windows boot up faster

Hi,

Does anyone know how to make windows boot up faster?

I removed zone alarm suite (as it was due for renewal and dont have the cash right now) and put Avast! on instead.

System seems to boot faster with avast.

the only other thing i've got in the icon tray thing on the right next to the time is DU meter.

any ideas on anything else i can do.. ie.. i remeber that some PC's count the memory from 1 up to however much you have in at start of boot process. i cant see my pc do that, but it might be doing it in the background... etc

Fonts

Do you have a lot of Fonts installed? This can slow down the startup considerably. Anything over 50 fonts is too much. I have cut my fonts down to about 20. I noticed the difference.

A/V

Be thankful you never had norton installed? I used to use it. I could have a read a book by the time my machine booted up. I tend not to have an A/V run automatically at boot time. I activate it, if and when im going on the net. And only if im surfing. I go on the bbc website to check some news, I dont bother activating it.

System Tray/MSConfig

Whats your system tray look like? How many icons are lurking down there? Do you really need quicktime, nvidia/ati console, sound panel, running in the background.

Type MSCONFIG from the Run command in the start menu
Goto Startup Tab, and Disable all.
Have a look and activate your Firewall software, and AV software if you must.
Reboot. If you really need anything else, MSconfig again, and activate the software you need.

RE-Install

How old is your install? Is it over 12 months? Have you installed/uninstalled greater than 15 programs? If yes to all of the questions, the best way to have a speed boost is to reinstall windows. Believe me, no amount of reg cleaning will return your boot time to clean install times again. Even if you uninstalled all your programs.

nLite?

If you are planning to reinstall. Have you tried using nLite? You can slipstream SP2, set up preferences, remove loads of features you will never use (like paint, pinball...), unattended install, integrate graphics, mobo, sound, ethernet drivers. Have a google for it. its a great program.

Phew, I hope this helps...