vista- slow start up to login screen

[TomG]

I just purchased this Dell with Vista, I have had it for about 4 months,
everything was working great until a few days ago. When I turn it on it
takes about 4 to 5 minutes to get to the log in screen. Once I'm in
everything works fine, its just the initial power up that is slow. I tried
to restore feature and set it back 4 weeks but to my dismay the problem still
exists. Any suggestions.

 

[Michael Ian Sammels]

Try doing a disk cleanup, and a disk degfragmentation.

 

[TomG]

I will give this try; thanks for the input

Try doing a disk cleanup, and a disk degfragmentation.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Try doing a disk cleanup, and a disk degfragmentation.

Although it certainly can't hurt to do as you suggest, my guess is
that neither will fix what appears to be a sudden dramatic change in
startup time.

TomG, you should consider the possibility of virus or spyware
infection. What anti-malware programs do you run, and are they up to
date?

 

[TomG]

I run Mcafee virus protection and it updates at a regular basis

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I run Mcafee virus protection and it updates at a regular basis

Not sufficient. You also need anti-spyware protection. If you're not
running any, my guess is that your problem is spyware infestation.

I recommend that you begin troubleshooting by going to MVP Malke's
malware removal site at
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware and
following the instructions there.