WIndows XP : slow in start Up and shut down

[Goleon]

Whenever at start up the welcome screen stays atleast 20 secs and after that i see nothing but the wallpaper for 45 secs and only after that the taskbars appear. While shutting down too it takes a lot of time.Is this because of my 1 TB HDD

[Incredible Hulk]

try this: open run dialogue. type prefetch and delete all files in folder. open %temp% folder again from run dialogue and delete all files from folder. disable startup items from msconfig (just type msconfig in run dialogue and go to tab for startup). This should speed up or easiest option is to re-format. Hope it works!

[6x6]

@Goleon : still using xp? that's 8 year old OS. which antivirus software you use?

coming to topic : what is your hardware configuration? easiest and effective solution is to format hard disk and reinstall xp. then install good antivirus software.

[celldweller1591]

Well 1TB may slow down XP but not necessarily. Get urself Ccleaner and an advanced registry cleaner like Registry Mechanic. Scan the system and clean all the crap. Remove unncessary programs from startup at first. Defrag your HDD and scan the system for any malware or spyware.
If possible post a HJT here.
If the problem persists, repair your xp using XP bootable CD.

[pushkar]

Originally Posted by Incredible Hulk

type prefetch and delete all files in folder.

Deleting files in the prefetch folder is counter-productive for the system performance. It will not speed up the system in any way. There is no need to do this. Windows automatically clears the prefetch folder once it reaches 128 items.

Some links for confirming this:

can i delete the data in the prefetch folder ?
XP Myths (Search for "prefetch - folder cleaning")

Originally Posted by Goleon

Whenever at start up the welcome screen stays atleast 20 secs and after that i see nothing but the wallpaper for 45 secs and only after that the taskbars appear. While shutting down too it takes a lot of time.Is this because of my 1 TB HDD

A re-install will be the easiest way to fix your problem. Also defragment your hard disk.

[Neuron]

Please post your full pc configuration.
The slowdown is normal if you have some resource heavy app. installed on the system.
Anyway i used a software called 'TuneXP' to boost my XP and it significantly reduced the boot up and shutdown time.

[Goleon]

@6x6 I also have ubuntu IT@School installed. I used kaspersky internet security 2010 until 3 days ago. Now the licence expired and i am using AVG free edition
my configuration goes like this.
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Intel DG41RQ
Corsair XMS 1 * 2 GB
Seagate 1 TB
Sony Box optical drive
I Ball Stunner cabinet
Samsung syncmaster 933 20 inch
Logitech Multimedia key
Logitech Optical Mouse
Nvidia Geforce 9600 Gt
APC Back UPS

[gregshal23]

depedning on the root cause of the problem, you may need to clean up your registry or restore some of the Windows xp installation files. i would start by giving the registry a proper clean first. for some tips on which registry cleaners and software repair tools are good, check out: XP Slow? - Learn How To Speed Up Windows XP

[paroh]

Originally Posted by Goleon

Whenever at start up the welcome screen stays atleast 20 secs and after that i see nothing but the wallpaper for 45 secs and only after that the taskbars appear. While shutting down too it takes a lot of time.Is this because of my 1 TB HDD

During this period open task manager (ctrl+alt+delete) and see is there is any CPU utilization? If there is no CPU utilization during that period that means there is some application in ur startup that is causing this problem . As i also face such time of problem and the culprit is Trial version of Atomic alarm clock i uninstall it and the problem is solved for me.