Soon, you can boot up your computer in seconds

Updated on: Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Tired of using your home computer that takes a long to boot up? Don't worry, it's time to say hello to a new technology which scientists claim will reduce the start-up times drastically.

With the 25-year-old BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) technology making way for new start-up software known as UEFI, the next generation of computers are set to boot up in just a few seconds, experts said.

The traditional BIOS technology, which has been used to boot up computers since 1979, was never designed to last as long as it has, and is one of the reasons modern computers take so long to get up and running.

By contrast, UEFI -- which stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface -- has been built to meet modern computing needs, and will soon be the pre-eminent technology in many new computers, enabling them to go from "off" to "on" in seconds, the Telegraph reported.

"At the moment, it can be 25- to 30 seconds of boot time before you see the first bit of OS sign-on," Mark Doran, head of the UEFI Forum, was quoted as saying.

"With UEFI, we're getting it down to a handful of seconds.

"It's not quite instant-on, but it is already a lot better than conventional BIOS can manage."

BIOS technology has barely changed since the early days of mass computing, and the system struggles to cope with modern computing evolutions, such as USB-connected keyboards or flash drives.

UEFI is a more adaptable system, that can cope with keyboards and peripherals being connected to different ports, and which could also be used to support the next-generation of touch-screens and natural gesture interfaces.

Experts expect UEFI to start gaining a significant foothold in the computing market from as early as next year.

Many consumer electronics companies are working hard to reduce the boot times of their machines -- a factor that is particularly important with mobile devices and tablet computers.

Internet Search giant Google's forthcoming Chrome OS has a rumoured boot time of just a few seconds.

Soon, you can boot up your computer in seconds

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