Very Slow Start-up For Laptop

['Chuffer' Dandridge]

My 6 month old Laptop is suddenly taking an inordinate amount of time to even get to the Windows welcome screen (>3 mins). Not sure what could have caused this, as yesterday, it was fine and I havent done anything, loaded anything etc.. Have checked the obvious, deleted any cookies/viruses etc

Do any of you PC gurus have an idea as to where/what to investigate first?

Many thanks

CD

[bnt]

There's no single answer, but if you can see the hard drive "thrashing" during this period, have a look at it:
- is it nearly full? If so, try deleting some stuff, and run "cleanmgr" to see if there are temporary files you can clean off.
- See if you need to defragment: run "defrag /a" or select "Defragment" in the Disk Properties, then the "analyze" button.

You need >15% free space to defrag, so if you need to free up space for defragmentation, you can:
a) stop Hibernation and delete the HIBER.FIL (?) file in C:\
b) on System Properties / Advanced, temporarily turn off Virtual Memory (Pagefile) & reboot. Re-enable Virtual Memory after defragmenting.

[fireflybob]

This topic was discussed on a previous thread:-

Slow Laptop

['Chuffer' Dandridge]

Thanks guys.

I have tried all the obvious things, including defrag etc. theres bags of space left on the hard drive and no HDD hard working. Rather a 'click, click, click' sort of usage...

It's now locking up for an extended time and then displays the following message once it decides t wake up again:

"Logon process has failed to create the security options dialog

Failure - security options"

It's operating MS Vista with Norton AV but I'm not sure what it refers to - it gives no clues..


Any further suggestions before it's driven over by an HGV....?

[Saab Dastard]

Rather a 'click, click, click' sort of usage...

That's almost certainly the harbinger of incipient total hard disk failure.

Backup your data ASAP and prepare to replace it!

SD

[GrumpyOldFart]

Norton AV

Don't give up hope until you remove anything and everything bearing the names 'Norton' and 'Symantec.'

Freebies like AVG and Avast work better and use fewer resources than the big names like Norton and McAfee.

[Tarq57]

Inclined to agree with doing away with Norton. (There is a removal tool available from symantec which should be used following the uninstall.) But as to why this has suddenly started when it worked well before? No idea, sorry. Would suspect some kind of malware as possible. and a scan with a good "second opinion" scanner such as Superantispyware, and/or DrWeb's Cureit should at least put that question to bed.
I found when I had Norton on a brand new PC it worked fine for a time (albeit a bit sluggish) but then started exhibiting slower and slower behaviour. So maybe it is Norton.
Good AV alternatives (free) include Avast, and Avira, and for antispyware Superantispyware, Threatfire, and MalwareBytes, Firewall alternatives include Online Armour and Comodo.
There are plenty more.

[hellsbrink]

On a side note, the Norton Removal Tool does NOT remove everything. It leaves stuff everywhere and you still have to go through PC/registry to remove everything manually if you want it all off your system.

[Salusa]

Quote:
Norton AV
Don't give up hope until you remove anything and everything bearing the names 'Norton' and 'Symantec.'

Freebies like AVG and Avast work better and use fewer resources than the big names like Norton and McAfee.

What Jerry said^^^

Also invest in a Registry Cleaning/Maintenance Tool. I would recommend Registry Mechanic by PC Tools.

['Chuffer' Dandridge]

Well well,

Just downloaded the Vista SP1 and whaddya know, the startup time goes back to 1:20.........

A previous Windows update appears to be the culprit, and I cant help thinking that further updates are only there to correct the damage done previously......

Cynical?

[Tarq57]

That sounds likely.
And another good reason to take control of Windows Updates. Makes troubleshooting a bit easier if you're in the loop.