# Solved: Very slow bootup on Windows XP SP3 with all updates.



## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

When I reboot my PC it takes a good 3 minutes to get from the "Welcome" screen to being ready to work with only 4 items on System Tray, volume, Sunbelt Vipre, Zone Alarm Firewall, and Win Patrol. The, "RECGUARD" isn't shown but is there also RECGUARD, Vipre, Win Patrol, and Zone Alarm is all that's present under msconfig Startup. I have run CCleaner, Defrag, Disc Cleaner, and Registry Mechanic to no avail. Under, "Startup Programs" under, "System Information" there is one heckuva bunch of programs listed if that has any bearing on my problem, I can maybe do a Copy and Paste of the list if needed?

I hope I'm doing this correctly as Elvandil suggested and please overlook the stumblings of an old man that knows just enough about a PC to be dangerous. 
I posted this in the, "Windows NT/2000/XP" Forums on 29-Aug-2008, 02:45 PM.
http://forums.techguy.org/windows-nt-2000-xp/745058-very-slow-bootup-windows-xp.html

And got some help from Mega Tron and Speed_Hog. I did remove the keyscrambler program and updated my Java to the latest version. I also used CCleaner to clean up the registry after I posted the screen shots of the CCleaner registry scan even though I realized after I did it that I shouldn't have. 

Here's my latest log from hjt....

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 11:44:53 AM, on 9/2/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP3 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16705)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\APC\APC PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\VIPRE\SBAMSvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\VIPRE\SBAMTray.exe
C:\Program Files\BillP Studios\WinPatrol\WinPatrol.exe
C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\OUTLOOK.EXE
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OFFICE11\WINWORD.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\msagent\AgentSvr.exe
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://qus8.hpwis.com/
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Connection Wizard,ShellNext = http://yahoo.sbc.com/dsl
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - {3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinPatrol] C:\Program Files\BillP Studios\WinPatrol\WinPatrol.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Recguard] C:\WINDOWS\SMINST\RECGUARD.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SBAMTray] C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\VIPRE\SBAMTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ZoneAlarm Client] "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'Default user')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User 'Default user')
O8 - Extra context menu item: &ieSpell Options - res://C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Computer Files, Connection Manager, Downloads, etc\ieSpell\iespell.dll/SPELLOPTION.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: Check &Spelling - res://C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Computer Files, Connection Manager, Downloads, etc\ieSpell\iespell.dll/SPELLCHECK.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - AutorunsDisabled - (no file)
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: ieSpell - {0E17D5B7-9F5D-4fee-9DF6-CA6EE38B68A8} - C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Computer Files, Connection Manager, Downloads, etc\ieSpell\iespell.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: ieSpell - {0E17D5B7-9F5D-4fee-9DF6-CA6EE38B68A8} - C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Computer Files, Connection Manager, Downloads, etc\ieSpell\iespell.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {1606D6F9-9D3B-4aea-A025-ED5B2FD488E7} - C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Computer Files, Connection Manager, Downloads, etc\ieSpell\iespell.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: ieSpell Options - {1606D6F9-9D3B-4aea-A025-ED5B2FD488E7} - C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Computer Files, Connection Manager, Downloads, etc\ieSpell\iespell.dll
O9 - Extra button: Yahoo! Login - {2499216C-4BA5-11D5-BD9C-000103C116D5} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Common\ylogin.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Yahoo! Login - {2499216C-4BA5-11D5-BD9C-000103C116D5} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Common\ylogin.dll
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {4528BBE0-4E08-11D5-AD55-00010333D0AD} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\yhexbmes.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Yahoo! Messenger - {4528BBE0-4E08-11D5-AD55-00010333D0AD} - C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\yhexbmes.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {85d1f590-48f4-11d9-9669-0800200c9a66} - C:\WINDOWS\bdoscandel.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Uninstall BitDefender Online Scanner v8 - {85d1f590-48f4-11d9-9669-0800200c9a66} - C:\WINDOWS\bdoscandel.exe
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search && Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: @xpsp3res.dll,-20001 - {e2e2dd38-d088-4134-82b7-f2ba38496583} - C:\WINDOWS\Network Diagnostic\xpnetdiag.exe
O15 - Trusted Zone: http://www.bluemountain.com
O15 - Trusted Zone: http://dw.com.com
O15 - Trusted Zone: http://www.fileresearchcenter.com
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\..\{A349D8D3-41CE-4877-B3C8-822687465515}: NameServer = 68.94.156.1 68.94.157.1
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: , 
O23 - Service: APC UPS Service - American Power Conversion Corporation - C:\Program Files\APC\APC PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Driver Helper Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: Sunbelt VIPRE Antivirus Service (SBAMSvc) - Sunbelt Software - C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\VIPRE\SBAMSvc.exe
O23 - Service: TrueVector Internet Monitor (vsmon) - Zone Labs, LLC - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe

