Computer very slow, especially bootup, after reinstalling windows xp

Question

I just reinstalled XP on a friends 4400 Dell. After updating windows with Dell's reinstall CD, installing antivirus (Norton) the computer slowed down drastically, especially the bootup process. When I say slow bootup I am talking 15-20 min. Any ideas out there would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks in advance. I also updated Windows from Microsoft after the reinstall.

ARretired · Answer

Yes, all drivers were loaded. You mean Norton (anti-virus only) slows a computer down that bad? wow. He just paid for a year of Norton, so you think that is the problem? Any more ideas out there?

simpswr · Answer

. . 'installing antivirus (Norton) the computer slowed down drastically, especially the bootup process' . .   That is not unusual for Norton . . Is it just the antivirus or is it Internet Security package?  I usually uninstall Norton when I encounter it   Did you load the chipset and other motherboard drivers after the reinstall?

Doany3 · Answer

mmmm... even when Norton is very 'heavy' I don't think that it could delay that much the booting process... You mentioned two things 'updating windows' and 'installing Norton'... For my personal experience I can tell you is a thousand times better install windows from zero, I mean, boot with the windows install cd and format the hard drive (making a backup of your files first.. obviously ;-)). Tell your friend to try other antivius like McAffe, Nod32, Kapersky, they are the same thing or even better than Norton, and they are much more 'light'. I use McAffee Internet Security Suite and it works great. Good Luck P.S ... after installing windows make sure of install the right drivers according the PC model. Message Edited by Doany3 on 03-19-2007 07:26 PM

Infobug · Answer

From past helpdesk experience we had to do a complete reinstall to get nortons out of the system. When it works right it's fine, but when it goes bad....  Norton inbeds itself in the OS sytem and it's mess to get out.  Next up it Mcafee,.. not as bad.  Then there is AVG which is free and comes out clean.    You may need to do a clean install as suggested earler.  Then when it's running right image it.   Good luck

BELL BOY · Answer

Anti-Virus (AV) software does soak up CPU but not to the extent that you report.

Make sure you only have one active Firewall/AV program running (otherwise reduces or may stop performance)

Time consuming but you can try disabling (one at a time) any suspect programs that auto load on windows start up & recheck reboot time.

Work off-line if disabling any Firewall/AV applications.

Safest method is to right click on system tray program icon or from Start > All Programs

Programs have different ways of disabling them on next windows start up, some via a Settings option, others have a "do not load program on next start up" type dropdown option.

Another method only if you know what you are doing

Start > Run type in the term msconfig then click OK

Click on the BOOT.INI tab & make sure you only have one operating system

The entry should look something like

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect

Now click on the Startup tab

Only if you know what you are doing, you can uncheck certain Startup Items that load on Windows boot process

After making change(s) click Apply

On the restart prompt, click Restart button

After PC restarts a System Configuration Utility message appears, check box enable the “Don’t show this message………” this will stop you receiving same message every time your PC launches Windows.

You can always go back & check box enable the Startup Item again by running msconfig, as described above.

ARretired · Answer

Thanks for all the input from everyone. I have been doing some research on the Dell site and have ran across a memory problem that just may be the culprit along with  Norton possibly. That is the commit memory is larger than the physical memory. That just may be one of the problems. Would appreciate your further comments. Thanks all.

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Computer very slow, especially bootup, after reinstalling windows xp

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