Your PC takes long enough to start that you go and make tea. So you search, and every result tells you to open Event Viewer and read your boot time from event 100.
I went to do exactly that on this machine. That log is not there. Not empty, not disabled. Absent.
So before you spend twenty minutes hunting through Event Viewer, here is what actually works, and one number Microsoft publishes that nobody quotes.
The advice that sends you nowhere
Worth clearing out of the way first.
⛔ Ours, and I checked it properly. The boot performance log this advice depends on is not present on this PC at all.
⚡ I proved the check works before believing it. The same command against the ordinary System log returned events straight away, so the tool was fine and the log genuinely is not there.
⚠️ That log is not on every edition or every build. If you cannot find it, you have made no mistake and there is nothing on your PC to repair.
⭐ Look for yourself in one line. Open Terminal and run:
Get-WinEvent -ListLog 'Microsoft-Windows-Diagnostics-Performance/Operational'⛔ An error rather than a table means it is missing on your PC too. Stop there and use the rest of this page.
⚠️ We could not find a Microsoft page that mentions this log being absent, which is why so much advice still sends people to it.
What Microsoft publishes instead, with real numbers
This is the useful part, and it is in Task Manager.
⚡ Documented by Microsoft on its startup applications page: "The applications that run automatically when your device boots up can impact both the speed of your startup and the overall performance of your system."
⭐ Right-click Start, open Task Manager, and choose the Startup apps tab. Every app there has an impact rating.
⚠️ And Microsoft defines those ratings exactly. Low impact is "Total CPU usage takes less than 300 milliseconds and total disk usage is less than 292 kilobytes".
⛔ Microsoft states the top of the scale just as precisely: High impact is "Total CPU usage takes more than 1 second or total disk usage is more than 3 megabytes".
⚡ So the column is not a vague label. It is a measurement, and now you know what it means.
Ours: what this machine is carrying
A measurement, and the number is higher than it feels.
Ours, counted here. There are fifteen startup entries across the registry and the startup folders on this PC.
⭐ Most of them you never chose. Updaters, sync clients and helper apps add themselves at install time without asking.
⚡ Microsoft's instruction is one click either way: "Select Disable to prevent the app from starting automatically."
⚠️ Ours: disabling a startup entry does not uninstall anything. The app still opens when you open it. It just stops opening itself.
Fast Startup, which quietly changes what you are measuring
Nobody mentions this and it explains a lot of contradictory advice.
Ours, read out of the registry here. Fast Startup is switched on on this machine, which is the default.
⛔ With it on, Shut down is not a full shutdown. Windows saves part of itself to disk and reloads that instead, which is why a shutdown starts faster than a restart.
⚡ So Restart is your real cold boot. If you want to know how long your PC honestly takes, restart it rather than shutting it down.
⚠️ It also means a problem can survive a shutdown and vanish on a restart. That is not superstition and it catches people out constantly.
⭐ Ours, and marked as ours: if your startup is slow and inconsistent, restart once before you change a single setting.
The order worth working through
Cheapest first, and none of it costs money.
⭐ Restart, do not shut down. You need a real boot before any measurement means anything.
⚡ Open the Startup apps tab and disable everything rated High that you do not need at login. Microsoft's own definition makes that judgement easy.
⚠️ Then look at how long the machine has been running. Weeks of uptime slows a PC in ways a restart fixes for free.
⛔ Then check the drive. A machine still starting from a spinning disk will never be quick, and no setting changes that.
⚡ And leave Fast Startup on unless you are chasing a specific fault. Turning it off makes every start slower on purpose.
What is not a startup problem
Three things that feel like one and are not.
⚠️ A black screen before the logo. That is earlier than Windows and it is its own separate list.
⭐ A machine that is slow all day, not just at the start. That is a different measurement entirely.
⛔ And a login that hangs on a spinner is usually a network or account wait, not the boot itself.
Status: read against Microsoft's startup applications page, 26 August 2026, on Windows 11 Home. The missing log, Fast Startup and the entry count were read here. ⛔ No boot time is claimed.
How do I check my Windows boot time?
The usual advice is Event Viewer and event 100, but that log is not present on every PC, including the one tested here. Run the one-line command above to see whether you have it. If you do not, use the Startup apps tab in Task Manager instead, because the impact ratings there are actual measurements.
What does high impact mean in Task Manager startup?
Microsoft defines it precisely. High impact means the app uses more than one second of CPU time or more than 3 megabytes of disk during startup. Low impact means under 300 milliseconds of CPU and under 292 kilobytes of disk. Anything in between is medium.
Should I turn off Fast Startup?
Not usually. It is on by default and it makes shutting down and starting again quicker. What it does mean is that Shut down is no longer a full shutdown, so use Restart when you want a genuine cold boot or when you are trying to clear a fault.
Is it safe to disable startup apps?
Yes. Disabling a startup entry does not remove the program and it does not stop you opening it yourself. It only stops the app launching itself when you sign in. If you disable something you needed, turn it back on in the same tab.
The Short Version
- The Event Viewer boot time log is missing on many PCs, including this one.
- Check for it with one command before you go hunting through Event Viewer.
- Use the Startup apps tab in Task Manager instead. Its ratings are measured.
- High impact means over one second of CPU or over 3 MB of disk at startup.
- Low impact means under 300 milliseconds and under 292 kilobytes.
- This PC carries fifteen startup entries, most of them never chosen.
- Fast Startup means Shut down is not a full shutdown. Restart is.
- Disabling a startup app never uninstalls it.
Where to Next
Restart rather than shutting down, then time it yourself with a phone. That is a real cold boot and it is the only honest baseline you have.
Open the Startup apps tab next and disable anything rated High that you do not need the moment you sign in.
Run the one-line check for that Event Viewer log while you are there. If it is missing on your PC too, you can stop reading advice that assumes you have it.
If the machine is slow all day rather than only at the start, you want a different page. That one measures two numbers instead of guessing.
If your PC does have the boot log and it gave you a real number, put it in the comments. I would like to know which builds still carry it.
Isaac Smith is the founder and editor of PC Glance, a website that covers computers, laptops, and technology. He is a tech enthusiast and a computer geek who loves to share his insights and help his readers make smart choices when buying tech gadgets or laptops. He is always curious and updated about the latest tech trends.