- 1). Take note of the last icon that appears on the system tray on the bottom right corner of the screen. Then, next time simply look for this icon; as soon as the icon appears it is likely that the startup process is winding down. The only problem is that some programs load silently, meaning that their icons do not appear.
- 2). Hold down "Ctrl," "Alt" and "Delete" to bring up the Task Manager. Bring up the "Performance" tab. Observe the CPU usage history graph. If the line remains constant, or flat, for five seconds, then Windows setup is likely finished.
- 3). Listen for the sound of the hard drive whirring. Also, watch the hard drive indicator light. When it starts to blink more slowly, or stops completely, it is likely that most processes have stopped. Still, there are certain programs with startup tasks that don't end, even after the the program has finished loading. This occurs, for example, when you make a USB connection or check for updates utilizing remote server.
previous post