The computer takes forever to start
Why does my laptop take five minutes to start up?
Written by The CommonFixes team · fact checked by CommonFixes review desk
Last updated
Short answer
Too many programs are launching themselves at sign-in, each one competing for the same slow drive. The quickest thing to try first: trim the startup list — Open Task Manager, Startup apps, and look at the Startup impact column. Disable everything marked High that you do not need immediately. Most people are done in about 15 minutes.
Full walkthrough below: 5 steps for Windows and Mac, rated easy.
Sounds like this
- •Long wait at the desktop
- •Icons appear slowly
- •Cannot click anything for minutes
Why it happens
Too many programs are launching themselves at sign-in, each one competing for the same slow drive.
Work through these in order
0% done- 1
Trim the startup list
Open Task Manager, Startup apps, and look at the Startup impact column. Disable everything marked High that you do not need immediately.
- 2
Check startup programs on a Mac
Open System Settings, General, Login Items, and remove what you do not need.
- 3
Turn off fast startup if it misbehaves
Search for Choose what the power buttons do, click Change settings that are currently unavailable, and untick Turn on fast startup. This fixes slow and unreliable startups on some machines.
- 4
Delay cloud sync apps
OneDrive, Dropbox and Google Drive all start scanning immediately. Setting them to start later frees the first minute completely.
- 5
Upgrade to a solid state drive
If startup takes minutes on an old spinning disk, a solid state drive cuts it to seconds. It is the best value upgrade for an older computer.
If none of that worked
Run sfc /scannow in Terminal as administrator. Damaged system files also cause long delays at sign-in.
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Who wrote this and how we checked it
The CommonFixes team
Writer and researcher
We are a small group of people who spend our days repairing laptops and desktops for family, friends and small offices. Every guide here starts with a problem someone actually brought to us, and we only write down the steps that put the machine right.
- Everyday repairs
- Windows and Mac
- Plain language
CommonFixes review desk
Technical editor
Before a guide goes live, a second person walks through it on a real machine and checks each instruction against the maker's own support pages. Anything we cannot confirm is removed rather than guessed at.
- Fact checking
- Safety warnings
- Source links
This guide was last updated on 10 August 2026. If a step no longer matches what you see on screen, tell us on the contact page and we will test it again.
A gentle reminder: back up anything you cannot afford to lose before major repairs. If a step ever feels risky, stop and ask a technician. There is no shame in that.