Startup Timer

Startup Timer is a simple tool that measures the time it takes for Windows to start up. Such an application can help users looking to upgrade their machines. Just run a quick check on the old rig, then on the new one. If the OS's time to load is shorter after an upgrade, your money might have been well spent.

Running the application for the first time will simply bring up a neat UI that gives you basic information about the machine. The OS version, the CPU model and RAM capacity are not randomly displayed information, even if it might seem so. Those details are used to comprise the Leaderboard — a proprietary system of keeping track of results shared by the user base. Being a part of the leaderboard is purely optional. Just ignore the "Send Results to Leaderboard" button once it pops up.

Getting past the hardware data, the application will require a first-use restart. During the restart, two types of measurements are executed. The results are going to be shown within the same UI after re-launch, and will represent the total time Windows took to start up, and when the desktop was shown for the first time. Both results sets are displayed using the second, as a unit of measurement.

Nowhere within the program is specified that the login screen could compromise a run. However, this somewhat of a warning is taken from the developer's site and seems important enough to bring some light to it.

To conclude, Startup Timer is a straightforward measuring tool for your OS loading times. If we are to put this tool within a certain box, the sticker would read "benchmark". While it does not offer full benchmarking abilities, the result comparison action is close enough.