<b>Startup Doubler: how effective is it? [Update: Startup Doubler Public Beta 2 posted]

Regarding Startup Doubler, a new utility mentioned here last time, Scott Boettcher writes: "I installed the Startup Doubler package and did the reboot/timing thing a few times. Results? No crashes and absolutely not one second shaved from the startup times!" If any one has tried this utility and has found that it does work as advertised, please let me know.

Update: Marc Moini informs me that he has just posted Public Beta 2 of Startup Doubler to his web page. He writes: "Biggest change in this version is that it's now compatible with Speed Doubler 8 (8.0b3). This will let Startup Doubler accelerate startups on Macs that also have Speed Doubler installed: previously, Speed Doubler 8 users would not notice any improvement in startup times when running Startup Doubler!"

In response to my query about whether or not this utility works, I received 11 replies from readers, one said it "sort of works sometimes," one said it had no effect on his first restart after installing it but saved about 20 seconds after that, one said it froze his Mac (so he disabled it), and the remaining 8 all said it had virtually no effect at all. At least one of these 8 users was already using the new beta 2 release. Marc replies: "Indeed I've had reports that on some systems Startup Doubler doesn't make startups faster. I'm looking for the exact cause, and I expect this to be fixed in a few days."