What steps can you take to speed up the boot time of Windows 10? One of the primary solutions is to disable the “SysMain” and “Windows Search” services. Startup items, old hardware, and services can also be the cause of slow boot. Simple tweaks like disabling some services and changing to SSD can solve the issue.
There are other performance problems after the 2004 update. Your hard drive can constantly sit at 100% usage, making your laptop slow and unusable. Even a reinstall cannot solve the problem, as there can be a dangerous memory leak.
Another important change you can make is to replace your old HDD (hard disk drive) drives with SSD (solid-state drive) drives. In 2020, solid-state drives are fast replacing the traditional platter drives. These boost performance and also improve boot time.
Windows 10 Slow Boot 2020 – Effect
Your Windows 10 can be sluggish and unresponsive in 2020. A black screen can appear when you restart after an update.
There have been several KB (Knowledge Base) updates, which can cause Windows 10 to boot slowly after the 2020 update. These include KB4567523, KB4538461, KB4567513, KB4532693, KB4559004, and many others.
If your Windows 10 is slow after the June 2020 update, it may be due to a recent KB update. Then you can uninstall that particular KB update to check if it solves the problem.
Slow internet after the Windows 10 update 2019 can be caused by network drivers or related issues, such as outdated or incompatible drivers that may not function properly with the new update. You can reset the network adapter or troubleshoot using Windows tools.
Windows 10 being slow after update 1903 can be another cause for the latest issue. You might not have observed until now, and this could add to your vows in 2020.
Luckily for me, I didn’t face any problems with my current configuration. The following are my specs.
Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Kingston 8GB DDR3 RAM
Gigabyte G41MT-S2P motherboard
Acer P225HQ Monitor
NVIDIA GeForce 210 graphics card
80GB HDD, 120GB SSD, 240GB SSD.
SONY DVD RW
My system boots in less than 45 seconds. This improvement can be attributed to the usage of an SSD drive, which has improved boot performance.
The exact reason for the boot issues after the 2004 update is not yet known. To solve Windows 10 being slow after the 2020 update, you can try some of these troubleshooting steps.
Disable SysMain and Indexing Service
In the earlier versions of Windows 10, the “SysMain” service was also named SuperFetch. As of the 1809 update, the service is renamed as “SysMain.” If you check its description, it says the following:
The program is responsible for maintaining and enhancing system performance over time.
In the initial period it consumed a lot of memory and CPU resources. But this feature is designed to maximize memory and keep your system running smoothly even under high usage of applications, apps, and processes.
SysMain sits quietly in the background and analyzes your RAM and most often used apps, applications, and services. It marks these apps as “frequently used” and loads them into RAM more quickly, boosting the system performance.
Similarly, the indexing service is also related to the “Windows Search” service. As we know, when we add new drives, folders, and files to index locations, the performance of the computer slows down a little. The goal is to make the “Search” functionality of Windows 10 quicker.
You can disable these services temporarily to check if these services are slowing your Windows 10 boot. If they are not, then restore them back to their default startup types. Otherwise, you may get some BSOD errors if they are the cause.
This scenario generally happens where the hardware configuration of RAM, CPU, and hard disk is of the legacy type.
Even after disabling both these services, your computer still doesn’t boot quickly, so move to the next solution.
Use an SSD for boot, system, page file, active, and primary partitions.
As of 2020, solid-state drive prices have become a lot cheaper. For $50, you can get a 250 GB SSD drive. Though it may be insufficient to store your photos, videos, and office documents, it is useful to install your Windows 10 OS.
Most motherboards support both SATA drives, which are traditional hard drives, and SSDs, or solid-state drives, which are faster and more efficient. You can use your old HDD for storage and SSD for system performance.
For quicker access to boot files, you can create your OS partition on SSD. This will reduce the time required to boot up your Windows 10 computer.
You can check this case study on how I was able to reduce Windows 10 boot time using SSD.
