Slow XP login to desktop boot.

Alright, I have three ideas in mind. First off, run every security scan you have (at different times, of course.) Make sure to scan for Malware (Adware and spyware, for example). Not every virus security comes with this. If yours doesn't, try and find a free one; I'd recommend Microsoft Defender. It's not to resource heavy, and picked up things my Nortan didn't.

Second, is run a Disk Defragmenter. Luckily, Windows comes with a free one built in. Just go to Start -> All Programs -> Accesories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter, and run it.

Third, get a registry cleaning program, and run a scan. Most of them have "free trials" that will at least show you all the problems, but won't fix to many of them. If you see a large list (like, say, 200+), than you might benefit from paying for it.

The first one is pretty self explanatory; Viruses and Malware can slow your computer down. The second and third are mainly useful if you've installed and/or uninstalled a lot of programs on your computer. Even if they aren't all boot programs, they can still make unneeded data that can slow your start-up.

See if that helps at all. If it doesn't, than it might be a hardware problem.

Thanks for the quick responce Darkness Flame.

I've got CCleaner on the registry, it came up with about 20ish possibilities. I've set it to fix the ones it found.

I've put norton through the system yesterday and it didn't come up with much. I'll try Defender.

What sort of hardware problem might you suspect?

I've done defender but it didn't turn anything up.

The windows defrag system suggests I don't need to defrag.

What else might be causing the slow down?

Adaware, AVG FREE

NORTON is the problem, that'll slow you to a crawl just having that garbage on your system. Likes to hook itself into your install and suck resources like a tapeworm. Wanna go faster, never use norton/symantec anything.

Thanks Royalcrown and roadrunner.

Ok, so Norton is probably an issue, but I haven't installed it recently and the slow down has occured in the last week or so. We can therefore assume that the problem is not related to Norton.

Have you got any other ideas?

I'm still strugging with this issue. Once it has got itself sorted at the desktop it runs ok. I've wiped out more of the run on startup programs. Checked defrag and spyware.

Anyone got other ideas?

Many Thanks

Jeremy

I've also got programs going unresponsive on me all the time. Most often internet explorer 7 and outlook.

A windows reinstall is looking ever increasingly likely...

Hi All,

I'm bring this thread back from the dead. I'm concerned that I have a slow system (Below).

I've been running an old game (1998) and some music from Windows Media playr and I'm getting frame rate slowdown during play. I've got the graphics settings turned up and I am running at 1680x1050 but no FSAA. The system just seems slow generally. One of my friends used "hijack this" program to have a look at the workings but couldn't see anything wrong.

Any suggestions or other information that might help?

Thanks
Jeremy

The system is as follows:
- Q6600 @ 2.4
- DDR2 PC8500
- Gigabyte DS3R
- X1950Pro

i dont know much about this kind of stuff but i figure ill try to help. How old is your hard drive? Maybe there is something wrong with the connection or it is just old.

Thanks jaibot18 but the HDD is only 6 months old and a seagate barracuda 7200.10.

I don't think that is the problem. I expect it to be a software issue - if it were HDD it would be much more catastophic!

Jeremy

To be honest I would back up everything and start with a clean xp install. get all your new drivers and you should be back to normal. If you back everything up it should be no more than 2-3 hours to go from formatted to back to normal, and seeing as this has been going on for 2 months, I think you will be happy with the results.

Thanks vnderachiever - that is the way to go, however I would like to do a bit more delving into why my computer is slow - identify specific programs or components that are causing the problem.

Can anyone suggest some diagnostic tools or websites that would help me with this?

Thanks

Hi JP some things you may not of done,
are there any files on the desktop (not shortcuts but actual files)?
I run different reg cleaners try regscub xp its freeware http://home.carolina.rr.com/lexunfreeware found this very safe to run. It also found several different reg problems and has some good tools in the misc section try the ones relating to start up
Run CCleaner with all boxes checked (yes you will loose your cookies but we need to get to the bottom of this)
Does your desktop have a photo as a background? change it for a xp defualt one to see if it makes a difference
Run Superantispyware its free to download and also has some good repair tools in the preferances section.
and dont ask me why this helps but remove all the addins on your web page 'tools' manage add ons'

Finally has anything changed - I got Zango on my PC ( a shopping channel) increased start up by 3 mins

best of luck

dont forget to set a restore point before you do these things

Paul

Thanks Paul, that's good info.

I'll take a look into those things in the next few days and see what happens.

Thanks
Jeremy

Hi, an update...

- I've used the registry checker and there is nothing much wrong there, it cleared a few temp files but nothing of interest.
- There aren't any files on the desktop and I have always run my computer with a photo in the background and it has never made any difference.
- My antispyware tools haven't picked up anything and I haven't seen anything that is unusual.

I could really do with a program that shows exactly what is happening and what processes are loading between the login screen and the desktop. That might give me an idea of where the problem lies. Does anyone know of this sort of program?

Thanks again
Jeremy

I hate doing this ... bump.

Hi Dykes,

I think ur PC got lots of garbage on it..this might be reason for slow booting..I think u should fully optimize
ur PC with some optimization tool..i faced this prob in past...tried some softwares like Ace utilities , Advanced
System Optimizer , PC utilities..they all works f9..but i can say Advanced System Optimizer is best optimizer in
all..it has load of utilities that can speed up PC performance & can run PC smoother..right now i m using it for regular maintenance for my PC..& really helped me.
U can download it 4m Cnet.

Ideally... Run an SSD into your system and slap windows on there...
I doubt you'll ever be troubled again...
but otherwise consider another harddrive with it on so that windows isn't being clogged?
but if money can't be spent the best way to get around it is to back up everything you NEED, and be strict. (Don't just think that backing up the lot and putting it back will cure the problem, as it'll only return in a few weeks.)
Nuke all apps/programs, reinstall windows and start afresh and it should be fine...
but in future try avoid virus prone programs and downloading garbage, as thats the main cause of slowing up comps that i'm aware of...  
if this doesn't work i'll be shocked, and can only reccommend changing components and rebuilds from then  
good luck  

This thread is 2 years old... stop necroing it.

This topic has been closed by Aford10