Windows XP slow loading up...

tvout · 03-07-2009, 18:25

Hi all,

I've noticed recently how XP is now taking 3 minutes to load to a point where I can open programs etc. It displays the background for a while and nothing seems to happen then eventually the HD light starts flickering and the icons load.
I've done as much as I can to improve its performance:

scandisk/defrag/chkdisk/sfc
virus/spyware scans etc
deleted unneeded things from startup and services
run 4 different registry scanners
run ccleaner and dustbuster

I've now only got a few needed things running at startup and want to find a relatively easy way of getting my PC up to speed other than doing a clean XP install or disabling things individually in msconfig or something.

Any help or advice or recommended programs much appreciated

Hom3r · 03-07-2009, 18:47

It could be your virus/spyware software doing a scan, or downloading updates.

Our you have some software that is looking for hardware.

What AV/spyware are you running?

Ed2020 · 03-07-2009, 18:54

Assuming your PC is malware free, and performance is not being affected by insufficient RAM (and therefore excessive paging) then applications loading at startup is where you need to look.

Startup Inspector is pretty good and makes recommendations on what can/should/shouldn't be disabled:

http://www.windowsstartup.com/

The most comprehensive I have found is Autoruns from Sysinternals, however this requires more expertise than Startup Inspector:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb963902.aspx

Ed.

tvout · 03-07-2009, 20:18

Many thanks for the responses. I was considering maybe removing and reinstalling the AV software. I use AVG Free Edition V8. I also have Super Antispyware and Ad-Aware and have removed all their startup services. I downloaded Startup Inspector and it shows the following running on startup:
NDAS (utility to access my Media Player wirelessly)
Unlocker Assistant (for those annoying 'file is in use and cannot be deleted' errors)
Soundman (sound applet)
Sispower (power management for Sis graphics chipset?)
Notebook Hardware Control (I swapped out my laptop CPU for a Pentium M and this sets it to run at the higher speed)
Bluetooth Authentication Agent (for my bluetooth adaptor)
AVG8
AGRSMMSG (modem drivers - never use it so might disable from startup)

I'll try out autoruns, I like those little 'sysinternals' apps...

Ed2020 · 03-07-2009, 21:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by tvout

I'll try out autoruns, I like those little 'sysinternals' apps...

Keep a careful note of what you're disabling in case you run into problems as a result of any tweaks you make.

If you don't get any joy I'd also recommend Process Monitor (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../bb896645.aspx), also from Sysinternals. Filter the list down to file activity to start off with and see if you can spot anything that's really working your drive.

Ed.

tvout · 03-07-2009, 22:34

Cool, cheers. I'll check that out too.
I actually removed some items in autoruns which didn't seem to make a massive difference then when I uninstalled AVG it loaded a lot quicker, it didn't hang on the desktop before loading the icons anymore. I'll try reinstalling it and see what happens.

DaiNasty · 03-07-2009, 22:36

Another thing that can cause slow loading is a hardware issue such as a failing hard disk. It may be worth looking at your system logs to check for any reported disk errors.

v0id · 04-07-2009, 11:01

http://www.ccleaner.com/

zing · 04-07-2009, 14:45

anyone asked the system spec yet?

Ed2020 · 04-07-2009, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

anyone asked the system spec yet?

Nope, given that the initial post stated "I've noticed recently how XP is now taking 3 minutes to load" I assumed that it wasn't a PC spec problem. Unless the spec has recently got worse...

Ed.

zing · 04-07-2009, 18:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed2020

Nope, given that the initial post stated "I've noticed recently how XP is now taking 3 minutes to load" I assumed that it wasn't a PC spec problem. Unless the spec has recently got worse...

Ed.

Assumption is the mother of all you know whats

Its a fundamental question if you wish to just assume your way through helping out then thats upto you.

@the op download and run hijackthis and post the log so we can see what is running oh and post those specs

Ed2020 · 04-07-2009, 21:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by zing

Assumption is the mother of all you know whats

Its a fundamental question if you wish to just assume your way through helping out then thats upto you.

It seems like a reasonable assumption to me, given that the problems are only experienced during system start-up, and also that they have only recently become an issue.

Having said that I may have read too much into the initial description of the problem, and it never hurts to validate (or invalidate) an assumption.

Ed.