what do I really need on start up

[Chichi]

I'm running Mint 17.3. I'm using Pluma, and I'm working on a novel. I use thunderbird and Firefox, occasionally check out a bank statement that has little in it and pay a few bills on line. I don't use encryption, and I back up what I write on thumb drivesI don't know that I need any of the startup programs, but I'm hesitant to get rid of them, or even stop them. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

Chichi

[gm10]

I'm assuming you mean what's listed as startup applications in the menu? Its really up to your needs. Do you need the bluetooth stuff? Or the accessibility stuff? Or the audio/volume stuff? From what you described you probably won't need the certificate/keyring stuff.

Why not just disable anything you think you might not want, and if you find later that you actually do need it after all, just enable it again?

If you want to ask what a specific option does, with that we can help.

[alexa9]

I don't know that I need any of the startup programs,

Do you mean the Startup Applications? The only one I find unnecessary is the Welcome Screen which is easy to turn off. I suppose you could turn some of the others off but they run in the background. I wouldn't want to mess anything up and I don't think it's going to save you much processor or memory space.

[Hoser Rob]

I don't know that I need any of the startup programs,

Do you mean the Startup Applications? The only one I find unnecessary is the Welcome Screen which is easy to turn off. I suppose you could turn some of the others off but they run in the background. I wouldn't want to mess anything up and I don't think it's going to save you much processor or memory space.

I basically agree with this ... there isn't that much in the startup applications list I turn off.

Bluetooth if you don't use it, for sure, also the welcome screen. But if you play video in firefox you'll probably want the volume control.

[Chichi]

I don't know that I need any of the startup programs,

Do you mean the Startup Applications? The only one I find unnecessary is the Welcome Screen which is easy to turn off. I suppose you could turn some of the others off but they run in the background. I wouldn't want to mess anything up and I don't think it's going to save you much processor or memory space.

Yes, I meant the start up applications.What I'm looking for by unenabling them is quicker boot time. Yes, the welcome screen was the first to go. But there's a whole raft of applications that I don't use. Obviously volume control is not one of them. Thanks for the info. It's much appreciated.

Chichi

[lsemmens]

If you really want quicker boot times, go for one of the lightweight Linux versions (I am not familiar enough to advise there, but there are plenty here, who can) and replace your boot drive with a SSD. I'm using Cinnamon and my boot time is less than 1 minute with a SSD on a low end system.

[gm10]

I'm using Cinnamon and my boot time is less than 1 minute with a SSD on a low end system.

That's an extremely long boot time for an SSD. It would be long even for a HDD on an old system. There might be something wrong. Typical SSD boot times are measured in single digit seconds.

[lsemmens]

On a new system, maybe, mine is somewhat underpowered. Dualcore CPU and only 4Gb RAM. I haven't put a stopwatch on it, but Windows 10 used to take 5-10 minutes on this system. Actually, I may have misled you. Boot time IS actually well under a minute, I am usually re-booting so that includes shut-down and re-start.

[DAMIEN1307]

something that would be useful here is to see just what is in play when booting up...run the 2 different codes provided below into the terminal and post back here...(just copy and paste into the terminal is all)...and then just copy and paste the results back here in the forum...the first one will give a breakdown of what is starting during boot and how much time each of them takes...the second will give total bootup time...DAMIEN

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systemd-analyze blame

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systemd-analyze

[GS3]

I hope it is OK for me to piggy-back in this thread.

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 systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 5.040s (kernel) + 36.098s (userspace) = 41.139s

Not bad but let's have a closer look:

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systemd-analyze blame
         12.424s NetworkManager-wait-online.service
          6.856s ModemManager.service
          6.155s NetworkManager.service
          6.093s teamviewerd.service
          6.041s ntp.service
          5.476s dev-sda2.device
          3.933s accounts-daemon.service
          3.870s nmbd.service
          3.590s samba-ad-dc.service
          2.703s lvm2-monitor.service
          2.685s networking.service
          2.597s console-setup.service
          2.301s systemd-logind.service
          2.297s irqbalance.service
          1.995s thermald.service
          1.761s console-kit-log-system-start.service
          1.697s lm-sensors.service
          1.613s polkitd.service
          1.579s grub-common.service
          1.492s loadcpufreq.service
          1.479s avahi-daemon.service
          1.266s systemd-modules-load.service
          1.131s systemd-udevd.service

The six first lines take up most of the time. Anything I can improve there? Specifically, why is Teamviewer starting? I would only want it to start when I am going to use it. How can I change this?

Do I need a ModemManager if I am only using ethernet?

Anything else I can do to speed up the starting up?

[DAMIEN1307]

NetworkManager-wait-online.service and ModemManager.service should not be neede in startup...you can copy and paste these codes into your terminal and then reboot your system and test with the systemd-analyze blame and the systemd-analyze again...from what i just read, you should be able to shave off 18 seconds of boot time...DAMIEN

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sudo systemctl disable ModemManager.service

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sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager-wait-online.service

ps...you need to go into your teamviewer settings and disable autostart etc. or i suppose this too may work

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sudo systemctl disable teamviewerd.service

[GS3]

NetworkManager-wait-online.service and ModemManager.service should not be neede in startup.

