To use the Normal startup option, clear all of the check boxes in the Advanced Troubleshooting Settings dialog box. Here is a screenshot of the taskmanager with 'number of processors' the tickbox unchecked, it shows all four cores as it should for my processor. The Normal startup option reverts to Selective startup if you select any of the options in the Advanced Troubleshooting Settings dialog box in Msconfig. If you experiment and need To restore all processors and threads, uncheck the box and reboot. I can detect no difference if i tick the box and set it to four, compared to the box being unticked. All I can say is try it for yourself and form your own opinion about boot performance based on your findings and hardware configuration.Ĭonclusion: In Vista and W7 it uses all cores by default to boot and run, so this setting is more for disabling cores/processors not only at boot time, but disabled period. I have read post on both sides of this question, some say using all will boot faster, some say no. Default is the box Unchecked (means use all processors and threads), nothing bad will happen if you change it.
