Good ol' chkdsk

[markopolo]

My Windows 7 PC was very slow to start. The time taken probably could have been measured in minutes not seconds! I put up with it for a long time, choosing to get a coffee or do some other task instead of waiting.

I decided to fix it yesterday and performed all the usual steps like making sure only needed programs were starting at log on and cleaned up the registry. I made sure there were no corrupted Windows updates and logged the boot process to see if any drivers were causing the delay. I checked for any hot fixes from Microsoft.

There was no real improvement. Next, I scheduled chkdsk (Check Disk) to run after a restart. Chkdsk found one corrupt file - bootstat.dat - and fixed it. I should add that chkdsk took hours to run because of the large disk on this box. Anyway, that fixed the problem

At startup, Microsoft Windows checks the bootstat.dat file to see if the prior boot attempt was a success. The delay was caused because that file was corrupted.

The PC boots normally (for a Windows 7 box) now.

[Bruceper]

We think of an operating system as something simple, and don't often think of the hundreds of thousands of lines of code it needs to run and the hundreds or thousands of dependencies like a simple file such at bootstat.dat which on a normally running machine is actually an empty file!

So the lack of an empty file or a damaged empty file can cause issues. Technology is awesome

[eightup]

If you are wanting to speed that up even more. Look into a solid state hard drive. Then your bootup will be finished before you have time to pour that first cup of coffee. I put one in my laptop and there is no way I am going back to mechanical hard drives aside from large data storage.

[Altster]

And aside from using an SSD (Solid State Drive) consider dumping all things Microsoft and giving Linux Mint 18.3 a try. Since most people nowadays seem to just use their computers / laptops for email and browsing the Internet Linux Mint 18.3 (besides being free and Open-Source) frees up the computer from all of the crap that can accumulate in a Windows-based computer.

I made the switch to Mint 18.3 (version 19 is out now) on my desktop computer here at home and have never looked back.

Do I still have a Windows computer in the house? Yes, 2 of them. My wife uses Windows 7 Pro and I have a Windows 10 Pro sitting next to this unit that I rarely power up anymore. And I have done all kinds of things on this Linux box from video & audio editing to word processing using Libre-Office (another free and open-source software package.)

Is there a learning curve for Linux? Yes, but it is mighty small and you will catch on quickly. Plus is is much more secure than Windows-based computers.

I'm hoping for an SSD for Christmas to replace the "spinner" in my laptop - which will make that computer a bit more energy efficient and much quicker to boot AND it will be running Linux Mint as well.

Cheers