Windows Multicore Boot Setting Myth

There's a common speed trick we used since Microsoft Windows XP and, while we no longer care to confirm if it actually worked in XP, it definitely does not work on Windows 7 and beyond.  The setting is within "System Configuration" or "msconfig" and has to do with a boot option that is actually designed for testing purposes.

The claim is that setting this option with the maximum "logical" processors available will boot the operating system across all available cores and threads. While we do remember with this option unchecked in Windows XP, the Task Manager only showed one graph for the processor load while enabling this option showed a graph for each core/thread.

In Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10, it has been confirmed that when unchecked it will use all available cores/threads to boot Windows. To view all threads/cores in Windows 10, you need to launch the Resource Monitor which can be launched from within the Task Manager.

To bring it up, bring up the System Configuration windows, easiest method is with the run command pressing the Windows key + R, and type in "msconfig".

Windows Key + R brings up the Run Console below

Microsoft Run Console

Under the Boot tab click on Advanced

I've included the method for using this but for most people you never need to use this as maxing it anything other than the max, the same as being unchecked, will make your system boot and run slower.