start > all programs takes a long time

When I click 'start > all programs' it takes a long time for the large grey backround to become populated (20 - 70 seconds).

I have run all the a/v and spyware utils and none are finding anything.

Any ideas?

 

Some specs on your system would help.
What processor and how much RAM?
If unsure Everest home free system analysis tool will help you find out.

How many programs in your startup menu and how many processes are currently running?
Code stuff starter will help you find out .

Do you have any "resource hogs" such as Norton Internet Security which are demanding ( or a P2P program or something else which is using a lot of processor power?)

In code stuff, is anything on the processes tab identified as using 100% ?

 

try registering shell32:
from the startmenu run line paste bolded text into it and hit enter:
regsvr32 /i shell32.dll

Use a start menu tweak:
Start menu is slow in responding? Want to boost response time of start menu ? If your hardware configuration (read CPU,RAM) is not up to speed but still want to boost response time of start menu, here are a couple of tricks that might help:
Open registry editor by going to START-RUN and entering regedit and navigate to key HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop \ MenuShowDelay
Change the value (default may be 400) something as fast as 5 or 0. This should speed up.

If you are not all that crazy for shadowy effects, you can further speed the things up by going to DISPLAY Properties Window and from there to appearance and over there clicking Advanced command button and check off Show menu shadow.

While the MenuShowDelay tweak may not directly address or fix a slow to show "all programs" menu the visual effects can. See this article: (found at Dell support but still applies to all computers regardless of manufacturer). I personally have all settings turned off with exception of "smooth edges of screen fonts" and the last three on the list.

All of the below can effect speed of "all programs" menu:
*The amount of icons, or lack of use of organization of folders and sublinks,
*The font choice, settings or any personal display customizations you may have made,
*Any recent cleanup or defrag, particularly if cache was involved, (it takes a few opens, closes and icon caching for normal speed to reach full gusto once again.)
*Allowing "indexing" service can be a real bog for some if not most users. Indexing is one of the first things I always check for and stop if I find it enabled.

As a sidenote and speaking of icons, how are yours doing? Any fussy incorrect ones?

=========
As an experienced user I'm sure your aware that sometimes it's a matter of timing. If you try to open or do anything when something else is hogging the cpu resources and has a higher priority than what your doing, bog or slow response is the result. What your doing gets put on the backburner. A cntrl/alt/del and taskmanager peek should show you if some other process is hogging the cpu resources.

Rarer but worth mentioning:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/balky_start_menu_items.htm

 

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition (c) 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------

Version EVEREST v2.00.335
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/
Report Type Quick Report
Computer ART-95FLYTEB3OX
Generator Art
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2005-08-28
Time 13:13


--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name ART-95FLYTEB3OX
User Name Art

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4 570, 3800 MHz (19 x 200)
Motherboard Name Intel Cherry Creek D915PCY (4 PCI, 2 PCI-E x1, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, LAN)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Grantsdale i915P
System Memory 2048 MB (DDR2 SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (01/28/05)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)
Communication Port NetMos PCI ECP Parallel Port (LPT3)

Display:
Video Adapter ATI FireGL V3100 Secondary (128 MB)
Video Adapter ATI FireGL V3100 (128 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI FireGL V3100 (RV370GL)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor ViewSonic VP201b [20" LCD] (A21044300730)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Intel 82801FB ICH6 - High Definition Audio Controller [B-1]

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801FB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2651
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 266F
SCSI/RAID Controller Adaptec AHA-2940U/2940UW/2940D PCI SCSI Controller
SCSI/RAID Controller Microtek SimpleSCSI Miniport Drivers
SCSI/RAID Controller SCSI/RAID Host Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive Maxtor 6B300S0 (300 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA)
Disk Drive IMG VP1
Disk Drive eUSB Compact Flash USB Device (180 MB, USB)
Disk Drive iomega jaz 2GB SCSI Disk Device
Optical Drive LITE-ON DVDRW SOHW-1673S (DVD+R9:4x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD-RW:48x/24x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
Optical Drive LITE-ON LTR-12101B (12x/10x/32x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 286173 MB (107259 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse Logitech-compatible Mouse PS/2

Network:
Network Adapter Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection (192.168.1.100)

Peripherals:
Printer \\VAIO\OKIDATA
Printer Adobe PDF
Printer EPSON Stylus Photo 1280
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB1 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - USB Universal Host Controller [B-1]
USB2 Controller Intel 82801FB ICH6 - Enhanced USB2 Controller [B-1]
USB Device Generic USB Hub
USB Device USB CompactFlash Reader

