Delete all the temporary files and unused programs and then defragment your hard disk to organize your file into one contiguous space thereby reducing boot time.

Empty Windows Prefects Directory: Go to Cwindowsprefect and delete all the files and folders within this main folder. After a couple of reboots, Vista will start and shut down faster.

Reduce the number of Startup Programs: Just reduce the number of programs launching during the startup and this will gain you some speed during the boot.

Reducing Visual Effects: Reduce the eye candy visual effect of Vista like Windows Aero and others help reducing the Boot time. Right-click on "My Computer" -> "Properties" -> "Advanced" ->" Performance Settings" -> "Visual Effects"- > "Adjust for best performance" -> Click "Apply".

Mostly people having Vista must be having more than one core, but by default Windows only uses one core during startup. So you can make it faster by letting it use more than one core during boot.

1)Open run and type "msconfig" and press enter.

2)Then go to "boot" tab and click on "Advanced options" button.

3)In the "Boot Advance options "dialog click the "Number of processors" option and set it to the number of cores you have in your PC.

4)Exit and Reboot.

Remove all the extra programs Windows Vista installs on start up. You may not be using these like WLM, Calculator, Games, Meeting Space, Fax, etc. Go to "Control Panel" -> "Programs" -> "Programs and Features" - > "Turn windows On or Off".

Go to "Control Panel" -> "System and MaintenancePerformance Information and Tools". On the Left hand side you will see options to Adjust Indexing options, visual effects, power Settings, etc. These will help directly and indirectly.

These were some of the tips for optimizing Vista Startup; some others include the same thing as done to XP like defragmenting, setting Bios Startup boot preferences, etc. The system usually slows down over a period of time as more and more programs are installed and more space is filled on hard drive. So perform these steps more often to help boot your Vista faster.

Still not satisfied? Purchase a bigger hard drive and improve your memory and processor!