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From: Wolvie145 on 17 Apr 2010 16:03
Start with the computer off. Push the power button to start it. The computer
we're working on takes about 12 to 15 minutes to get to the desktop. After
that point, computer works fine. I cleaned out the programs that run at start
up and completely uninstalled all the antivirus programs. (This fixed the
secondary issue of the computer locking up.) Booting the computer into safe
mode had the same effect on start up. In fact, I think it took longer to boot
up then normal. And once again, when it was in safe mode, everything that was
supposed to worked fine.

I'm down to an FDISK and start from scratch at this point. I was wonding if
anyone else had any better ideas? Or could this be a hardware iss and I'm
wasting my time?
From: Leonard Grey on 17 Apr 2010 16:33
"How to perform advanced clean-boot troubleshooting in Windows XP"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434
---
Leonard Grey
Errare humanum est

Wolvie145 wrote:
> Start with the computer off. Push the power button to start it. The computer
> we're working on takes about 12 to 15 minutes to get to the desktop. After
> that point, computer works fine. I cleaned out the programs that run at start
> up and completely uninstalled all the antivirus programs. (This fixed the
> secondary issue of the computer locking up.) Booting the computer into safe
> mode had the same effect on start up. In fact, I think it took longer to boot
> up then normal. And once again, when it was in safe mode, everything that was
> supposed to worked fine.
>
> I'm down to an FDISK and start from scratch at this point. I was wonding if
> anyone else had any better ideas? Or could this be a hardware iss and I'm
> wasting my time?
From: Ken Blake, MVP on 17 Apr 2010 17:08
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 13:03:01 -0700, Wolvie145
<Wolvie145(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

> Start with the computer off. Push the power button to start it. The computer
> we're working on takes about 12 to 15 minutes to get to the desktop. After
> that point, computer works fine. I cleaned out the programs that run at start
> up and completely uninstalled all the antivirus programs. (This fixed the
> secondary issue of the computer locking up.) Booting the computer into safe
> mode had the same effect on start up. In fact, I think it took longer to boot
> up then normal. And once again, when it was in safe mode, everything that was
> supposed to worked fine.
>
> I'm down to an FDISK and start from scratch at this point. I was wonding if
> anyone else had any better ideas? Or could this be a hardware iss and I'm
> wasting my time?



I'm usually against worrying very much about slow startups, but 12-15
minutes *is* a very long time.

I think the most likely cause of your problem is malware infection.


--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
From: Wolvie145 on 17 Apr 2010 20:08

> I'm usually against worrying very much about slow startups, but 12-15
> minutes *is* a very long time.
>
> I think the most likely cause of your problem is malware infection.
>
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

The computer was taken to a company who wiped it of infections supposedly
and then installed 3 different protection programs. Of course, as soon as the
owner got it home they start fighting and locking up the system. I had to
kill them all to keep the system from freezing up. We're going to install a
good program and I'll run another check to make sure all are gone. What to
you recommend as a good way to check for virus? It seems all the programs out
there are flawed in some way.
From: Ken Blake, MVP on 18 Apr 2010 12:23
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:08:01 -0700, Wolvie145
<Wolvie145(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>
> > I'm usually against worrying very much about slow startups, but 12-15
> > minutes *is* a very long time.
> >
> > I think the most likely cause of your problem is malware infection.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
> > Please Reply to the Newsgroup
>
> The computer was taken to a company who wiped it of infections supposedly


What company? Some are good, but some are terrible.

How many infections? If there more than just a couple, the chances of
successfully getting things back to normal are very poor. Since you
use the plural word "infections," I even more strongly suspect that
that's the problem. Your best (perhaps only) course of action at this
point may be a clean reinstallation of Windows.


> and then installed 3 different protection programs.



What programs? Again, some are good, and some are terrible.


> Of course, as soon as the
> owner got it home they start fighting and locking up the system. I had to
> kill them all to keep the system from freezing up. We're going to install a
> good program and I'll run another check to make sure all are gone. What to
> you recommend as a good way to check for virus? It seems all the programs out
> there are flawed in some way.



The best program is NOD32. If you want a free program, there are three
good choices, not quite as good as NOD32, but still good):

Avaira
Avast
Microsoft Security Essentials

Besides an anti-virus program, you also need anti-spyware. I recommend
that you run *both* MalwareBytes AntiMalware and SuperAntiSpyware
(both free).



--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
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