Windows slow at first login, around 40 seconds

N

nikvest

Posts: 7   +0
Hi,

I need help with the issue I have started experiencing relatively recently (around 3 weeks I think).
At first login Windows stays at Welcome screen for around 35 seconds, then goes into user profile and refreshes icons (often moving the recycle bin to wrong place) and only after around 60 seconds it becomes responsive.

I am not using solid color as background. I use normal theme which consists of .jpeg pictures.

I have tried with one solution:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2617858
It didn't change anything.

I am very grateful for any help I can get.

Thanks,
Nikola
 
Basically, 95 seconds in total is quite good for a PC which is not new. There are loads of things that start to clog up your startup experience, usually things that like to speak to mother on the internet - example Jusched which perpetually checks for updates to java (from Sun or MS).

A quick check is to open a run box from the start menu and type 'msconfig' then press enter. On the application there are 7 tabs.

Start with the Startup tab. How many entries are there ? I have (in XP pro SP3), no less than 22, of which I have manually deselected all but 7 which are essential to my system.

Next try the Services tab. I have 80 entries, but only 64 active.

It is possibly easiest to maintain these things manually. You can look up the descriptions of the service in Google which usually lets you know when you dont actually need that service running.
 
Hi gbhall,

First of all, thank you for taking some time to respond. I also want to say that I am moderately advanced computer user and I take care of the Windows environment.

I have Windows 7, 64-bit. My msconfig.exe has 5 tabs.
On Startup tab I have 20 entries, 4 are disabled.
On Services tab 141 entries, 60 are running, 81 are stopped.

I can't identify exactly when the problem started because I didn't pay much attention to it. However, my girlfriend says it started happening on May 9th, which coincides with installation of 20 Windows updates, and also in my Programs Avira Antivirus says it has been installed on May 9th. I uninstalled Avira, and after first reboot (without antivirus program) it took me 37 seconds on Welcome screen. After installing MSE we are back to 35 seconds. So, no improvement regarding the original problem.

I have performed clean boot as well, but only with Services tab. This has reduced time until desktop is shown from 35 sec. to 32 sec., and additional minute until everything settles down.

I must stress again that all subsequent logins are 2-3 seconds long. So, this must be some service that is loaded only at Startup. Since we eliminated all services not originating from Microsoft, it seems to me that some Windows Service might be the culprit.

Any help is appreciated.

Nikola
 
Once again, thank you for your reply, but... I was hoping for something more than generic answers.

The problem I am experiencing is propagated throughout all users. Therefore rebuilding icon cache (which by default exists in all users separately - AppData/Local/...) is not the way to go. If you insist I will do it, but in last 5 restarts I didn't have problems with Recycle Bin position not being remembered.

I have zero temp files. My hard disk is completely defragmented by Perfect Disk.

And as for the programs that usually slow down Windows, I have only three, they are in bottom of the list and they are not even started with Windows, only explicitly.

So, as I said can we try some more sophisticated and technical solution?

Thanks,
Nikola
 
Here is MS answer to your question http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Optimize-Windows-7-for-better-performance but still generic !! There is a monitoring program to watch the CPU load of all the parts of the start-up process as they happen. I will try to find it again....

https://www.techspot.com/downloads/821-wintools-net-professional.html is one. You can find lots of apps that will report changes to the startup process.

I must repeat - your times as given are perfectly normal. Perhaps you need a Mac ??!!
 
I know MS would give me generic answer, this is why I contacted you :):).
But anyway, I will try the program you suggested and see what is going on. I will post results. In the meantime, I don't need a Mac :)
 
All right... First of all I didn't install Wintools Net Pro because I have Advanced System Care 5, and Wintools has approx. the same options (judging by their site). Having said that, it is obvious that I already modified Startup routine to eliminate all Items I consider unnecessary. And until few weeks ago it worked fine, and Windows was booting up within 10 seconds limit, usually even faster.

I tried Autoruns. It found several red entries and several yellow ones. I excluded them all and I restarted computer, and made no progress in reducing login time. Process Explorer is very nice and useful program, I will keep it.

So, where does this leave us at then? I would like to observe what happens during boot and login, but I don't know how. There is this program which is part of Microsoft SDK (Windows Performance Toolkit - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb980924.aspx) but I can't install it because SDK encounters an error whenever I try to do it.

Do you have any other suggestion?

Thanks,
Nikola
 
Sorry, you have exceeded my capablities :) with that boot trace.

Personally, if I have to boot from cold, I am waiting about threee minutes or even more before the PC is completely responsive. It can be more. A huge amount depends upon whether or not there is an update to be installed for my Avast! antivirus, or my Windows Defender.

To avoid those problems, for most of the week I never reboot - just hibernate. This does not seem to impact on the auto-updating of the anti-malware packages, but means mostly I can use the PC within just seconds.
 
OK, thank you anyway for your time. Good luck, all the best.
I will try to be more forgiving to my computer ;).
By the way, I have Avast - What do you think about it, is it a good free solution?
 
nikvest said:
By the way, I have Avast - What do you think about it, is it a good free solution?
Click to expand...
I settled on Avast a couple of years ago, having tried many other anti-virus packs, and have seen no reason to question that decision ever since.
 
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