41 processes running

"Acrobat Assistant.lnk ", "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Distillr\acrotray.exe ", "Startup - All Users "
atwtusb, "atwtusb.exe beta ", "Registry - Machine Run "
AVG7_CC, "C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgcc.exe /STARTUP ", "Registry - Machine Run "
AVG7_EMC,C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgemc.exe, "Registry - Machine Run "
AVG7_Run, "C:\PROGRA~1\Grisoft\AVGFRE~1\avgw.exe /RUNONCE ", "Registry - Def User Run "
"DocuMagix Init.lnk ", "C:\Program Files\DocuMagix\PFC\PWATCH.EXE ", "Startup - All Users "
"EPSON Status Monitor 3 Environment Check 2.lnk ", "C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\E_SRCV02.EXE ", "Startup - All Users "
FRYMXINS," " "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\Fire GL 3D Studio Max\atiimxgl" " ", "Registry - Machine Run "
gcasServ," " "C:\Program Files\Microsoft AntiSpyware\gcasServ.exe" " ", "Registry - Machine Run "
"Logitech Utility ",Logi_MwX.Exe, "Registry - Machine Run "
"Logo Calibration loader.lnk ", "C:\Program Files\GretagMacbeth\i1\i1Match2.0\calibrationloader\CalibrationLoader.exe -DoSilentCalibration ", "Startup - All Users "
NeroFilterCheck,C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe, "Registry - Machine Run "
PivotSoftware," " "C:\Program Files\WinPortrait\wpctrl.exe" " ", "Registry - Machine Run "
RemoteControl," " "C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PDVDServ.exe" " ", "Registry - Machine Run "
"Shortcut to HOTKEYS.EXE.lnk ", "C:\Program Files\HOTKEYS\HOTKEYS.EXE ", "Startup - Current User "
"SpybotSD TeaTimer ", "C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe ", "Registry - User Run "
"Time Thingy.lnk ", "C:\Program Files\Time Thingy\time thingy.exe ", "Startup - All Users "

Nope, and wtm showes 'system idle process at ~ 90% most of the time.

 

Is there any other log or info I can supply that might give someone an idea what is causing this and how I can correct it?

 

Ok, but how do I know if something is relevant? Nothing in those lists says anything about the start menu.

 

If you have an antivirus program running in the background all the time try disabling it temporarily and then see if you get the delay.

 

Thanks for the reply, I tried but it didn't help.

 

Try running Checkdisk, set to "thorough" and automatically fix errors. May as well defrag afterwards.

 

Right click taskbar/ properties/ start menu
change to classic mode, restart and change back and restart again. See if this helps

Control panel/system / advanced/ performance/ settings
set to best performance. See if this helps.

Is it slow to open when you try to explore a folder? (Right click on start button / explore )


Nice system by the way.

Is that 300GB drive all one partition? Or is is broken up?

 

1. No change

2. No change

3. Yes, just as slow

4. Thanks

5. All one

This is driving me nuts! Nothing seems to affect it. Thanks for your continued atempts to help me.

 

Okay, while it is possible that the size of the drive and fact that it is not partitioned is a possible problem; since you would need partition magic or a clean install to change the partitioning; lets hold off on that possibility.

There are a few things to check on first.

One is to create a new user profile with full admin privileges. Control panel/ users/ create new....
Normally I prefer to do this from safe mode while logged in as user name Administrator; but if you feel more comfortable you should be able to do this in your normal profile.
Reboot and log in to the new account. If this solves it, something about your current profile is damaged. We can work on that. If not, it has to be a problem with either your hardware or your installation.

Another thing to check is find all the start menu / program folders
such as
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs
C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Start Menu\Programs

How are things spread out? (are most in all users?) Are they organized? (Sub folders)


Did this start after you installed microsoft antispyware?
Do you have both its protection and teatimer running?


PivotSoftware," " "C:\Program Files\WinPortrait\wpctrl.exe" " ", "Registry - Machine Run "
Desktop manipulation software always concerns me . Have you tried disabling this?


"Logo Calibration loader.lnk ", "C:\Program Files\GretagMacbeth\i1\i1Match2.0\calibrationloade r\CalibrationLoader.exe -DoSilentCalibration ", "Startup - All Users "
What does this do?

 

Looks like it's in my profile, since when I made a new user and just switched to that user (even without a reboot) the start>all progs pops up instantly.

I can't tie it to any particular install since I don't know exactly when it started. Yes, both MS antispy & teatimer are running but I don't thing that's it because both were installed by the OEM. he same with Pivot, but I can try to disable it if you think that's it.

The other guy who answered about Logo was correct - it sets the color rendition of the monitor.

Where should I start to fix my profile?

 

Whether it really has anything to do with the problem that neveragain29 I am not real sure.

But over the YEARS ( starting way back with Win95 and same slow menu ) I have found that keeping the C: drive down to a size just large enough for the OS and a couple of gig extra and keeping all program installs on other partitions pays off.

Plus, as I have said MANY times before. " I DO NOT agree with these larger HDs all in one partition." The MAIN reason being if something should happen that you need to format ALL IS LOST

So far ( since Win95 ) I have not had to format an HD yet. I have had to do a couple of repair installs but thsat is about it.

Plus with a partitioned HD you can store backups and other stuff on them and not lose them if you do have to format. ( another lesson learned way back in Win95 )

BillyBob

 

Okay, there are a couple of approaches.

One is to just start using the new profile. You can move data over to it by sharing or taking possession.

How to take ownership of a file or folder

The other would be to copy the good profile to the damaged one. Login to your good profile, go to control panel/ system/ advanced/ user profiles / settings
Select the good one and chose to copy it to the damage ones documents and settings folder

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/win_xp_logon.htm

 

move u'r docs over to the new profile and then purge the old one