Is there a way to figure out exactly what is hanging at start up? My computer just randomly went from a <1 minute start time to about a 15 minute start time It loads right into windows but the hour glass sits there forever. I have the amount of programs starting up pretty limited and I am trying to avoid reinstalling windows.

 

is it xp? do a windows repair.

 

What is the start up? Desktop? Splash screen?

 

hit ctrl+alt+del when explorer first loads and see what program has the most usage

 

yes, it's XP. Will doing a repair mess up anything. I've never done one before.


Desktop

I tried that and it was the antivirus. So I uninstalled PCcillin and installed NOD32. It still hangs.

 

safe boot if possible
run msconfig and disable all the startup items and non MS services and see if it boots
if it does re enable stuff in small groups until you find the issue
at least that's what i'd try

 

I didn't start it in safe mode but I did run msconfig and disable almost all the startup stuff. It still hangs

 

reformat

if you went from 1min start up to 15min and disabled shit already and it still hangs ya reformat

 

download bootvis.

it will analyze the system bootup process times

 

F8 during the black screen warmup, boot in safe mode, use windows restore to bring you back to a date where you know the system was working.