Slow Startup on WinXP

[frank1492]

It just took about 4 mins from the "button press" to a full desktop of
icons. The desktop comes up very slowly and it takes about 1 min
for the desktop to be fully populated with the correct icons. I am
running selective startup and have many of the startup programs
disabled.
Can anyone tell me what might be wrong, and are there programs
tp help this?
Thanks very much!
Frank
P.S I am not aware that the computer runs abnormally slowly after
startup.

 

[PD43]

Can anyone tell me what might be wrong, and are there programs
tp help this?

NOTHING might be "wrong".

You never said what you are running with: CPU make, speed. RAM. Hard
drives. Etc.

 

[M.I.5¾]

It just took about 4 mins from the "button press" to a full desktop of
icons. The desktop comes up very slowly and it takes about 1 min
for the desktop to be fully populated with the correct icons. I am
running selective startup and have many of the startup programs
disabled.
Can anyone tell me what might be wrong, and are there programs
tp help this?
Thanks very much!
Frank
P.S I am not aware that the computer runs abnormally slowly after
startup.

4 minutes! You are lucky - mine takes 8. It all depends on what has to be
loaded during start up. Some firewalls take an inordinately long time to
set up and initialise.

 

[frank1492]

OK I guess I am within range, but the slow population
of the desktop is an obvious change.
Here are the specs:
Pentium 1.7GH, 512 RAM (currently at max.)
I have about 2G left on a 20G drive. Obviously
don't do games on this old rig.
I am focusing on startup at the moment. Also
I don't seem to be able to do a disc cleanup. The
drive runs, then stops but the progress bar never
completes and nothing happens.
Hope this helps complete "the picture."
Any other ideas?
Many thanks for your help!
Frank

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

It just took about 4 mins from the "button press" to a full desktop of
icons. The desktop comes up very slowly and it takes about 1 min
for the desktop to be fully populated with the correct icons. I am
running selective startup and have many of the startup programs
disabled.
Can anyone tell me what might be wrong, and are there programs
tp help this?
Thanks very much!
Frank
P.S I am not aware that the computer runs abnormally slowly after
startup.

Nothing is "wrong." Mine takes longer than yours does. It depends on
the particular system and what (not how many) programs are loaded at
startup.

My personal view is that the attention many people pay to how long it
takes to boot is unwarranted. Assuming that the computer's speed is
otherwise satisfactory, it may not be worth worrying about. Most
people start their computers once a day or even less frequently. In
the overall scheme of things, even a few minutes to start up isn't
very important. Personally I power on my computer when I get up in the
morning, then go get my coffee. When I come back, it's done booting. I
don't know how long it took to boot and I don't care.

 

[M.I.5¾]

Nothing is "wrong." Mine takes longer than yours does. It depends on
the particular system and what (not how many) programs are loaded at
startup.

My personal view is that the attention many people pay to how long it
takes to boot is unwarranted. Assuming that the computer's speed is
otherwise satisfactory, it may not be worth worrying about. Most
people start their computers once a day or even less frequently. In
the overall scheme of things, even a few minutes to start up isn't
very important. Personally I power on my computer when I get up in the
morning, then go get my coffee. When I come back, it's done booting. I
don't know how long it took to boot and I don't care.

I reboot my home machines on average once a fortnight (mainly due to
crashes). Normally, I hibernate them instead of shutting them down. This
machine here, I probably haven't rebooted this year.