10 minute XP boot

[caseopele]

Hi, over the last few months my computer has been booting up slower and slower. It's up to 10 minutes now. I'm putting any information that might be useful at the end of this message. I've tried limiting the number of programs that load on startup using msconfig and the services that run automatically in XP using services.msc. I've run Spybot Search & Destroy, and Ad-Aware, all they've found are some tracking cookies. Norton antivirus does a full scan every Friday night. I have Norton System Doctor running all the time and run Windoctor and Cleanup frequently. I've also maxed out my memory at 384mb, my computer only has 3 slots. If anyone has any ideas what I could do to speed up the boot process I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) on a Gateway G6-450XL

450 megahertz Intel Pentium II
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Board: Intel Corporation WS440BX AA719570-203
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Intel Corp. 4W4SB0X0.15A.0005.P03 09/28/98

95.55 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
14.87 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

ATAPI CD-RW 52X24 [CD-ROM drive]
CD-ROM Drive
3.5" format removable media [Floppy drive]

Maxtor 6Y080P0 [Hard drive] (81.96 GB) -- drive 1, rev YAR41BW0, SMART
Status: Healthy

QUANTUM FIREBALL EX13.6A [Hard drive] (13.60 GB) -- drive 0, rev A0A.0300, SMART Status: Healthy

384 Megabytes Installed Memory

Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(r) 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]

RADEON 9000 SERIES [Display adapter]
RADEON 9000 SERIES - Secondary [Display adapter]
GATEWAY VX900 [Monitor] (17.7"vis)

Intel(r) 82371AB/EB PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller

Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)
Game Port for Creative
U.S. Robotics Faxmodem Win 1801
1394 Net Adapter
D-Link DFE-530TX PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter (rev.A)

VIA OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
PC/AT Enhanced PS/2 Keyboard (101/102-Key)
Logitech-compatible Mouse PS/2

Programs that run at startup
Logitech trackball software
Aol aim
Norton antivirus
Norton system doctor
Zone alarm
Skype
Acrobat assistant
Adobe gamma loader

[soybean]

Win XP was an OS upgrade, right?  How much longer is bootup time now compared to when you first installed Win XP?

[pcdoc4christ]

Lets take a look at the processes running on your PC to see if any might be an undetected virus, etc.:

Press Ctrl, Alt, Delete and click the processes tab.  Write down EVERY process listed, and let us know what they are so we can look them up.

[caseopele]

Thanks for your replies! I did a clean install of XP in 2003, I think. Then copied all my files back onto my computer. I have no way of doing that now since I used my ex's computer on a network to store my files. I don't have any way to back up my stuff. Although, I do have 2 hard drives now. My C drive has XP installed on it, while the D drive ahs all my programs on it. Maybe I could store everything on the D drive and reinstall XP on the C drive?

I took a screenshot of my task manager since there were so many processes running. Here it is right after I started my computer, I had to link to it since the file was too big. http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g67/caseopele/Other%20Pictures/Taskmanager.jpg

Thanks again for your help!

[caseopele]

Oops, I forgot to answer Soybean's question. It's only been in the last few months that the boot time has gotten this bad. It was usually between 2-5 minutes, depending on how many programs I had running at startup. Now it's at least 10 minutes every time, no matter if I limit the amount of programs running on startup. Thanks again!

[soybean]

well, 42 processes really is not out of the ordinary.  I don't know what all of them are without doing some research.  I can see that you have AOL Instant Messenger, and AOL.  Do you use them?  Not a problem.  But, if you don't use them, might as well remove them.

Some good references on computer processes are on the Internet, such as WinTasks Process Library.  I suggest you spend some time getting more familiar the processes you see in your Task Manager panel.

How long since you ran Disk Cleanup?  And, Disk Defragmenter?  How much free space, percentage wise, do you have on your hard drive?  

I suggest you download CCleaner and run the Windows, Applications, and Issues scans.  

[GX1_Man]

5 minutes is too long and 2 is pushing the envelope for acceptable boot time. There are other issues for sure - hardware and/or software.