--
End of file - 6682 bytes


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Where is your anti-virus program? How much ram do you have installed?

In your running programs, I see Word and Outlook.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

AcaCandy according too Belarc this is what's on my PC....


8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Drives Memory Modules c,d
81.94 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
60.09 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Maxtor 4R080L0 [Hard drive] (81.96 GB) -- drive 0, s/n R34G1ZNE, rev RAMB1TU0, SMART

*Status: Healthy 448 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 512 MB

c: (on drive 0) 77.39 GB 59.34 GB free
d: (on drive 0) 4.55 GB 747 MB free*


I have Sunbelt Vipre as my anti-virus which is their new AV with CounterSpy included.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Ok, I'm not familiar with that anti-virus program.....

512 ram, you can't be running all the programs you have running at the same time.

Does the system start any faster in safe mode?


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

AcaCandy since my PC doesn't open the exact same way in safe mode with the welcome screen and then doesn't load Zone Alarm in the system tray it's difficult to tell where the starting point is but all in all I'd say somewhat anyway.
There are about ten programs less that open in safe mode if that means anything. I'll attach a print screen of both.... And many thanks for your help.:up:


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Rather than posting the processes, can you post the applications?

I'll be calling it a night real soon, but, will check back on you tomorrow.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

When I first reboot there are no applications running until I bring up my Outlook email and my Firefox browser and then that's all the applications that are open unless I manually start some others. I didn't check in safe mode but expect it's the same....


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Please do check safe mode.....If the system starts faster there, it could be either software loading or a bad driver.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

Sorry I couldn't get back sooner but my ISP was down for a little over 22 hours. 

Like I said yesterday, 


Yvsa said:


> AcaCandy since my PC doesn't open the exact same way in safe mode with the welcome screen and then doesn't load Zone Alarm in the system tray it's difficult to tell where the starting point is *but all in all I'd say somewhat anyway.*


I believe it is a bit faster although since Safe Mode doesn't load quite the same way it's difficult for me to say.

I don't know if it has any bearing on the problem but in "System Information" there's an unbelievable amount of Startup Programs.... Way, way, too many to get screen shots of all of them.


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

I mentioned above, you want to keep your startup and running programs trimmed, because of the amount of your ram.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

I just checked the startup tab in msconfig and found that Windows media Player had been added to the startup list making the grand total 5 instead of the 4 it was just the other day.
I don't know of any other way to trim the startup and running programs trimmed permanently.
Even more of more import I don't know where to find the startup and running programs that need trimmed or which ones to trim if I did know how to find them.

Many thanks for your help and patience for and with an old man that knows just enough about a PC to be dangerous.:up:


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinPatrol] C:\Program Files\BillP Studios\WinPatrol\WinPatrol.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Recguard] C:\WINDOWS\SMINST\RECGUARD.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SBAMTray] C:\Program Files\Sunbelt Software\VIPRE\SBAMTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ZoneAlarm Client] "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'Default user')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User 'Default user')

Those show as starting.

I'm going to suggest that Zonealarm could be the slow down.

Can you stop that from starting, then restart for a test.

Do you use this?

Narrator.exe


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

AC Isn't it necessary for my Vipre anti-virus and ZoneAlarm firewall to load at startup to keep my PC safe?

