Slow performance after log in

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I log in on XP Professional, the desktop and start bar
appear; however I cannot access(click) on anything on the
start bar. It shows me the hour glass. This goes on for
about a minute everytime I turn on my computer. Any
ideas?
 
I log in on XP Professional, the desktop and start bar
appear; however I cannot access(click) on anything on the
start bar. It shows me the hour glass. This goes on for
about a minute everytime I turn on my computer. Any
ideas?
Click to expand...

Most likely your antivirus or other network intensive process that's set to
autoload.

Get Startup Control Panel and StartupMonitor (both free) from
<http://www.mlin.net/>. Disable items and restart, see when the problem goes
away.

Or use Startup Control Panel, and set Task Manager to autostart in HKLM/Run.
Then watch Task Manager as everything else starts up.

Do you have a large hosts file (used for blocking obnoxious ads and spyware
providing websites)? With a large hosts file, and the DNS Client service turned
on, I see 1 - 2 minutes startup time. By Disabling DNS Client, this problem
went away right fast.

And the other possibility is spyware / viruses.

How current is your virus protection? Try these free online virus scans:
<http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/license.php>
<http://security.symantec.com/ssc/home.asp>
<http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp>

Now check for, and learn to defend against, additional carriers of infection.

First, download LSP-Fix and WinsockXPFIx from <http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm>,
and CWShredder from <http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4086.html>. All are
free.

Next, run CWShredder. Have it fix all variants.

Now check for, and remove, spyware. Get HijackThis
<http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155> and Spybot S&D
<http://security.kolla.de/index.php?lang=en&page=download>. Both free.
1) Install and run Spybot. First update it ("Search for updates"), then run a
scan ("Check for problems"). Trust Spybot, and make all recommended deletions.
2) Install and run HijackThis. Do NOT make any changes immediately. Save the
HJT Log.
3) Have your HJT log interpreted by experts at one or more of the following
forums (and post it here):
<http://forums.net-integration.net/>
<http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/>
<http://forums.tomcoyote.org/>
<http://www.wilderssecurity.com/>

If removal of any spyware affects your ability to access the internet (some
spyware builds itself into the network software, and its removal may damage your
network), run LSP-Fix.

Harden your browser. There are various websites which will check for
vulnerabilities, here are three which I use.
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/
http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/
https://testzone.secunia.com/browser_checker/

Harden your operating system. Check at least monthly for security updates.
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/

Block possibly dangerous websites with a Hosts file. Three Hosts file sources I
use:
http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/get_hosts.html
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
(The third is included, and updated, with Spybot (see above)).

Cheers,
Chuck
Paranoia comes from experience - and is not necessarily a bad thing.
 
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