Lowering OS Timeout Values

If you have more than one operating system installed on your computer, you’ll have to deal with the OS Selector that the Microsoft installer configures during installation of another operating system. By default, the OS Selector gives you 30 seconds to select an operating system before it reverts to the default operating system. The only way not to wait 30 seconds is to select the operating system you want to use right away. If you use one operating system most of the time, you would definitely save time if you set that operating system as the default and lowered the timeout value to 1 or 2 seconds. That way, you would not have to select an operating system every time you turned on your system or wait 30 seconds before doing so.
With Windows XP, both Professional and Home, changing the timeout value is simple if the operating system that you use primarily is already the default. If it is, just follow these directions:
1. From the Start Menu, select Run and type MSCONFIG and press OK. This will load the System Configuration utility.
2. Once the System Configuration utility has loaded, click the tab labeled BOOT.INI
3. Locate the Timeout text box and replace 30 seconds with 1 or 2 seconds––or any number that gives you enough time to select the other operating systems on your system. The amount of time that you select to be your timeout value is not the amount of time you
have to select the operating system. Rather, it is the amount of time you have to click any key and then select the operating system. So don’t be afraid of setting this timeout value too low.
4. Once you have made the change, click the OK button, and you are finished.
If, after testing out your change, you feel that you gave yourself too much or too little time to select the other operating system, repeat the directions above to fine-tune your timeout time.