Fast Splash Screen

The process of appearing of the screen may take more than 1-2 seconds, thus the user assumes that nothing is happening and he is clicking on the icon repeatedly.

While the user is clicking on the application icon several times hoping that something will happen, at the same time he is wondering "what a strange application?!"

.NET framework must be loaded into memory before .NET application does anything (even showing a splashscreen).

After turning on the computer (or after restart), .NET framework is not loaded into memory aically. Before the first opening of .NET application, at least 20Mb of .NET framework must be loaded from the hard disk and running. Depending on the hard disk and the computer speed it can last for 6-7 seconds or more!!!

The result is that the time between the user's clicking on the application icon, and the first indication that something (anything!) happened can be up to 6-7 seconds or more.

In general, well written .NET Windows Form applications are not significantly slower than applications written in other technologies. However, the most obvious difference is in startup, especially in cold startup. .NET-based application requires startup of the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and loading of some larger libraries ("mscorlib", "System.Windows.Forms.dll" for Windows Forms applications, "Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll", and some other DLLs respectively). This will take some time. After starting a .NET application, the required files are already placed in the disk cache and thus startup time will be reduced.

This may also prolong the time between the user's application running and the first indication that something is actually happening. See also .NET framework startup problem.

Fast Splash Screen will immediately show a splash screen for your Windows Forms application created in programming languages like C# .NET, VB.NET, Visual Basic 4, 5, 6, ..., because Fast Splash Screen is a native Win32 application. It gives the user feedback that your Windows Forms application was launched (by Fast Splash Screen) and is loading in the background.

This dramatically improves the perceived performance of your Windows Forms application, because the user will see that something is happening (loading your application in the background). Moreover, it also gives a good impression of you and your product if you use nice logo in Fast Splash Screen, specifically for the users who use this application for the first time.

Fast Splash Screen (file 'Start.exe') has less than 190kb.

32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003/2008 and Windows 7.