How do I... Use BootVis to improve XP boot performance?

Microsoft Windows XP was designed to optimize the boot process so that users can
boot their machines and access the operating system as quickly as possible. For the
most part, XP is successful. There is, however, almost always room for improvement,
and BootVis.exe, a free Microsoft utility, can help you get the best boot performance possible
from an XP system.
How the Windows XP boot process worksA main cause of slow boots with Windows NT/2000
was their method for loading drivers. Prior to XP, Windows versions loaded drivers sequentially.
Windows XP, however, loads drivers concurrently. It also records which applications are launched
during startup. This information is written to the C:\WINDOWS\Prefetch\Layout.ini fi le.
When the Layout.ini fi le is created, XP performs a partial defragmentation on the fi les listed in
Layout.ini. This defrag process attempts to make the fi les listed in Layout.ini available in one
contiguous area on the hard disk, allowing these fi les to be accessed, and the associated drivers to
be loaded, more quickly. This process is run in the background approximately every three days.
There are four factors affecting the defrag process:
• The system must be idle for XP to perform the defragmentation.
• There must be enough free, contiguous disk space to contain all the fi les listed in the
Layout.ini fi le.
• The partial defrag performed by XP will not create the necessary contiguous disk
space. That can be accomplished only by running a full defragmentation with the XP
defragmentation tool or a third-party disk utility.
• The XP defrag process will not use a third-party utility to perform the defragmentation.
Any external tools must be run on their own.
BootVis, which Microsoft describes as a “performance trace visualization tool,” actually performs
the same tasks as the XP boot process, except that BootVis allows the information obtained
during a single boot to be used for optimization, rather than monitoring the system over a
period of several days.
Download the fi le (http://downloads.techrepublic.com.com/abstract.aspx?docid=377428) and
then extract the BootVis.exe utility by double-clicking the archive fi le, selecting a location for
the Bootvis.exe fi le, and clicking OK.
Opening BootVis and running a traceTo run BootVis, simply double-click the BootVis.exe fi le
and the BootVis screen, shown in Figure A, should appear.
The fi rst step in tweaking or troubleshooting your boot process is to run a boot trace. Click
File | New | Next Boot + Drivers Trace. The Trace Repetitions window, shown in Figure B, will
prompt you for the number of repetitions (reboots and traces) to run. Go with the defaults and
click OK.