Extremely slow startup

[Guest]

I am using Windows XP Home Edition. When booting up, Windows goes directely
to loading files and takes at least 20 minutes before the sign in screen
appears. Do you have a answer to solve this problem?

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Betty.

Sounds like a hardware problem to me. Anything from loose cables to a dying
hard drive to WinXP looking for some peripheral that used to be connnected
and is not anymore - and it's slow to give up on finding it.

Tell us more about your computer and we probably can help. In the meantime,
open the case and tighten every connection you can find. Blow out the dust.
(Even if it doesn't fix this problem, it's good to do this now and then.)

RC

 

[Guest]

Hi R.C. White, thank you for your reply.

Let me tell you more about my daughters 2 year old Dell computer with
Windows XP Home Edition. She had it at college for 2 years. She started
having many problems with it performing at all. It was running very slow
once we got it home and were able to get into some programs. After getting
it home here, we installed AVG Anti-virus and found almost 200 viruses; she
had been downloading music, which must have been the culprit. I have been
running an anit-virus scan and each time a few (4 to 6) virus will appear.
The viruses are in the Vault. Let me tell you what they are and then I will
explain what troubles we are having.

Virus information in Vault:
Trojanhorse BackDoor.Agent 8.L
C:/WINDOWS/ntgd.exe - Backup Copy Infected

Also:
Trojan Horses Start page 19.AO
C:/WINDOWS/SYSTEM 32/mgroe.dll - Backup Copy Infected

TROUBLE: When booting up, WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION appears and loads.
WINDOWS start up screen appears, but takes 15 minutes to complete. Then a
new window appears saying "Unable to log you on because of account
restriction). Then click on OK and it will take me to the sign on screen,
then all is well.

I did reformat with the reinstallation CD including service pack 1, and this
made the programs work faster.

Do you suppose the backup copies that states are infected, even though AVG
healed,
are causing the slow start up. And why after Windows does start up, does it
not go directly to desktop?

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Betty.

After getting
it home here, we installed AVG Anti-virus and found almost 200 viruses;
she
had been downloading music, which must have been the culprit.

Aha! Well, with that additional info, I'll withdraw my tentative diagnosis
of "probably hardware". ;^{

Many regulars here know much more than I do about how to remove malware and
guard against its return. They call it "practicing safe hex". I've been
lucky enough not to have had to deal with such problems very much. But I
hear that, when downloading music, we often get much more than we bargained
for - most of it bad.

Now that you've posted the background, I'm sure you'll be getting some
positive advice on how to proceed. Good luck!

RC

 

[Sparda]

Hi R.C. White, thank you for your reply.

Let me tell you more about my daughters 2 year old Dell
computer with
Windows XP Home Edition. She had it at college for 2 years.
She started
having many problems with it performing at all. It was
running very slow
once we got it home and were able to get into some programs.
After getting
it home here, we installed AVG Anti-virus and found almost 200
viruses; she
had been downloading music, which must have been the culprit.
I have been
running an anit-virus scan and each time a few (4 to 6) virus
will appear.
The viruses are in the Vault. Let me tell you what they are
and then I will
explain what troubles we are having.

Virus information in Vault:
Trojanhorse BackDoor.Agent 8.L
C:/WINDOWS/ntgd.exe - Backup Copy Infected

Also:
Trojan Horses Start page 19.AO
C:/WINDOWS/SYSTEM 32/mgroe.dll - Backup Copy Infected

TROUBLE: When booting up, WINDOWS XP HOME EDITION appears and
loads.
WINDOWS start up screen appears, but takes 15 minutes to
complete. Then a
new window appears saying "Unable to log you on because of
account
restriction). Then click on OK and it will take me to the
sign on screen,
then all is well.

I did reformat with the reinstallation CD including service
pack 1, and this
made the programs work faster.

Do you suppose the backup copies that states are infected,
even though AVG
healed,
are causing the slow start up. And why after Windows does
start up, does it
not go directly to desktop?

Yes, seems like SOFTWARE problem, a diying HD usualy means the
computer actualy locks up for moments at a time while it tries to
read/write to/from HD. Any way, i would surgest you use Spybot -
Search and Destroy and a virus scanner, if you dont have one and dont
wish to buy one, here are the links to a half decent free one, and
spybot:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

http://www.free-av.com/

 

[Brett Bowdring]

Microsoft has a Spyware remover as well, however it is still a beta version.
I've been running it for a couple weeks now and seems to work fine.

 

[Guest]

Thanks to everyone for your replies. Spending a few days on this computer, I
have solved the problems. This discussion group is wonderful and I hope I
may help others as well. I downloaded the free AVG Anti-Virus Edition which
has worked well for me. It found 102 Viruses, healed and put them in the
Vault which I then went to AVG Virus help, waited a few days and cleared the
vault.
Also, after reinstalling XP, the computer runs just as fast as when it was
new. I would hope that my daughter will not download more music since this
is where the Trojan horse viruses must have come from.
Betty