If not is there any way I can get them to turn on as well as WinPatrol automatically before I connect to the Internet or do I even need too?

Actually WinPatrol and Vipre load right away and like you I think it's probably the ZoneAlarm firewall that helps to slow down the boot up.

I know I'm not going to delete RECGUARD.EXE on purpose but how do I keep it from being accidentally deleted if it's not running?

I don't know what, "dwtrig20.exe" is or what it does....

And no, I don't use the, "narrator" and have tried to stop it from running but evidently didn't succeed.

*And last but not least, how do I go about turning them off without disabling them and then start the ones I do need before I connect to the Internet?*


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Turning things off --- only a test to see if the boot up process will be helped.

I uninstalled Zonealarm a long time ago for the same reason, it just slowed my computer down, also an anti-virus that I was using was taking up too many resources (Norton) so I dumped that in favor of AVG.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

AcaCandy said:


> Turning things off --- only a test to see if the boot up process will be helped.
> 
> I uninstalled Zonealarm a long time ago for the same reason, it just slowed my computer down, also an anti-virus that I was using was taking up too many resources (Norton) so I dumped that in favor of AVG.


Okay, I disabled ZoneAlarm, WinPatrol, and Vipre and rebooted into safe mode again and like the last time it was somewhat faster but not impressively so.
Then I restarted my PC with the programs still disabled and it was a wee bit faster, but again not impressively so.

It's still taking over 2 to 2-1/2 minutes after the, "Windows is starting up" screen appears until the task bar appears and it seems to me that the, "Windows is starting up" screen is up an inordinate amount of time. The welcome screen is also up a long time before it disappears and the desktop appears and another very long time after the desktop appears until the task bar comes up. Now after the task bar comes up it doesn't seem to take as long as it was before the programs all appear.

How do I go about shutting the programs below down if I don't need them? 

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_07\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [DWQueuedReporting] "C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\MICROS~1\DW\dwtrig20.exe" -t (User 'Default user')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [RunNarrator] Narrator.exe (User 'Default user')


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

If you can't shut them down via start, msconfig, startup tab, then run hijack this, and have hijack this uncheck them. You'll place a check mark in the boxes in Hijack This and say "fix."

I would also suggest more ram, if I haven't already.

Also, what drive is your operating system on? C: or D: ?

c: (on drive 0) 77.39 GB 59.34 GB free
d: (on drive 0) 4.55 GB 747 MB free


If you are booting to the D: partition, there isn't enough free space there and that would account for some slowness.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

AcaCandy said:


> If you can't shut them down via start, msconfig, startup tab, then run hijack this, and have hijack this uncheck them. You'll place a check mark in the boxes in Hijack This and say "fix."
> 
> I would also suggest more ram, if I haven't already.
> 
> ...


AC my operating system is on drive C: The D: drive is partitioned off the C: drive and holds the Compaq Presario Recovery.
I'm pretty sure there is a way to run Recovery in a repair mode to put everything back like it should be without losing all the updates to Windows or the programs like Windows Office as well as my security programs. I had to reinstall Windows from the Compaq Discs once and don't want to go through that again and have to reinstall my ISP and everything else, especially on an unsecured PC.

If I have Hijack This fix the programs will they no longer be available?


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

With many thanks and much respect I ask....

If I have Hijack This fix the programs will they no longer be available?


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

The programs will still be there, all Hijack This does is remove them from loading automatically at startup.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

Many thanks AC.:up:


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

:up: You're welcome.


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## Yvsa (Mar 16, 2008)

Well finally I can mark this one solved.:up: I kept searching as to what my PC's problem was and where it lay and finally found This free for personal use program on the IObit Home Page. 
Having had very good luck with some of the other IObit software programs I downloaded, installed, and ran the "Advanced WindowsCare Personal" program and reduced my reboot time down to about 1-1/2 minutes, which is quite the improvement over what I was getting.:up:  

Thanks so much for the help I got here that did help a little even though it didn't help as much as this one small program.:up:


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## ~Candy~ (Jan 27, 2001)

Be careful with those registry type cleaning programs. They can, do and will break things.


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