Delay loading applications for 10 min. after Windows startup

[SparkPlug]

A few months ago some Internet-enabled applications in my system will not
load for around 10 minutes after Windows starts up. The process will launch
and show in the Task Manager task list but will then stay at the same memory
usage level for about 10 minutes without displaying any windows. After 10
minutes it will continue to load fully.

Some of these applications include browsers Mozilla Firefox and Internet
Explorer (but not Google Chrome), the Steam client application, the Pidgin IM
client and possibly a few others that don't come to mind. Other
Internet-enabled applications do load and access the Internet as normal (e.g.
Mozilla Thunderbird).

Based on observing the Task Manager process list, this problem seems to
coincide with the alg.exe process as these applications will not load until
alg.exe has loaded after Windows has been running for 10 minutes. Manually
attempting to run alg.exe does not work so I suspect it is not the alg.exe
that is causing the problem. (I have also noted that no user names are
displayed in the task list duration this 10 minute period also but display
after 10 minutes.)

The only action I remember taking around the same time this problem started
showing up was replacing an older nVidia graphics card with a nVidia GeForce
9600 GT but I cannot be sure that coincided exactly.

I have read http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/832161/ but,
although the problem described sounds similar, the solutions did not apply
(WebClient is already listed last in the Provider Order tab).

I'm running Windows XP Home SP3 with the latest updates and Kaspersky
Internet Security 8 with latest updates and have run all latest virus and
spyware checks.

Thanks for your replies.

 

[smlunatick]

A few months ago some Internet-enabled applications in my system will not
load for around 10 minutes after Windows starts up. The process will launch
and show in the  Task Manager task list but will then stay at the same memory
usage level for about 10 minutes without displaying any windows. After 10
minutes it will continue to load fully.

Some of these applications include browsers Mozilla Firefox and Internet
Explorer (but not Google Chrome), the Steam client application, the Pidgin IM
client and possibly a few others that don't come to mind. Other
Internet-enabled applications do load and access the Internet as normal (e.g.
Mozilla Thunderbird).

Based on observing the Task Manager process list, this problem seems to
coincide with the alg.exe process as these applications will not load until
alg.exe has loaded after Windows has been running for 10 minutes. Manually
attempting to run alg.exe does not work so I suspect it is not the alg.exe
that is causing the problem. (I have also noted that no user names are
displayed in the task list duration this 10 minute period also but display
after 10 minutes.)

The only action I remember taking around the same time this problem started
showing up was replacing an older nVidia graphics card with a nVidia GeForce
9600 GT but I cannot be sure that coincided exactly.

I have readhttp://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/832161/but,
although the problem described sounds similar, the solutions did not apply
(WebClient is already listed last in the Provider Order tab).

I'm running Windows XP Home SP3 with the latest updates and Kaspersky
Internet Security 8 with latest updates and have run all latest virus and
spyware checks.

Thanks for your replies.

Please note that FireFox has always been slow to start up.

 

[SparkPlug]

Please note that FireFox has always been slow to start up.

That's not the problem as you can see from my original post which states the
same launch delay occurs with Internet Explorer and several other Internet
applications. The delay to launch is 10 minutes -- well beyond the normal
launch time for Firefox (under 30 seconds without extensions) anyway.