If you want to run an experiment like I did, review which apps are currently set to launch at startup and then disable them—either all at once or selectively. To check, right-click the Start button, open “Task Manager,” and go to the “Startup Apps” tab. There, you’ll see the apps enabled to run at startup, along with their impact rating, which helps you decide which ones to disable.

To prevent an app from launching at startup, find it in the list of apps with the status set to “Enabled”, right-click it, and select ‘Disable’.

You can also manage startup apps from the Settings app. Right-click the Start button, open “Settings” and go to Apps > Startup. Here, review the list and toggle apps on or off as needed.

For reliable results, it’s important to measure boot time carefully. The simplest way is by using a stopwatch, but first, you need to decide on your start and end points. For example, I measured the time from pressing the power button until the desktop and system tray icons were usable. If you prefer a different start or end point, that’s fine—just keep it consistent throughout your tests.

To test with a stopwatch, start timing as you hit the power button and stop once you reach your chosen endpoint. Repeat this 3–5 times and calculate the average.

For a more precise and objective approach, you can use Event Viewer, Windows’ built-in utility that logs system events. Open it and navigate to Applications and Services Logs > Microsoft > Windows > Diagnostics-Performance > Operational—filter by Event ID 100, which shows BootDuration and related metrics in milliseconds.

Check the boot time values across 3–5 runs, then average them to see how disabling startup apps affects performance.