Why don't OS manufacturers let us known when our systems have finished booting up? It isn't like it's hard to do or anything Not really advice — more along the lines of whining and griping. To whit:Roger Grimes’s Security Adviser piece, “When good security kills performance,” got me thinking. Roger said:First, get a baseline to measure against before starting to troubleshoot. Using a stopwatch or watch that increments by the second, measure the time it takes the computer to go from a cold boot to a fully usable desktop. “Usable” means the user can begin operating programs without significant delay.My question: Usable desktop? Why doesn’t Microsoft let us know when our systems have finished booting up so that we don’t have to stare at the screen, wondering if it’s now stable enough to start working on whatever it is we want to work on? [ Get the analysis and insights that only Randall C. Kennedy can provide on Windows tech in InfoWorld’s Enterprise Desktop blog and Technology: Windows newsletter. And download our free Windows performance-monitoring tool. ]Sure, the definition is just a bit fuzzy, because some startup programs continue to run after the burst of activity they go through when they first launch.On the other hand, Microsoft should know how to go about this. Assuming anyone there is listening (Roger?), at the same time how about enhancing msconfig so that, when I uncheck an item to prevent it from running on startup, I have the option of saying, “And I mean it!” That way, the software (Apple iTunes, for example) can’t keep putting itself back in the boot sequence without my permission every time it needs an upgrade.Just askin’.-Bob Software DevelopmentTechnology IndustrySmall and Medium Business