sluggish, start up programs not appearing in taskbar...HELP!!!

[daygo140]

when i start up my computer my start up programs don't
all load in the taskbar (bottom right by clock). it
seems as though my computer is sluggish and slow. when i
click on a program there is sometimes up to a 1 or 2 min
delay before opening. i tried running disk defragmenter
and it takes forever, 20+ min to make it to 3% progress,
when before it took 15 mins to do the whole thing. i
don't receive any error messages although in my error
messeges log there are my logged entries for today. i
was in the middle of installing software over a previous
installation due to problems when the computer shut down
by itself without going through the proper shutdown
process. when it automatically booted back up it ran
scandisk and it trunacated several files. so i decided
to bootup with the win xp cd in. and i ran it in repair
mode (not repair console) and it ran through the setup
process. it was ok for a few hours...now i m
stuck...should i backup my important data, re format my c
drive, install my restoration disks (win me), then use
the win xp upgrade disk? or should i bear the pain of
the slow defrag and then take it from there? i've had no
problems for a year with this win xp upgrade ed. till
now...HELP!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Sounds like you have a virus. I had this same problem
with my 1.5 Ghz desktop and it was painfully slow, just
like you are describing. After an hour and half on the
phone with MS tech support (the pay line--and $35
smackers) later they found a virus and I had to re-
install XP.

Hope your situation is not that bleek.