Customer research shows a frequently requested feature that users want from their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation. The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making fast startup PCs a reality with the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system.

The design goals for Windows XP on a typical consumer PC are:

- Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds
- Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds
- Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds

Boot and resume times are measured from the time the power switch is pressed to being able to start a program from a desktop shortcut.