When my computer boots up, it runs normally. When it gets to the desktop, however, it runs extremely slow, often not allowing me to open up programs succesfully for 3-4 minutes. After this “wait” period, the computer functions normally.
Is there anything I can do to remedy this problem? I appreciate any advice.
moejuck
My WAG is there’s something that starts up and can’t find all of its parts, an internet connection to talk to its mother ship, or whatever, and silently waits for “x” amount of time, then gives up and returns control to you. I’ve seen printer software do this if the printer’s not plugged in, as one example.
First thing I’d do is head over to PC World and pick up Ad-Aware and/or Spybot. Run them and prepare to be amazed at how much spyware and tracking software’s on your PC. Reboot. Back to normal?
Not back to normal? Let us know and we’ll try to sort out what’s self-starting when you turn on the PC.
You don’t say your OS. Activate computer/law/travel/etc. advice assumption mode! It tells me you’re a white male, 20-40 years old living in the States running… Windows XP! 
Given that, give msconfig a run, and see what’s in the Startup section. Something might jump out at you, who knows?
You might also want to check how you have things like your anti-virus program configured. Some programs have an option to do a scan at start-up, and those kinds of scans can bring everything else to a screeching halt.
You may want to run a registry check. Especially seeing as this is right at boot. It could just be taking longer to do things with the registry and finalizing boot sequence. I’d run a registry sweep first off because you never know all kinds of software loaded then unloaded or deleted and not unistalled leaves junk scattered through the registry which could be delaying the ending of the boot sequence.
I had this problem for a while but it seemed to fix itself - I think it was my anti-virus software combined with Zone Alarm and something trying to access the internet. There’s a few things you can try:
msconfig (startup tab) as Nanoda said
try Bootvis, a Microsoft bootup tool that traces your startup and optimizes the files
delete your Prefetch directory (c:\windows\prefetch) monthly
Thanks for the help so far. Nanoda’s wisdom is beyond measure as I am a white male, 20-40, using XP. I ran the msconfig, and have looked in start-up. The problem is that I have no idea what I am looking for. There are about 20 items that are checkmarked right now. Is there an easy way for me to determine which I can afford to get rid of? I am running Zone Alarm at start-up, and PC-cillin. Thanks again for any help.
Can you copy a list for us of what’s in your Msconfig startup? You’ll have to type it out in Wordpad or something, AFAIK there’s no way to Copy and Paste that.
Screen shot - convert to JPG - post
Why run Zone Alarm and PCillian?
Gonna be running all that stuff as checked unless you go to selective startup by unchecking all that does not need to launch until needed.
YMMV
You can use This List to tell you what’s safe to uncheck.
I had a similar problem recently and it was fixed simply by running the defrag.