Make Windows Boot Faster by Starting Up Slower

Tired of waiting five or 10 minutes for your computer to boot? Malware could be the culprit, so make sure to run anti-spyware software. But another source of slow booting is all the software that's trying to run the moment Windows starts. Startup Delayer takes a clever approach to this by letting you delay designated startup programs so they don't run until a bit later.

For example, I need my anti-virus and desktop-search programs to run right away, but Adobe Reader Speed Launcher? iTunesHelper? LightScribe Control Panel? They can wait. Using Startup Delayer, I can configure programs like those to run at, say, 1-minute intervals, starting a full 10 minutes after I've booted my system. Genius! Startup Delayer is a free tool and very worthwhile for anyone with a PC that's slow to start. [via gHacks.net]