why not? Unless you enjoy having time for a 5k run between POST and login, I think boot time on a desktop is just as important as boot time on anything else.

I should have said "......for me."


I hardly ever turn my desktop off, so I'm rarely waiting for it to boot. I just let it sleep at night.
Win Win 8 on my laptop, I just hit the power button, and it also goes to sleep.

Understandable. The way the faster boot up in Windows 8 works is actually similar to hibernation in Windows 7, except it doesn't save your current session to the hiberfile.

This is my real time boot experience of Windows 8 in Virtual Box.

i see. too fast. my laptop is i3 bút speech to start much fast

When win 7 was going to be released, they touted win 7s boot speed over XP; Well my XP laptop still boots much faster than my Win 7 PC.

Windows 8: Designed by Playskool engineers for smartphones!