What is "awhile"?  What programs are loading at startup?  Have you eliminated the unnecessary startup programs?

 

Steve

I need to be more detailed. When l log into windows, the desktop icons are all one kind of icon. This icon is a white piece of paper where the upper right hand corner is bent and there is a picture of a window in the center of the paper. All the desktop icons then change to what they normally look like. The start button and task bar also fill in. Then background programs load up. As of right now, I have 6 background programs that start up when windows does. The entire process takes about 5 minutes to fully load up. The problem could be caused by a fragmentated hard drive.

Which programs load at startup?  Which model computer is it?  What USB devices are connected to the computer?

 

Steve

I wanted to add a quick update. I recently defraged my hard drive.

With mcafee internet security suite, I don't have antispyware scanning turned on. I do have virus scanning and script scanning. With the ca secuirty center, I do not have real time protection turned on. The only thing that is turned on is to check for updates.

To answer your questions, 1) the programs that I have loading at startup are mcafee security center, safely remove hardware, aol-connection available, ca security center, connection enabled and a mcafee security center: your computer is not protected. In total, there are six programs. 2) My computer model is a dimension 2350 desktop and 3) The only usb devices that I have connected to my computer are my printer and mouse.

Running more than one security suite, especially if they have similar functions, is asking for trouble.

 

Steve

Using a stopwatch, it takes about 20 seconds for windows to load up competely. I hope that I'm not making an unnessary problem out of this.

I can't turn macfee off because I need the virus running in the background. Are there other issues that I could have? I only have six services running which are the bare essential services. Setting is another issue. It takes a few minutes to save settings. There's nothing that I can do?