Best known for its disk defragmentation software, Diskeeper has licensed HyperBoot to Taiwanese PC maker Asustek Inc., which will install it on its Eee netbooks and other laptops running Windows XP.

Diskeeper is working on more deals, including with large U.S. PC makers, said Derek De Vette, vice-president of global alliances for the company. It may eventually sell the software to consumers and other end users, but not anytime soon.

Long a pain in the side for users, lengthy startup and shutdown times for Windows ballooned with Vista's release several years ago. Microsoft and PC vendors have tried to respond.

Last week, will load Windows 7 up to 56% faster than when loading XP or Vista.

Yesterday, of its instant-on Linux platform.