Yes, we live in an impatient world.
"My G3 Mac seems to be taking longer and longer to start up. I haven't timed it, but I'm sure it's taking significantly longer than when I first bought it. What is going on? Also, my friends tell me that, since I leave it on a lot, I should be using a screen saver to protect the monitor. Is this true?"
Assuming your Mac isn't malfunctioning (which I doubt) there are a few things that will slow down boot up time. The Mac startup can be broken into two major components. The first part is the RAM check and loading information from ROM, the second part is loading the system and extensions from the hard drive in RAM. If you have added a lot of RAM to your Mac the first part (the RAM check) will take longer. This is the period of inactivity you see before you hear things beginning to load from the hard drive. The only thing you can do to speed this part up is to disable the RAM check. To do so, hold down the Command and Option keys while launching the Memory control panel. When you do, a new Memory Test option appears. Disabling this option tells the Mac to skip RAM tests as the Mac starts up.
The second component is the loading of the system and extensions and the only real way to speed this up is a faster computer or disabling extensions you don't need. Most people have quite a few extensions loading into their system they don't really need, especially if a number of applications and utilities have been installed in the system over time. Covering the purpose of each extension is beyond the scope of inSync, but it's a good idea to learn which ones you can turn off. This will solve a multitude of potential problems that are way more frustrating than slow start-ups. You can also disable the Multiple Users option and File Sharing, as these cause additional delays.
As for screen savers, they really aren't necessary on modern monitors, as they do not suffer from the burn-in problems of the monitors made ten years ago. Some say screen savers don't do any harm and choose to use them anyway, but if you are operating a DAW or MIDI system on your computer they can sometimes cause timing inconsistencies or glitches to occur. The preferred method these days is to use the Energy Saver Control Panel to allow the computer to put the monitor to sleep after periods of inactivity. This not only protects the monitor, but saves a lot of power as well. You can also use this Control Panel to set a specific time for your computer to start up every day, which means you can avoid the start up time altogether.