Problem with HP Laptops
In another forum post, a user purchased an HP ProBook 450 G7 i5. The system takes a long time to boot up, often freezing at the HP logo for two minutes. It has the latest configuration of Intel Core i5 processor with 8GB RAM and also an SSD.
The latest 2004 update is installed on the Windows 10 64-bit version. All the drivers were updated along with the BIOS. For this type of problem, the user has enabled Fast mode in BIOS for quicker boot.
Then the slow boot problem is resolved. It takes only 10 to 15 seconds when fast mode is enabled. Depending upon your BIOS configuration, you need to enable this feature each time, which may be a time-consuming process.
Disable Nahimic Service
As we know, audio technology installs different drivers and services. Nahimic audio software is an HD audio technology that improves the audio and voice performance of your gaming system. In one instance, the Nahimic service was identified as the cause of slow booting following the 2004 update.
Just like Realtek, VIA, and Nvidia, this audio also installs a service in Windows 10. Both ASUS and MSI use its drives for enhancing headphones. So if you are using an ASUS motherboard or laptop, it is better to check its services.
If you find that your laptop is booting slowly after the update, you can disable the Nahimic service. Then restart and check the boot time. If it goes well, you can keep it disabled until the issue is resolved. Until then you can use the generic drivers provided by Microsoft or supported audio codec drivers by your motherboard manufacturer.
Check your drivers.
Your system comes with different hardware like headphones, speakers, webcams, printers, disk drives, motherboards, CD/DVD drives, keyboards, monitors, network adapters, and many others. Some of them are ready to install and plug-and-play.
You can open Device Manager from Control Panel or Windows 10 search. Then check if there are any yellow exclamation marks beside any devices. Also, some devices are not properly installed.
These make use of generic drivers of Microsoft and do not cause much issue. But some legacy devices, like old webcams and Bluetooth devices, require their drivers given by their manufacturers. Third-party vendors sometimes fail to update these drivers for compatibility with the Windows 10 2004 update.
In such cases, use a driver that worked most recently. You can also roll back to previous drivers if the latest drivers are not working. This issue happens mostly with graphic and audio drivers and services.
Check your services.
You can also type services. Type “msc” in the Run dialog box to open the Services window. By default, several services run with Windows 10. But if you find any services unrelated to Windows 10, you can temporarily disable them.
Then check your boot time and find the culprit that is causing the issue. You can disable it until a fix is released by the manufacturer or Microsoft. You can also try a clean boot to check if any service is the issue.
Disable StartUp Items
When you install an app or program, it often installs a lot of startup items. If you are using 2GB RAM and an old HDD, the slowdown could severely impact boot performance.
The best method is to disable all these startup items and check your boot time. If the boot time decreases, you can re-enable each startup item one by one. You can disable the specific startup app or application if it’s the cause of the slow boot.
Disable Startup Tasks
Your Task Scheduler initiates numerous tasks at startup. This includes Google and Adobe update task programs. When you restart your computer daily, these programs may also start up daily or weekly based on your setup.
In such cases, you can delete these tasks if they are not required. Such actions adjustment will improve your boot speed and also performance.
This YouTube video talks in general about how to rectify slow boot issues in Windows 10. It applies to the 2004 update also. There are a lot of tweaks and tips that can be applied to all updates, such as disabling unnecessary startup programs and optimizing system settings to improve boot times.
Conclusion
Windows 10 being slow after update 1909 indicates you need to change your hardware. You should be good to go, as this update dates back to October 2019.
If you find that your system booted normally before and had problems only after the recent 2004 update, then you can roll back to your old version.
A computer being slow after the Windows update 2020 is an indication that you have a defective driver or an old HDD.
For me, my SysMain and Indexing services are still running. Disabling them caused a blue screen error, so I restored the previous settings. It all depends on your current system configuration.
If disabling these services improves your boot time, then keep it like that. Otherwise, go back to your old settings.
