When you start the Windows 10 Task Manager (by pressing the CTRL-SHIFT-ESC keys together), if you switch to the tab Start , you can see a counter in the upper right corner that says: Last BIOS life: Seconds, with a number of seconds. This value indicates the time that passes since the computer’s UEFI BIOS initializes the PC hardware until it starts to load the operating system. Basically it is that technical time that it takes the computer to put all its electronic components into operation to start working.In more practical terms, the last BIOS duration is the time between pressing the power button and displaying the Windows logo.
READ ALSO: All the ways to speed up the startup of Windows 10, 7 and 8
What does the computer do when it turns on
When you press the power button, the first thing that loads is not the operating system, but the motherboard firmware, which is called BUOS or UEFI on modern computers. The UEFI, through the so-called POST (Power-on self-test), verifies that the connected hardware devices are working properly and identifies the boot disk where the operating system is located according to the boot order set in the BIOS.
We talked in detail about what happens when you turn on your computer and why it can fail in another article.
The duration time of the BIOS is, therefore, faster if you have a PC with fast hardware components, which take little to initialize and respond to the UEFI BIOS call.
NOTE: If you see a time 0 in the task manager at the Last BIOS duration, it means that the PC is not set to UEFI. This type of check is done only on computers with UEFI enabled and on disk with GPT partitioning mode. See here the guide to enable UEFI and convert disk to GPT
What does BIOS Last Life depend on
The time measured in seconds that the UEFI BIOS initializes the computer’s hardware components it depends, more than by their speed, by their number. The more components there are inside the PC, the longer it will take to initialize them all. So, for example, a laptop PC that only has an SSD, a RAM and graphics card integrated in the motherboard will have a shorter BIOS life time than a PC with SSD, Hard disk and CD player, dedicated graphics card and three banks of RAM memory.
How to reduce the BIOS time
As explained above, if the time the computer is turned on (before it starts loading the operating system) depends on its components, to decrease it and, therefore, speed up the POST controls, you need, very simply, to have a PC with faster components and powerful and in limited numbers.
Other easy ways to speed up your computer’s turn on time and decrease Last BIOS life I’m:
- Use an SSD for Windows and not on the hard disk (see here how to transfer Windows to SSD)
- Be sure to connect the drive with the operating system to the first SATA port of the motherboard.
- Set the operating system drive as before boot drive. Otherwise, UEFI will spend time checking other drives (including any USB sticks) to find the system to boot. (See here how to change boot order on PC)
- Disable hardware features (e.g. unused ports) that are not needed inside the UEFI BIOS (See here how to enter the UEFI BIOS, but be careful to change the options if you do not know the meaning and consequences).
- Activate AHCI if supported by the motherboard and you have an SSD, switching from IDE to AHCI (See here how to activate AHCI for quick PC startup)
- Disable POST checks in the BIOS or enable quick boot. This is a type of option that has a different name depending on the computer used and is not always present. Disabling POST can reduce the BIOS time and computer startup, but if there are problems with one of the hardware components, the PC could be severely broken because the controls are missing. Therefore, it is not recommended.
Basically, therefore, the boot time of the BIOS and the power on of the PC depends on the hardware configuration of the computer, i.e. the speed and the number of internal components connected to the motherboard and external connected to the USB or other ports. Unless, however, the time of Last BIOS life it is not longer than 15 or 20 seconds, there is no need to worry about reducing it.
READ ALSO: Measure PC startup and shutdown time
