Who needs an OS?

Rafe Needleman CNET

Published: 23 Nov 2004

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It's great that PCs keep getting faster. But here's the thing: unless you're a gamer, the only time you'll really notice a modern PC's speed is when you start it up. And although faster machines boot up more quickly than slower ones, even today's speediest PC takes a while to get started, settled in, relaxed and ready to work.

I use my ThinkPad X40's relaxed start-up and login sequence each morning as an excuse to get some coffee and chat with colleagues before I begin my morning email ritual. But when I'm on the road, this won't do. If I have a few minutes to work on email or I need to check an appointment quickly, I can't be waiting around for the machine to boot. That's why I often use the computer's standby mode (where it's almost shut down -- you just open the lid and it comes back to life) when I travel. It's faster than power-cycling the notebook but unfortunately not reliable; after a few start-up/standby cycles, the machine gets wonky, and I have to reboot. I've had this problem with every PC I've ever used.

So there are two solutions for a PC user like me: Either use a synchronised handheld for part of the job, or look into utilities that don't require you to wait for Windows. These emerging pre-boot utilities sidestep the power-up cycle and let you carry out limited tasks without loading Windows at all.

Tune in without booting up
The most popular of these are media players. Several multimedia-friendly notebooks will let you play music CDs without starting Windows, for instance. Some even play movies -- a nice feature if you're on an 'plane and just want to relax, and running without the OS will save you some battery time. Although as our notebooks editor, Justin Jaffe, pointed out to me, if you're going to sit through a movie, you might as well start up Windows so that you have full access to your PC and your media player's functions. Also, pre-boot music players don't play MP3s, which is a big limitation.

People who build their own desktop systems can also find pre-boot media players on motherboards. My Asus A8V-based system, for example, plays CDs without Windows. However, this feature doesn't work if you use a USB keyboard, which I do, or use the digital audio output on the motherboard.

Sneak a peek at Outlook
There's an interesting utility available from BIOS maker Phoenix, called FirstWare Assistant. It lets you get a quick look at your Outlook data without loading Windows. During boot, if you press the FirstWare key (F by default), FirstWare loads up instead of Windows, and you can check your calendar, contacts and email archives. It's a very slick solution if you're in a taxi, for example, and need to pull up an email or street address.

I tried this FirstWare feature on a Dell notebook, and it worked as advertised. It was much, much quicker to get data from the FirstWare pre-boot environment than to start Windows and Outlook and check things out there.

The pre-boot FirstWare utility doesn't read Outlook files directly. Instead, the product installs an Outlook plug-in that synchronises your Outlook data with FirstWare. It automatically runs the sync process each time you start Outlook and each time you close the software, so it's never out of sync. The first time you run the product, it takes a while to create the sync file. And FirstWare won't go online to get or send mail; it's only for reading what's already on your system. If you already have a synchronised handheld, you don't really need it.

Nonetheless, FirstWare Assistant is a clever utility that will probably show up on notebooks soon. You can also download it today.

The one thing I haven't tried is installing more than one pre-boot application or utility per machine. Frankly, that idea scares me. I'd worry that having more than one program waiting for its magic key-press could confuse users or make the Windows start-up take even longer, which strikes me as a fool's bargain.

We wouldn't be in the position of having to use pre-boot applications if Windows itself were more robust, faster or more stable when resuming from standby. But as usual, clever companies are filling in Windows' gaps -- in this case by sidestepping the operating system entirely.

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