W2K SP4+: "preparing network connections" takes long time.

[Kristi]

When I first genned the system and upgraded it to SP4, that took 7 seconds.
Now it takes more like 30 seconds. Is there a boot trace or somesuch where I
can see what is going on, and how can I speed that up?

My "network" is me on a comcast cable direct connect. Very simple system. No
server or such. FW is Kerio (Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall) and av is
AVAST.

any ideas?
Thanks!!!
Kristi

 

[Steve Parry]

When I first genned the system and upgraded it to SP4, that took 7
seconds. Now it takes more like 30 seconds. Is there a boot trace or
somesuch where I can see what is going on, and how can I speed that up?

My "network" is me on a comcast cable direct connect. Very simple system.
No server or such. FW is Kerio (Sunbelt Kerio Personal Firewall) and av is
AVAST.

any ideas?
Thanks!!!
Kristi

Try adding your ISP's DNS server settings manually into the ip configuration

 

[Kristi]

Try adding your ISP's DNS server settings manually into the ip configuration

Thanks - where do I find these? I went looking for the second tab on the
status but it only has the one tab. tia!!!
Kristi

 

[Kristi]

Thanks - where do I find these? I went looking for the second tab on the
status but it only has the one tab. tia!!!
Kristi

The answer to this is ipconfig /all

However, the answer to the problem in slow startup was the huge mvpshosts
hosts file.

Thanks

 

[Rich Greenberg]

However, the answer to the problem in slow startup was the huge mvpshosts
hosts file.

Which is fixed by the following suggestion from the mvps site:

Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to
slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and
ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply/Ok and restart. [more info]
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. [more info]

 

[Kristi]

However, the answer to the problem in slow startup was the huge mvpshosts
hosts file.

Which is fixed by the following suggestion from the mvps site:

Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to
slow down the machine. This only occurs in W2000 and XP. Windows 98 and
ME are not affected.

To resolve this issue (manually) open the "Services Editor"

Start | Run (type) "services.msc" (no quotes)
Scroll down to "DNS Client", Right-click and select: Properties
Click the drop-down arrow for "Startup type"
Select: Manual, click Apply/Ok and restart. [more info]
You can see that the above "Service" is not needed (after a little
browsing) by opening the Services Editor again, scroll down to DNS
Client and check the "Status" column. It should be blank, if it was
needed it would show "Started" in that column. [more info]

Huge thanks!!!
)