after bootup and login, takes ages to see the folders in My Computer

[H. S.]

Hello,

This is regarding Windows XP Professional on a Dell Inspiron 5160. When
I boot up, the login welcome screen comes up in around 64 seconds. Next
when I enter my password, it takes around 45 seconds for my desktop to
come up. I can then start a command terminal and type commands. However,
if I open My Computer at that point, it takes further 3 minutes for it
show its contents. During that time, it just shows that it is searching
the contents of that folder.

I also notice that the folder contents show up at the time when the
wireless connection starts up, zone alarm starts up and I get the
wireless bars on the status bar. Other things startup right after I get
the desktop (Symantec Antivirus, touchpad, volume control).

The OS is completely updated. I have scanned for trojans, spyware and
viruses and I am pretty sure that the computer is clean.

I see this as some problem with the networking starting up after I login
after a reboot. I have run bootvis (bootviz?) and it also shows that it
takes around 110 seconds for all things to finish. I am just not sure
why it takes those 3 minutes to search for a folder contents and to
start the networking after I login. Any ideas how to solve this problem?

Oh, btw, I uninstalled Skype and Yahoo Messenger to see if that helped.
No luck. I also tried to remove all unnecessary startup enteries (using
msconfig), but that didn't help either.

thanks,
->HS

 

[windsurferLA]

I'm no expert on operating sytems. I've just experienced similar problems.

My theory is that it has to do the automatic updates. Many applications
require that you option-out of the automatic update process, and even
when you option out from the automatic update process, they still search
the Internet to see if an update is available. I suspect that many of
these applications seek to determine whether or not automatic updates
are available when my machine is first turned on. The boot up process
goes rapidly if they can gain quick access to the Internet, but if my
modem is turned off, there is a long delay. I suspect that each must
wait in turn for the search function to time out. When I'm traveling
and I have intermittent wireless connection, it can get so bad that I
sometimes need to totally shut down my machine. If the machine gets a
connection and then the connection drops out, it seems to sit and wait
forever for the connection to be re-established.

Another problem could be your anti-nasty software. I have Norton
Anti-virus and Norton Ghost installed on most of my machines. It is
scheduled to run in the middle of the night. I note that if the machine
has been off all night AND they missed a scheduled run, they sometimes
insist on running when the machine is first turned on. If Norton
Anti-Virus is insisting on doing a total scan of the hard drive, you
might as well forget about using the machine for much else.

WindsurferLA

 

[H. S.]

I'm no expert on operating sytems. I've just experienced similar problems.

My theory is that it has to do the automatic updates. Many applications
require that you option-out of the automatic update process, and even
when you option out from the automatic update process, they still search
the Internet to see if an update is available. I suspect that many of
these applications seek to determine whether or not automatic updates
are available when my machine is first turned on. The boot up process
goes rapidly if they can gain quick access to the Internet, but if my
modem is turned off, there is a long delay. I suspect that each must
wait in turn for the search function to time out. When I'm traveling
and I have intermittent wireless connection, it can get so bad that I
sometimes need to totally shut down my machine. If the machine gets a
connection and then the connection drops out, it seems to sit and wait
forever for the connection to be re-established.

Another problem could be your anti-nasty software. I have Norton
Anti-virus and Norton Ghost installed on most of my machines. It is
scheduled to run in the middle of the night. I note that if the machine
has been off all night AND they missed a scheduled run, they sometimes
insist on running when the machine is first turned on. If Norton
Anti-Virus is insisting on doing a total scan of the hard drive, you
might as well forget about using the machine for much else.

WindsurferLA

Well, which begs the question (I am no Windows expert), is there a
method in XP to take note of what processes are trying to do what? I
would sure like to see a list of processeses that are active during
those 3 minutes and are delaying the activation of wireless network and
networking in general. It would make this debugging drastically simpler.
Actually, I find it hard to believe that this feature is missing, any
reasonable OS developer would include it. I am hoping I just do not know
where to look and some expert may point me in the right direction.

And no, the list in task manager does not shed much light on this issue.

 

[windsurferLA]

Yes, I know that Windows Task Manager frequently doesn't disclose what
appear to be hidden processes. This morning I was frustrated that one
of my machines was very slow on start up. Windows Task Manager showed
nothing. A few minutes later a window pops up, "anti virus updates
completed," and thereafter the machine worked. Obviously, Norton can
work in background sucking up resources without letting the user know
about it.

The application "Process Explorer," which I believe is available from
sysinternals at www.sysinternals.com can provide some insight. I don't
recall downloading it, but I note that "procexp.exe" is in my start
directory. It may be a DELL product. (My prime mmachine is DELL
Dimension E510 3GHz dual processor.) It lists the company name
associated with the running process, and it seems to indicate when
hidden processes are hogging the machine. How you stop those processes
is another issue that is perhaps beyond my skill set.

I also suspect that the default, "don't automatically update" setting is
often changed by many programs to "automatic update" when I voluntarily
initiate an update. May be I miss a check box, but I'm suspicious.

Anyone having suggestions on how to rein in these applications is
welcomed to comment.

 

[Richter]

When I have the same kind of a problem, I have found that it has something
to do with my HP printer. I shut it down and My Computor opens right up

Matt