I read that WIN XP was designed to boot up to a useable application within 30 seconds. My Intel 2.4 Gig processor XP computer with 2GB RAM takes in excess of 2 minutes and 30 seconds to get from a cold start to a point where I can use an application. I have done dskchk, sfc, defrag, declutter, etc. All I have on the machine is Norton Antivirus 2010, Spybot search and destroy, and System Mechanic.1 person needs an answerI do too

There's your problem: Norton Antivirus 2010, Spybot Search & Destroy, and System Mechanic. Some reasons for computer slowness: 1. Computer hasn't been maintained - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Maintenance 2. Computer is infected with malware - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware 3. Hard drive is too full. Remove unnecessary stuff, uninstall unused programs. Don't forget to back up! http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Backing_Up 4. Flaky third-party software. Toolbars and add-ons are particular culprits in this area. Uninstall toolbars (Google, Yahoo, ISP-branded, etc.) and look carefully at what add-ons are in use in your browser(s). 5. Computer has too many unnecessary programs/processes running in the background. Manage your Startup: For XP - How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560 The free Autoruns program is very useful for managing your Startup - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx For Vista/Windows7 - Start Orb>Search box>type: msconfig and when it appears in the Results box above, right-click and choose "Run as Administrator". Autoruns is also very useful. 6. User is running a bloated/invasive antivirus program such as ones from Norton and McAfee. Replace with a better program. I recommend either NOD32 (commercial) or Avast (free). Avira is also good but the free version has an unpleasant nag screen (Google for instructions as to how to disable this). User may also be running more than one real-time antivirus/firewall/security program. 7. User has installed new programs that are processor and/or memory-intensive (Photoshop, AutoCAD, Mathmatica or the like) and doesn't have the necessary hardware power. 8. Hard drive is failing and is in PIO Mode. This is very dramatically slow (like being back in 1985). See Hans-Georg Michna's information here - http://winhlp.com/?q=node/10 In addition to the above, also see http://miekiemoes.blogspot.com/2008/02/help-my-computer-is-slow.html And the 30-second thing is an ideal, not necessarily what happens in the Real World.MS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

Malkeleah,Thank you for your reply.I will respond to your comments in order.1. I believe I have maintained the computer. As stated in my question. I have run dskchk, seagate's hard drive check, sfc, memcheck, and reinstalled System mechanic several times in an effort to clear the problem. I use System Mechanic and the MIcrosoft Accessories programs frequently to clear out clutter and insure that the registry is consistent.2. I don't believe I have a malware infection in that I have run Spybot several times with clear results. The system appears to run normally once boot up is finally attained.3. I have at least 30GB of hard drive free space on the C drive and 70GB of free space on the E drive.4. There is one non Microsoft Mahjong game and no other non microsoft programs on the C drive other than those mentioned.5. No applications are shown to be running using task manager during start up.6. I have a second computer, useing WinXP home also and has many more applications installed, which runs and has installed System Mechanic, Norton Anti Virus, and Spybot Search and Destroy. This computer boots in well less than a minute. I am trying to figure out why my problem computer takes so much longer to boot with only a small subset of the same programs.7. See item 6 above. I haven't installed any other programs. BTW, I was running AVG free antivirus prior to removing it to try Norton anti virus in order to try to more closely match the computer that doesn't have the start up problem.8. Dskchk and Seagate's hard drive check software both say the hard drive is fine.I do not expect to boot up in precisely 30 seconds or less. But I do think that, given the few programs I have installed, 2 minutes and 30 seconds plus is over long for boot up.

Turn off your computer, turn it back on, and start hitting the F8 key as soon as you see the BIOS screen. When the screen asking you how to boot comes up, choose the option "Enable boot logging". When Windows starts, go the the C:\Windows directory, and open ntbootlog.txt. You will probably find that Windows is trying to load something unsuccessfully. If it is a hardware driver, it can be a pain to fix. But post the content of ntbootlog.txt, and I'll try to help as much as I can.

You completely missed the point. You have some invasive, system-hogging programs starting with Windows. The fact that those programs work well on another machine is irrelevant. Different hardware and drivers are involved. If you are insistent on using System Mechanic, etc. (not recommended by me), then you need to not turn on boot logging as suggested by "TomJuan" but instead do clean-boot troubleshooting. You also need to look at what is connected to the computer (USB devices) since some computers are slow with USB devices like external hard drives/printers are connected. Also think about what Windows is looking for at startup. Mapped drives or network printers that no longer exist can do this. Look in Event Viewer to see if anything is failing, retrying, failing, timing out. Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353 Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434 How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560 AutoRuns can be very enlightening - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspxMS-MVP - Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!

I agree with Malkeleah ... also about the USB part. As an example I can mention my canon scanner. If connected it increases my boot time with approx 20-30 seconds.