In this episode of Defrag Tools, Chad Beeder and Sylvain Goyette discuss how to analyze and optimize Windows boot performance, using tools available in the Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). Timeline: [00:00] Introductions and overview[01:31] In-box feature: Task Manager Startup tab will show estimated startup impact of various processes and let you disable them[02:10] More scientific measurement: Use the ADK's Windows Assessment Console to run the Boot performance assessments. There are two: Fast Startup and Full Boot.[02:52] Discussion of traditional (Full Boot) vs. Fast Startup/Hybrid Boot (introduced in Windows 8)[05:12] Various options you can configure when running the Boot performance assessment[07:38] Note that it will do six reboots before taking the measurements, to make sure the boot prefetcher (ReadyBoot) is fully trained[09:26] Open the results XML file in Windows Assessment Console. Example: comparing a baseline (clean OS install) vs. an OEM preload image with extra software installed[11:23] Main Path Boot vs. Post On/Off sections. Post On/Off is a heuristic where the assessment tries to estimate the time until system settles down to idle[13:00] Drilling into the various sections of the report[15:50] Keep in mind that you need to enable Auto Logon for the test to be valid.[18:05] Next step for deeper analysis: Open the analysis trace in Windows Performance Analyzer.[21:58] Looking at the CPU Usage (Sampled) graph to see who was using CPU during Post On/Off phase[23:04] Filter out low-priority threads since they don't impact the user experience[25:36] Looking at the Disk Usage graph and filtering out low-priority I/O[29:45] Questions? Email us at [email protected]