Dell Wireless Utility - Weird startup issue

 TOBmed,

I would look at Windows startup programs. What are they? Are they required? How can I disable them? See if that helps with starting the computer faster. The computer being XP, probable means the computer does not have a lot of RAM, so it will load slower.

Try scanning for Malware? Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, update and do a quick scan. Report back if it finds anything.

What virus protection are you using?

Rick 

Hi Rick!  Yeah, as mentioned, I had a computer guy look at this.  We did all stuff, including running Malwarebytes.

Whatever it is, it is nothing common!  That's why I'm considering doing an XP repair install...as the computer guy says, it's short of a "shotgun appraoch."  But otherwise I am out of ideas.

 TOBmed,

My wife has XP but I don't usually use her computer. She uses it occasionally.

I used to use TuneXP on my old computer. It helped it start quicker and also connect faster.

Depending on how many files and folders you have, I would suggest to make copies of files and folders that you cannot afford to lose. You may want to try restarting your computer and press F12 and run the full diagnostics, before jumping into things. Make sure everything is working properly. If everything passes, then, you could try and XP repair but maybe a reinstall would be better.

Restoring Your Computer´s Software to the Factory Settings

Longer method is...

How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft® Windows® on a Dell™ Computer make sure to install the desktop/notebllk utility and the chipset drivers first, or the rest of the drivers will fail to install. How to Install Drivers in Microsoft® Windows® on Dell Systems

To repair XP...

Insert the Operating system disk and restart your computer.

Press any key to boot from CD.

Choose install.

Do the agreement.

Now choose repair. Leave the operating system disk in until you see the Welcome Screen. Takes about 35 minutes. You'll then have to get all the Windows Updates again(more painful).

Rick

Oh really...?  I knew that restoring to factory condition was an option on my Win7 machine, was not aware that might be an option for my XP machine as well.  I am checking into this...

 TOBmed,

 Later models of XP is when it started. It may or may not have a recovery partition.

Rick

Yeah, that's the case here, unfortunately!

 TOBmed,

Such is life. Things just can't work out the easy way.

If only this button worked.

Rick

Hey Rick (if you're still out there...or anyone else who may be interested),

Poking around on this machine the other day, I noticed that it does indeed seem to have a "system restore" partition on the c drive~!  This is despite the fact that it shipped late in '08...well before the 05/09 date mentioned in the support article.

So if the partition is there, system restore should work, right?  Any reason why I shouldn't try it?  I did actually get the disks for this machine, so repair install is still an option.  As always, any help appreciated....

TOBmed,

ALWAYS make copies of files and folders that you cannot afford to lose. This should be a normal practice.

Using the recovery partition will probably wipe out your files and folders. A repair, if done correctly on a Dell computer, will repair the operating system and possibably keep the files and folders intact.

Go for it, if you want to restore back to factory. If it doesn't work, then it might be corrupt.

Restoring Your Computer´s Software to the Factory Settings

The longer procedure is...

How To Restore or Reinstall Microsoft® Windows® on a Dell™ Computer and make sure you How to Download and Install Drivers in the Correct Order very important.

Still here, sometimes on a delay, depending on my work schedule.

Rick