Ridiculously slow start up

This problem started all of a sudden. Whenever I try to open Outlook Express it take one to two minutes to load. Can someone offer some help? THANKS!

 

More info:
it's OE6 and I use Windows XP on a Dell 5150 Inspiron laptop

 

My problem is the first one listed on that link you gave me, and I think the first solution they give:
The usual cause is a missing or corrupt "Imagehlp.dll" in C:\Windows\System. Without this file, OE will be very slow to open, although usually nothing else is affected. If you uninstall a version of McAfee VirusScan and then install a later version without first restarting your computer, the McAfee install routine will delete "Imagehlp.dll" by mistake. You can either extract this file from your Win98 CDROM (using Start| Run, SFC.EXE, Extract a single file), or from your IE5/6 setup files using a command line at the setup folder like this:

extract win98_32.cab /a Imagehlp.dll

On some systems, it is found in win98_26.cab. For IE5 users on Win95/NT, it is found in setup295.cab.
is what I want, but I don't really know how to remedy it. Can someone help me with this? Thanks

 

Wait- that can't be right as I use XP, not 98. I think that link you gave me is only for 98

 

If restoring that dll solves the problem in XP too, it's easy enough to do. The only difference is that "Imagehlp.dll" is located in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32.

There should be a copy of Imagehlp.dll in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE, so open Windows Explorer, go to that folder, right click on the file, choose Copy then paste it into C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32.

 

IMAGEHLP.dll is already in the Windows/System32 folder. What do I do? (there is no folder named DLLCACHE there btw).

 

kingb123 - try this and you will probably need to have your XP install CD handy.

start~run~sfc /scannow (and note the space after sfc).

The system file checker when run with the /scannow option will search your system files for missing or damaged files and will replace any it finds from the CD.

It may or may not fix things but it will not make things any worse. And note that the command runs very quickly and silently unless it has to ask for the CD. You can check your event logs after it completes to see what, if any, files were fixed or replaced.

 

dll cache is a hidden folder.

 

Imagehlp.dll is actually in the System32 folder but not the DLLCACHE folder. WHy is that? SHould I out it in DLLCACHE?

Also, that scan program found no files missing