Sudden slow program loading

I use Windows XP Home Edition, and suddenly today some of my programs are taking up to 10 minutes to load. I was running WordPerfect today along with Outlook Express, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and Microsoft Word, which I always do without any trouble. I had already accessed the Internet several times this morning using Internet Explorer, and there were no problems. I did not make any changes to my system or download anything off the Internet, but all of a sudden when I clicked on my Internet Explorer icon, it wouldn't load (or so I thought). My Outlook Express also was suddenly not responding, so I rebooted my computer. Shutdown was extremely slow. When I rebooted, only a couple of programs I have automatically run at startup started up right away. Another one took almost 10 minutes to load. WordPerfect and Adobe Acrobat Reader loaded in about a minute (a lot slower than normal), and Outlook Express and Internet Explorer took about 10 minutes to load. Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? I would greatly appreciate any help.

 

I'm wondering if you could have a virus. I know that it is very popular these days to blame most things on viri. But unfortunately It's often the case.
Update your virus apps. DAT database and run a FULL system scan.
Failing that my next easy solution would be to roll back your system (the registry) by a day or two before the problem became apparent, using system restore. Ater this option the list gets a little longer.