Can you tell me what those programs do? If they are not started at startup time they will start when they are needed? How do programs end in that startup list? Who puts them there and why?

In the TeamViewer configuration panel the option to "start Teamviewer with system" is unchecked. I guess I should also be able to remove Teamviewer because I only use it to deliberately log into other computers, never to receive external log-ins. I will try the command line to see if I can do it that way. Thanks.

[DAMIEN1307]

i also have teamviewer installed also to log into other computers but never my own...ive disabled the same three things i mentioned to you on this system...here are my readouts...DAMIEN...note on the sytemd-analyze my total bootup time of 16.939s on a regular spinner hdd...note also that NetworkManager-wait-online.service and ModemManager.service nor teamviewer appear there at all now...DAMIEN

damien@damien ~ $ systemd-analyze
Startup finished in 2.711s (kernel) + 14.227s (userspace) = 16.939s
graphical.target reached after 14.222s in userspace
damien@damien ~ $ systemd-analyze blame
9.685s dev-sda1.device
9.310s systemd-journal-flush.service
7.637s ufw.service
7.411s apparmor.service
5.189s console-setup.service
5.188s nfs-config.service
5.098s systemd-udevd.service
5.032s systemd-sysctl.service
4.828s plymouth-read-write.service
3.738s plymouth-start.service
2.475s NetworkManager.service
2.334s udisks2.service
2.119s grub-common.service
1.918s mintsystem.service
1.629s snapd.service
1.296s keyboard-setup.service
1.286s thermald.service
1.218s accounts-daemon.service
1.197s systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
1.197s gpu-manager.service
1.173s systemd-modules-load.service
1.125s wpa_supplicant.service
1.049s run-rpc_pipefs.mount
1.047s networkd-dispatcher.service
780ms swapfile.swap
lines 1-25

[gm10]

NetworkManager-wait-online.service and ModemManager.service should not be neede in startup.

Can you tell me what those programs do? If they are not started at startup time they will start when they are needed? How do programs end in that startup list? Who puts them there and why?

ModemManager is for tethering your phone for network connectivity. NetworkManager-wait-online.service basically does what the name implies - it waits for all configured network links to come online before proceeding. This is relevant in case you require online resources like networked file systems to be available during your boot process.

If you don't need either of those it's safe to disable them as Damien suggested. ModemManager can even just be removed completely (apt purge modemmanager).

[GS3]

Thanks both. How do items get put on the startup list?

ETA: Uh, oh! I tried to start Teamviewer and I got the error message "The TeamViwewer daemon is not running. Please start the daemon before running Teamviewer"

I guess I better restore that Teamviewer service to the start list, Or provide some way that it will start when I start the Teamviewer.

How can I restore that item to the list?

[DAMIEN1307]

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sudo systemctl enable teamviewerd.service

...DAMIEN

[GS3]

OK, this is what I have now.

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systemd-analyze blame
         14.157s NetworkManager-wait-online.service
          6.644s ntp.service
          6.550s dev-sda2.device
          5.128s NetworkManager.service
          4.031s accounts-daemon.service
          3.757s nmbd.service
          3.633s samba-ad-dc.service
          3.046s teamviewerd.service
          2.737s avahi-daemon.service
          2.641s console-setup.service
          2.630s networking.service
          2.338s loadcpufreq.service
          2.203s thermald.service
          2.138s lvm2-monitor.service
          1.713s console-kit-log-system-start.service
          1.490s grub-common.service
          1.364s systemd-udevd.service
          1.241s irqbalance.service
          1.240s systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service
          1.119s udisks2.service
          1.086s keyboard-setup.service
          1.065s upower.service
          1.061s systemd-fsck@dev-disk-by\x2duuid-B891\x2d4F4E.servic 

[DAMIEN1307]

so far so good...now my only question left is...do you need "NetworkManager-wait-online.service" ?...as gs10 stated, "NetworkManager-wait-online.service basically does what the name implies - it waits for all configured network links to come online before proceeding. This is relevant in case you require 'ONLINE RESOURCES' like networked file systems to be available during your boot process." ...are you using this computer by itself, not linking to configured networks ? if you dont need it you can shave off 14 seconds from your bootup time...DAMIEN

[GS3]

Thanks DAMIEN1307 but I am pretty sure I already got rid of it and it has reappeared, Who put it there? How do items get on that list?

Maybe that item returned because I have Samba running? Or for some other reason?

[DAMIEN1307]

remove it this way then...it will ask for your password a couple of times...follow any instructions it gives you and dont forget to reboot afterward...then run the systemd-analyze blame again to make sure it is now gone...DAMIEN

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systemctl disable NetworkManager-wait-online.service