FROM LEN >>ANSWER - about 40 seconds to Welcome screen, thanks to TweakUI,
now bypass "user" - THEN about 4 minutes, during which time all the icons
are refreshed 3 times
Okay, the 40 seconds is good. The 4 minutes ... well, that just stinks.
After the desktop appears, XP does continue to load. Most of what's loaded
at this time are startup items from msconfig. I see a bit of activity here
but it lasts no more than 10 or 15 seconds and the rest of XP is usable
while that is going on.
The items in the left toolbar - This sounds like you're referring to Quick
Launch. Those items don't load until you click the shortcuts. I'm a toolbar
junkie and I have 28 items in Quick Launch. Use a double taskbar so that
the shortcuts are one click away instead of two. So you can strike those
items from your list of candidates.
There are a few other tasks that XP might do at startup.
One is to search for network resources. If not on a network, you may want
to experiment with the setting in Folder Options> View. First one at the
top: Automatically search for network drives and printers. By default this
is enabled but have seen it cause some slowdown before. Even if on a
network you can tweak this setting as you will still be able to reach
network resources. Explorer just wont search for them automatically.
Some folks have also seen an decrease in startup times when they have
changed the startup type for the Windows Image Acquisition service to
disable or manual. Default setting: automatic. Oddly (I think it's odd
anyhow), most scanners still scan and cameras will still work after
changing this setting to disable.
Messenger, lets clean that up for you (I suspect that at least part of your
4 minute delay is due to Messenger trying to find a connection to log you
on):
In the Messenger window, click on Tools> Options> Preferences. Uncheck the
box for "Run..when Windows starts" and "Allow this program to run in the
background."
In Outlook Express: Tools> Options> General. Uncheck box next to
"Automatically log on to Windows Messenger." In View> Layout, uncheck
"Contacts."
If you find Outlook Express starts to open too slow due to this change
(never happened on my system but it does happen to some folks), you can add
a key to the registry:
Start> Run> Regedit
Locate the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Outlook Express
Click on Outlook Express so that it is highlighted.
Right click in the right hand pane and select New> DWORD Value
Name it Hide Messenger
Data Type should automatically be showing REG_DWORD
Right click on the new key and select Modify and enter 2 as the data value.
Exit the registry editor.
You may need to restart for the change to take effect.
If you use Outlook, there is a "automatically log on to Windows Messenger"
option to uncheck too.
MSCONFIG: This is a great tool for troubleshooting and for disabling
startup items that don't have a method for controlling startup in their
program menus. It lists items from various startup vectors and their source
(where the call to load at startup is located). Unfortunately, since the
window is not resizable, it's not always easy to read the path.
Other tools where the paths are more easily read include
--msinfo32 (System Information): Software Environment> Startup
--Startup Programs Tracker from Doug Knox:
http://www.dougknox.com/xp/utils/xp_starttrack.htm
Invalid entries (blank or point to files that no longer exist or that are
damaged) are processed at startup right along with valid entries. XP may
spend extra time trying to locate "missing" items and this in turn slows
down your overall startup. Use the tools above to check for such items.
Export suspect keys (can always double click the exports to add them back
into the registry). Then delete the keys to test.
If unsure in the registry, best practice is to just leave it alone. But the
RUN keys are where most startup items originate from and since for the most
part they involve "add-ons" -optional startup items- this is one of the
safer places to get your feet wet in registry editing.
C-dilla is a copyright protection mechanism. Intuit's tax software hit the
news with it last year but it is not the only software package that uses
it. I have some PC Games and an older painting program that use it (not
currently installed but I have them). If you remove the copy protection for
a program ( I think the CDAC11BA is a reference to the originating
program), it usually refuses to run. So if you run into a program that is
mysteriously not working, it's probably "the one."
If the program is no longer installed... that reference *should* have been
removed when the program was uninstalled. Uninstall seems like a fancy
"delete" process but besides removing files and folders it should unwind
registry references and other system changes.
Sorry. Didn't mean to write a book!
right back at ya!