Hello,

 

I have an Inspiron 8500 running XP Service Pack 2 that's driving me nuts.  It takes about 45 minutes to startup and get to a functioning desktop.  The same goes for shutdown.

 

I have defragged, scanned for viruses, run Spybot, Ad Aware, Spy Sweeper, run cleanup and pretty much anything else I can think of.  These programs didn't uncover much of anything.

 

What I do know is that if I boot it up in "safe mode", these problems don't occur.  Dell Technical Support wants me to reinstall Windows XP from the installation CD.  I really don't want to do this - I have lots of client data and preferences.  I don't want to reinvent my wheel.

 

If I go into MSCONFIG and deselect all the Startup items, it doesn't make any difference.

 

Another comment that a "computer guy" gave me was that my laptop runs very hot.  Could this be anything??

 

HELP?!

 

Thanks :)