[dannyyukon]

Hello. For some reason, for the last 2 months or so I have a very slow internet startup. The computer loads fine and the internet runs okay for about a minute then it gets real slow where everything freezes for about 1 to 2 minutes then everything is fine. It's real annoying. My computer has been running slower than normal anyways but at startup in is pretty ridiculous. I have a cable connection as well. Hope you can help!

Thanks,

-Dan

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Hi, dannyyukon.

First, please confirm your Operating System and Browser. Be sure to include Service Packs. Once you give us this information, we'll formulate a plan to get the Browser working properly.

Now, how long has it been since you cleaned out unnecessary/temp files and defragged your hard drive? That long, huh? That will the first order of business. Open My Computer, right click Local Disk C:, choose Properties. Run Disk Cleanup (from the General tab). Then go to the Tools tab and choose Defragment Now.

Next, what kind of Antivirus software do you have? Is it up-to-date and have you run a full system scan lately? If not, do that now. If anything at all shows up, please visit the Malware forum for checkup. Start here.

Once we get these preliminaries out of the way, we'll look at what's loading at Startup to try get that back in line.

[piper]

Hi, dannyyukon.

First, please confirm your Operating System and Browser. Be sure to include Service Packs. Once you give us this information, we'll formulate a plan to get the Browser working properly.

Now, how long has it been since you cleaned out unnecessary/temp files and defragged your hard drive? That long, huh? That will the first order of business. Open My Computer, right click Local Disk C:, choose Properties. Run Disk Cleanup (from the General tab). Then go to the Tools tab and choose Defragment Now.

Next, what kind of Antivirus software do you have? Is it up-to-date and have you run a full system scan lately? If not, do that now. If anything at all shows up, please visit the Malware forum for checkup. Start here.

Once we get these preliminaries out of the way, we'll look at what's loading at Startup to try get that back in line.

[Travis Longley]

What antivirus are you using?. Go here>click and download that. Then tell us if it found anything. That should work. Norton will not find as much as avg.

[dannyyukon]

Well I cleaned everything out about 2 days ago. I ran disk defrag yesterday. I am running Windows XP and Internet Explorer 7. I am using AVG for antivirus. I ran the AVG scan a few days ago and it did not find anything. After everything was cleaned and defraged I'm still getting a slow startup. Thanks for the help!

[Travis Longley]

Maybe you just need to upgrade your RAM?!?!

[piper]

Hi dannyyukon.

Let me confirm one thing: your computer is slow to completely load Windows or slow to open/run IE7? Some of these suggestions are aimed at a slow Windows load in general, not specfically IE7.

1. You mentioned that the slow startup began around 2 months ago. Does that by chance coincide with anything in particular, i.e. installation of a new program (IE7 maybe)?

2. Expounding on Travis Longley's suggestion, let's check your specs. Right click My Computer, Properties, General tab - what is the Processor Spped and the RAM shown at the bottom of that screen? What is the hard drive capacity and how much is free space (open My Computer and change the View to Details).

3. Before we start messing around with the startup, I'd like to check the startup speed for a different Windows User account, as well as Safe Mode. If you use the Welcome Screen, press CLTR+ALT+DEL to open the classic log-in shell. Here you can type in Administrator as the User and its password. Unless you specifically recall setting the Administrator's password during the initial installation/setup of Windows on this system, the password may be blank. This will load windows normally, but with a different User Account. Did that make any difference in the general speediness of Windows' loading? What about IE7?

4. You can also try booting into Safe Mode With Networking. This will load Windows with a minimal set of services and programs, but will allow your Internet connection. While starting your computer tap the F8 key once every second during the memory count up, or during the system spash screen where you see the system maker's name (HP, COMPAQ, DELL....etc.) This will result in a text based menu. Use the curors/arrorw keys to navigate to SAFE MODE and hit enter. Did Windows load any faster? What about IE7?

If the answers to #3 and #4 were Yes and the problem is a slow Windows load (not specifically IE7), then let's check out what loads with Windows.

