Slow Windows XP startup

Hi everyone,
Since installing ServicePack2 it takes a long time for Windows XP to show the Start menu and the Desktop icons. It apparently has to do with Internet Explorer. I automatically update Windows XP, so that can't be the reason.
Windows XP does start, but it takes a few minutes.
What can I do to resolve this? I was advised when the desktop background is shown to close Internet Explorer and then restart it, but that does not make any difference.

Jan

 

what's in startup? was there any software in startup that should have been addressed prior to sp2 update? they're are many such

 

Hello Jan,

Actually, it may very well be the reason. Some updates don't sit well on some systems. The way to handle updates is to do them one at a time with some time to run the system before the next one, so that if there is a problem with any one of them, you have a chance to isolate the cause. Set your WU options to either download updates and you install or notify and you download/install.

Same goes for SP2, it may very well slow your system down.

Right click My Computer > Advanced tab >Performance panel > Settings > Data Execution Prevention and tick turn on Dep for essential programs/services only.

Looking at your startups/background processes would help as well. http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=39425 links to process data bases for info on whether it should run on startup.

And always the possibilty of the system being infected with malware. Have you run any malware detection software?

Regards - Charles

 

I had a similar problem after installing SP2 but it disappeared after a while. Have you checked your startup applications and tried to find out which one is causing the problem? Run Msconfig from the Start/Run click on the Startup tab and play with it...

 

Charles is generally pointing to the right direction - here are my additional two bucks - 1. Run chkdsk on the drive 2. Delete temp files 3. Defrag.