A spinning circle at the end of your boot.
A spinning circle at the end of your boot.
Every computer spins a hard disk when it turns on. It's either spinning super fast so you don't see it, or spinning so slowly you can't miss it. A quick start saves your current work and brings up the programs you had open before. The amount of memory and speed depends on how much RAM you have and what type of hard drive you use.
Fast Startup saves the Windows kernel when you shut down, and brings it back when you start up. It makes starting faster on computers that use a hard drive (HDD) to load things first. If your computer starts from an SSD (like a SATA SSD), you probably don't need Fast Startup. Some programs written for Windows can't handle being started this way, so Fast Startup might cause issues like black screens or crashes (BSODs). Just turn it off if you don't want to use it, and skip the extra step on your SSD too.