Disable population of `file-name-history', it causes calls to abbreviate-file-name => file-name-case-insensitive-p => tramp-autoload-file-name-handler taking 40% of startup time. `ido-switch-buffer' doesn't depends on `file-name-history', nothing to lose. Profiling data for startup: - eval-buffer 4340 99% - recentf-mode 1684 38% - recentf-load-list 1684 38% - mapcar 1684 38% - abbreviate-file-name 1684 38% - file-name-case-insensitive-p 1250 28% + tramp-autoload-file-name-handler 1172 26% + tramp-file-name-handler 78 1%

--- a/.emacs-my	Sat Jan 02 20:09:51 2021 +0200
+++ b/.emacs-my	Sat Jan 02 20:37:29 2021 +0200
@@ -61,6 +61,11 @@
 ;; Need to be defined before loading "recentf" because default value is
 ;; "mode", meaning cleanup when turning the mode on.
 (setq recentf-auto-cleanup 600)
+;; Disable population of `file-name-history', it causes calls to
+;;   abbreviate-file-name => file-name-case-insensitive-p => tramp-autoload-file-name-handler
+;; taking 41% of startup time.
+;; `ido-switch-buffer' doesn't depends on `file-name-history', nothing to lose.
+(setq recentf-initialize-file-name-history nil)
 
 (recentf-mode 1)