New Notebook freezing for several minutes at startup...

I purchased a Dell XPS M140 about 3 weeks ago and have been having problems for the last week or so. Hopefully someone has overcome this issue before.
Whenever I boot up the system or log off and log backon - after windows loads and I attempt to load a program (ie. Internet Explorer, Outlook, Word, etc..) nothing happens. I get an hour glass for a few seconds and then nothing. After about 5 minutes or so everything that I tried to load pops up all at once. After that the system seems to work perfectly. It seems like it's just an annoyance, but my wife and I both use the system with different logons. Whenever she logs off and I log on (or vice a versa) the same problem occurs.

Please help.
Thanks.
Mike.

XPS M140
Windows XP Media Center
512MB Ram
Home wireless network (D-Link DI-524)

Thanks for the response, but I have found the problem. The Intel Pro Wireless client software was the problem. I deleted it and am using the microsoft wireless client without any problems.

Thanks.
Mike.