Slow boot/shut downs

[Big Weapons]

I've had this computer for about 7 months now.

I've noticed this problem recently (actually, it's been about a couple of months since it started). When I boot up, right after I log in, it takes about 2-3 minutes for the computer to load all the services and start up programs. If I try to launch a program in this time period, I'd have to wait until everything loads. I've gone into msconfig and disabled everything that I don't need, and I still get this problem. Also, it takes about 10 minutes for the computer to shut down. What could be causing these problems? I'm using Windows XP.

[ktkendall]

What about your AV software?? Was there anything new you added software or hardware wise that coincides to back when U started to notice the increased time in startup and shutdown.. Have U done disk cleanup and defrag lately, even if those don't cure this problem they can't hurt...

[Brandon G.]

try uninstalling ur AV then reinstall it

[Big Weapons]

I defragged last night. I do it once every 3-4 days for kicks. I'll try reinstalling my Sound Blaster drivers. I just installed the new ATI Catalyst drivers. That didn't help though.

[Big Weapons]

Nope, that didn't do it. Still slow.

[ktkendall]

I can not remember for sure but remember on Win9x when U press F8 right after BIOS loads and get the optional boot menu and ther was a choice for step by step confirmation, so you could sometimes get a clue as to what was the major slowing down point with bootups. Anyways U could check and see if that is still an option on XP...

[andyms18a]

do you have a network card that you dont use in your computer if so remove or disabble it and see if that helps

[mike breck]

Download Spybot and check there are nasties loading on Startup

http://patrick.kolla.de/spybotsd.html

Also download and install Boot Vis. That should tell you what is causing the delay at startup

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/...t/BootVis.mspx

HTH

[Big Weapons]

I pulled out my extra NIC. The boot seems a little faster now, but shutdown is just as slow. I have ad aware and spybot, and I run both every few days. I'll try BootVis.

[Big Weapons]

Didn't find any problems.

[mike breck]

See if good old aumha can help

http://www.aumha.org/a/shtdwnxp.htm

[Ichabod]

BW, can you post a screenshot of your Bootvis graph? I had a slow boot that I traced to Windows trying to find a non existent drive. If you only have one hard drive you might want to look in Device Manager and see what Windows is looking for. For the shutdown problem take a look here There are some tweaks on page 4 (I think) that should take care of a lot of the slow shutdown. Did mine anyway. My bootup is about 35 seconds, shutdown is less than that.