Every time I log onto my computer at work, it takes an excruciatingly long time. How can I can I cut down the amount of time this process requires?
Your computer takes a long time to log you in because your network profile is most likely very large. First, allow us to explain how Windows manages user accounts in a network.
How your network works
All of the accounts on a Windows network are controlled by a master server (or servers) called a “domain controller” (DC). The DC stores each user’s network profile, which consists of the various files and settings for your network user account. One setting that is stored in your network profile is your desktop wallpaper. There are many other files and settings in your network profile, both seen and unseen, but desktop wallpaper is a good visual example.
Each time you log into a computer on the network, that computer loads up all of your personal profile’s settings. If the computer you’re logging into doesn’t have an up-to-date profile for your account, it downloads what it needs from the DC. This is what enables your settings you follow you around the network no matter what computer you use, and is the reason why your network profile is also referred to as your “roaming profile”. As you roam around your network, your profile roams with you.
Large network profiles take a long time to load
If you have a large network profile filled with many different files, it will take you a significant amount of time to complete the logon process. This time is lengthened if you use a computer on the network that you’ve never used before, since that computer will not yet have a copy of your network profile, and will be required to download your entire profile from the DC before it can log you in.
There are many different parts of your roaming profile that may be causing this slowdown, but the two main culprits that we’ve seen cause problems time and again are the Application Data folder, and the My Documents folder.
The usual suspects behind large network profiles
Application Data is a hidden folder that stores files and settings for the programs that you use on a daily basis. Many programs are good about how much data they store here, but others have been known to just continually grow the size of your Application Data folder. One such example is Mozilla Firefox. If you think that your Application Data folder may be slowing you down, talk to your system administrator so that the two of you can get rid of of the temporary files contained there, and possibly make adjustments to the applications you use so that they consume less Application Data real estate.
The My Documents folder is another culprit when it comes to growing the size of your roaming profile and slowing down logon times for one very simple reason: My Documents is the default location where Windows encourages users to save their files. Whenever you save a new document from an application such as Microsoft Word, the “Save” dialog Window opens up and defaults to My Documents. Unless you deliberatly change the folder where you’re about to save your document, it goes to My Documents. Similarly, My Photos, My Music and My Videos are the default locations where Windows encourages users to save multimedia files, and all are kept in your roaming profile by default.
Your sysadmin can help you
If it takes you an extremely long time to log onto your network, then the remedy may very well be to reduce the size of your roaming profile. If your organization has set up a “network drive” on a file server for users to store their documents, you should start using that location instead of My Documents (and move all your current documents to that location as well). Ultimately, you should approach your system administrator and ask for help with long logon times. This is a question that sysadmins get day-in and day-out, so he or she will know exactly what to do and what to tell you.
[tags]Windows XP,networking[/tags]
