My laptop is really slow on start up...

[shredder]

.....anyone have any ideas as to the cause? Once I log in, it takes ages for the desktop to appear and even longer before I can click on anything. It also goes into not responding mode quite a lot too!

I have windows XP, Norton Antivirus and I reqularly run Adaware and Spybot.

Any help appreciated!

[Rob]

Do you have the A/V set to scan on startup?

[shredder]

No it's set to run every week I think, but I also run it myself on a more regular basis too.

[Paul]

Remove norton and spybot, see if anything changes in boot up time, have you defragged the hard drive lately?
Could also try just creating a new user and log in as that, may point to an issue with the profile in use.

msconfig stop everything that isnt security as Paul says dump norton

[hoggie]

could you let me know the following.
OS. xp(what one), Vista(what one)
CPU type.
RAM, how much,what type.

if you have never used MSCONFIG then be careful.

what would also help is make and model of laptop.99% of laptops have a sticker on the ram slot when you open the cover.this wil give me the model number of your mother board.


i repair and upgrade laptops.HDD,CPU's,GPU's and ram

[GeoffW]

Take a look in event manager/system events and see if that tells you anything. It sounds like some sort of timeout before it gives up and moves on.

[monkey2468]

Goto www.microsoft.com then search the download centre for a program called Bootvis. There is an option that will tell you how long the drivers and programs take to start up and which will show the offending item. (there is also a boot speedup option)

[nswatman]

Originally Posted by hoggie

could you let me know the following.
OS. xp(what one), Vista(what one)
CPU type.
RAM, how much,what type.

if you have never used MSCONFIG then be careful.

what would also help is make and model of laptop.99% of laptops have a sticker on the ram slot when you open the cover.this wil give me the model number of your mother board.


i repair and upgrade laptops.HDD,CPU's,GPU's and ram

I agree, do not use MSCONFIG unless you know what you are doing. Knowing the spec is the first step to start looking at a speed issue like this. You could just have too little RAM as is often the case in budget laptops. Most only have the minimum required to run Windows XP never mind all the other programs that are installed. The answer is not always to remove important programs it is upgrade the spec.

Get the spec up here and we can all have a look.

[hoggie]

Originally Posted by monkey2468

Goto www.microsoft.com then search the download centre for a program called Bootvis. There is an option that will tell you how long the drivers and programs take to start up and which will show the offending item. (there is also a boot speedup option)

some times more software may not be the answer as its mostly software that is slowing down your PC/Laptop.
you need to get to know what is needed and whats not for you.

Blackviper has a good site that will let you know what you need running at start-up and what is not needed for you and what you do.
IE. have you got a printer. windows starts spool services at start-up. i don't use a printer on this machine so a ram hog like spool is not needed.

[cleshe]

Originally Posted by shredder

.....anyone have any ideas as to the cause? Once I log in, it takes ages for the desktop to appear and even longer before I can click on anything. It also goes into not responding mode quite a lot too!

I have windows XP, Norton Antivirus and I reqularly run Adaware and Spybot.

Any help appreciated!

If the Adaware you have is the latest,(version 7 I think) that's the problem. Unlike the earlier ones it is a real hog.It uses memory even when not running. a file called Adaware Services runs all the time and can use a heck of a slice of your memory. Chuck it away, along with Norton (another hog). Install Avg Free and Avg Antispyware Free instead.You'll notice a real speed up, though not at 8.00 am when it does it's scan and update.Apart from then ,it's not going to slow you nearly as much.
P.s.If using Spybot Search and destroy, don't install or run Teatimer. It too causes nothing but trouble.
How much memory do you have? Xp needs at least 1gb, preferably 2. My granddaughter's came with 516mb, was useless running xp ,even with two 512 mb sticks (the most that would fit.)
I installed her Windows 2000 Pro, it runs like a dream.However, I don't know where you'd find w2k these days.

[bopdude]

Originally Posted by nswatman

I agree, do not use MSCONFIG unless you know what you are doing.
< SNIP>

The answer is not always to remove important programs it is upgrade the spec.

msconfig isn't that hard to get around, even I use it

As for removing programs, all it will do is is stop the program loading at start up, when you install a piece of new software it will more than likely try and add itself to start up, even if there is no need.

I agree with Paul and Zingle, look in mscong>startup tab ( top right ) and untick any unimportant items, you will see in the list what is what.

HTH's

And as was mentioned, Blackviper's site is a good place to read through.

[shredder]

Thanks, I've removed some of the programs from startup and other unused applications....so I'll reboot now and see what happens!

[trevortt]

Check out this website for some helpful tips & tweaks to free up CPU & Memory usage.

[shredder]

Originally Posted by trevortt

Check out this website for some helpful tips & tweaks to free up CPU & Memory usage.

Thanks trevortt, Hoggie recommended this earlier on in the thread, but I just get a page cannot be displayed!