boot

MacFixIt Answers is a feature in which we answer questions e-mailed in by our readers. This week readers had questions on security software recommendations for Macs, systems pausing while showing green pixels, garbled boot images when booting from the OS X DVD, and Office 2011's Solver utility crashing when launched. We continually answer e-mail questions, and though we present a few answers here, we welcome alternative approaches and views from readers and encourage you to post your suggestions in the comments.

Question: Security software for a new Mac MacFixIt reader "scfox" asks:

We all complain that booting up our PCs takes much longer than it should. With Windows 8 on the horizon, Microsoft is trying to streamline and speed up the whole boot process.

In the latest edition of the Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft program manager Billie Sue Chafins explained yesterday how the company strove to make some long overdue improvements to the much-maligned boot experience and bring it "into the 21st century."

As described in a previous blog, Microsoft is promising a faster boot in Windows 8 courtesy of a new hybrid technology that keeps the PC in … Read more

RapidStart is a convenient system utility that analyzes and helps you optimize your Windows startup. By recommending which startup items to remove or delay, the program could help you achieve significantly shorter boot times.

RapidStart's main dashboard has three components: Recommendations, Apply Changes, and Startup History.

The first component, Recommendations, shows you all of the removable and nonremovable items that run on startup, arranged from High to Low, according to their impact on your startup time. Tapping on any item gives you a quick description and a recommended action. For some items, there's also a small chart showing … Read more

Cult of Mac is reporting on an issue with MacBook systems where users are experiencing a double-boot behavior when FileVault 2 is enabled. The systems will work just fine, but when shut down fully and restarted they may show a grey screen with the spinning indicator wheel for a minute or two, followed by the system rebooting and showing the log-in window again. Upon supplying credentials a second time, the systems will usually log in successfully, and the systems work fine thereafter.

This issue appears to be specific for MacBook Air systems, but may affect others as well. The issue … Read more

Microsoft is including a beefier version of its malware protection in Windows 8.

The company is tweaking its Windows Defender tool, which has been part of the last few versions of Windows, by essentially adding some of the more robust features from its free Security Essentials product. Launched in 2009, Security Essentials has garnered generally positive reviews but requires a separate download, while the built-in Windows Defender has lacked certain key elements as a defense against malware.

At a demo of Windows 8's security at Microsoft's Build conference on Tuesday posted by The Register, Steven Sinofsky, president of … Read more

If you leave your computer on for extended periods of time, it's usually a good idea to perform a reboot now and then. Furthermore, if you're managing multiple computers, it's difficult to remember when each received a reboot. That's why Windows keeps track of your total up-time and the last time your computer booted for you. Here's how to access those pieces of information:

Note: You can also use these instructions to see how long you've been sitting in front of the computer, if you turn it off after each use.

Microsoft, addressing a painful part of using the company's operating system, says Windows 8 starts up 30 percent to 70 percent faster than the same machines running Windows 7.

That's music to my ears.

Alas, I've heard Microsoft say it's speeding up Windows startup so many times over the years that I'm skeptical it'll ever really happen, especially given that part of the responsibility lies with third-party software out of Microsoft's direct control. This time, though, Microsoft is tackling the problem with a more dramatic approach that preserves some of the computer's … Read more

Anyone who's owned a computer for an extended period of time (1+ years) can tell you that, after some amount of time, it just seems to boot up much slower than when they first got it. There are plenty of ways to help keep your computer's boot time as small as possible, but how can you find out exactly how long your system is taking to boot up? Check these steps out to find this information built right into a Windows utility.

Step 1: Open the Start menu and type Event viewer into the Search box and open … Read more

Apple has released a couple of updates that are relevant to people running Boot Camp on their Macs, and for iMac systems. The Boot Camp update brings the version of the drivers to 3.0, and according to the Boot Camp updater Web page, it addresses some critical problems with the version 3.2 driver set. Therefore if you are running Boot Camp, then Apple recommends you install this latest update.

The firmware update for iMac systems will flash their Radeon graphics cards to a new version that will address a problem where the systems were hanging when performing some … Read more