• Startup folder for Your User under Documents and Settings\Your User Account\start menu\programs
• Startup folder for All Users under Documents and Settings\All Users\start menu\programs
• Startup tab in MSCONFIG. To open MSCONFIG, click Start, Run..., type in MSCONFIG and click OK. Go to the Startup Tab. Widen the "Command" column to get a better look at the program path. Uncheck those you feel are not necessary for run at Startup. If you have questions about specific items, please post them.

For the shortcuts in the Startup Folders, you can simply create a New folder on your desktop and move (not copy) them to that new folder. Anything you disable in MSCONFIG can be re-enabled later.

If your problem is specifically IE7 loading slowly, we'll have to look at something else.

Edited by LindaGail, 18 March 2007 - 07:05 AM.

[dannyyukon]

I don't recall installing anything around 2 months ago. I can't remember when I installed IE7. The capacity is 144GB. Free space is 118 GB. I have an AMD Athalon 3000+ and 448 MB of RAM. I don't have different user accounts on my computer. It is just me and it opens by itself. Sometimes that screen comes up but I just press okay and everything loads. Right now my computer has been freezing as well. The error screen comes up where I can send a message to Microsoft about it and the whole screen froze. I had to restart twice. I also just ran RegCure and things seem to be moving much smoother. This startup didn't seem as slow. I haven't tried safe mode yet. I will try it and let you know what happens.

[dannyyukon]

Okay different results. I restarted regularly and I had the same slow startup I usually have. It lasted about 2 minutes. Then I restarted in Safe Mode with networking and everything ran real smooth. Like I would like it to run. Now I restarted again regularly and everything seemed to load pretty fast like normal. I wonder why this is happening only sometimes. I also stopped having AIM and quicktime load at startup through MSCONFIG. When I loaded safe mode I logged in as admin. Hope you'll be able to crack this one!

[piper]

I bet we'll be able to figure something out!

So the slow start is sporadic, and not every boot? Is that correct?

It looks like there is something starting with Windows that is slowing it down. Let's go back into MSCONFIG, General tab, click Selective Startup, then uncheck "Load Startup Items'. Click OK and reboot. This will turn off all the programs that start with Windows. Does the load go any faster?

If so, go back into MSCONFIG and check one item in the Startup list. Reboot and check for any issues with the load speed. If none, continue to check another Startup item and reboot, until you find the one that causes the bog-down.

If none of the Startup items is causing the problem, then we'll look at System.ini and Win.ini.

The general system freezing might be helped by running System File Checker (SFC). It can fix certain issues in Windows where specific system files get corrupted, deleted, or infected. Basically the System File Protection watches the system files and checks their integrity against it's knowledge of what these files are supposed to look like. Generally if a system file get's "messed with" windows will let you know and give you the option to dissallow the change, sometimes you don't get this option though. The System File Checker is a command line utility that will initiate a scan of all the system files to make sure they are in their original state, present on the system, and or working properly. It's an easy tool to use but the user HAS to have an XP disk for it to work.

Do you have a valid XP cd?

If so, place it in your CD ROM drive and follow the instructions below

Start > Run > cmd then type

sfc /scannow (note the space)

Allow this to run until you get a message saying it is complete.

SFC - system file checker, retrieves the correct version of the file from %Systemroot%\System32\Dllcache or the Windows installation source files, and then replaces the incorrect file.

Good luck!

[dannyyukon]

okay sorry for my delay in responding. I checked that box. When the computer restarted it did not run any faster. Then for some reason the internet wouldn't work. Instead there was a link to troubleshooting my connection which I clicked. My computer checked my connection and found a problem with a winsock? It asked me if I wanted it to change it to it's original condition which I did. I then restarted and the internet worked again and things seem to be running faster. I do not have an XP card so I do not know how I can run SFC. Although I will check with my brother tomarrow and see if he has one. I will let you know.

Thanks

-Dan