Windows startup taking ages

luckylucky

My Pc boots up fine, but upon booting up it takes ages - sometimes almost 10 minutes for it to cease doing all those startup things, i.e. hard drive light flickering like crazy and be ready for normal use. I have removed all unnecessay start up entries. I have disabled any windows service that I thought unnecessary and it seems to make no difference. My Pc also should not be a slow pc imo.

Specs are
Motherboard Asus P4C800-E deluxe.
Operating System XP Service Pack 2
Processor Pentium 4 3 Ghz Socket 478
3 GB Dimm ram

Harddrive is a 120 GB Maxtor. If I had to suspect any part of my hardware being an issue it would be the harddrive. Is there a realistic possibility that this might be the case?


I did a check this morning to see what was running a few minuteds after boot up. I noticed svchost.exe was taking up a lot of cpu time, sometimes it would jump to 0 and then back up high.

Any ideas of how I can figure out what's causing this huge delay?
Thanks for any help.

Doctor DooM

svchost.exe is a system process belonging to Windows which handles processes executed from DLLs. It's important for the stable and secure running of your computer and should deffo not be terminated.

I hear that it can be used maliciously by trojans, but I will leave that to people more experienced than I? I think there is some form of consistency check.

Anti

First thing to do is run a AV/Spyware Scan on your pc in safemode ( f8 at bootup ) Second thing to do is check what is starting automaticially A quick way of doing this is by clicking Start > All programs > Startup. In this folder will be programs that will start as soon as windows loads, usually stuff like AV scanner and the likes. But alot of programs throw themselfs into this. So if you dont need it at startup you can remove it. Another thing to check is what services are starting with windows. To check - Start > Run> And enter " Services.msc " But unless you know what yoru doing dont start disabeling things. You can also check yoru registery too, but again if you dont know what yoru doing you can do alot more harm than good. If you check google there are a load of guids out there to walk you through doing what i mentioned above. Oh and before i forget it would be no harm going to maxtors website and downloading their hard drive tool. This will scan yoru hard drive for any errors and the likes.

woolymammoth

If you haven't done so already, MS Bootvis is worth a look at. Seeing as you've looked at almost everything else, there's not a lot more advice to give you. The machine is obviously reading something off the disk like nuts! I've seen svchost go crazy before, but maybe you can run something like Process Explorer to see exactly what it's running in the background.

I'd doubt it's anything malicious on the PC, but you can never be too sure so do a full scan. After that, try disabling anti-virus and everything else non-essential on startup, rule them out of the problem. My usual last resort with these kind of Windows bugs (before my last last resort of reinstall) would be a windows repair. but that's only if nothing else is fixing it for you!

luckylucky

Anti wrote: »

First thing to do is run a AV/Spyware Scan on your pc in safemode ( f8 at bootup ) Second thing to do is check what is starting automaticially A quick way of doing this is by clicking Start > All programs > Startup. In this folder will be programs that will start as soon as windows loads, usually stuff like AV scanner and the likes. But alot of programs throw themselfs into this. So if you dont need it at startup you can remove it. Another thing to check is what services are starting with windows. To check - Start > Run> And enter " Services.msc " But unless you know what yoru doing dont start disabeling things. You can also check yoru registery too, but again if you dont know what yoru doing you can do alot more harm than good. If you check google there are a load of guids out there to walk you through doing what i mentioned above. Oh and before i forget it would be no harm going to maxtors website and downloading their hard drive tool. This will scan yoru hard drive for any errors and the likes.

cheers, just finished running a virus scan using AVG v.8 in safe mode, it took over 9 hours and when it finished it just exited the dos prompt, so i didnt get to see the result :eek:

I'm running spysweeper now. here's hoping it doesnt take that long.

woolymammoth wrote: »

If you haven't done so already, MS Bootvis is worth a look at. Seeing as you've looked at almost everything else, there's not a lot more advice to give you. The machine is obviously reading something off the disk like nuts! I've seen svchost go crazy before, but maybe you can run something like Process Explorer to see exactly what it's running in the background.

I'd doubt it's anything malicious on the PC, but you can never be too sure so do a full scan. After that, try disabling anti-virus and everything else non-essential on startup, rule them out of the problem. My usual last resort with these kind of Windows bugs (before my last last resort of reinstall) would be a windows repair. but that's only if nothing else is fixing it for you!

Cheers, I will try your suggestions too.

Thx for your help.

Capt'n Midnight

How does it behave in safe mode ?

if all else fails do a check on the hard drive with hdtune or manufacturers diags

luckylucky

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

How does it behave in safe mode ?

there's none of that crazy hard drive activity that I get in normal mode, it's loaded up very quick.

Gadgetman496

CPU 100% usage svchost

http://ask-leo.com/how_do_i_fix_this_high_cpu_usage_svchost_virus_or_whatever_it_is.html


And this
http://kadaitcha.cx/high_cpu.html

luckylucky

2 days now trying to sort this out.
I think I have reduced the time a bit but still taking 4 to 5 minutes.

• I have got rid of all programs from start up.
• I have disabled Automatic Updates. Think this has made an impact but probably not the central issue.
• I turned off AVG and Spysweeper at one point in case they were delaying things. I think they possibly were but to a certain degree but not the main cause for this issue.
• I defragged my C drive. Might have helped a bit, but again not a main cause.
• I uses seatools to scan and repair 2 errors on my disk, again did not have any major detectable effect on problem as far as I can tell, though it does make me even more dubious about my hard drive. I think I need to get myself a better one regradless of whether I sort this this or not.
• I've used Process Explorer also. I added it to start up but it takes about 2 minutes to come on, at that point there doesn't seem to be anything too mad going on. If I had to single out anything it would be the ATI Catalyst Control Center. But I was having start up delays ever before that was installed, and I don't think it looks like it's hogging cpu enough to be a major problem.

I still got a few more things to try. I haven't tried MS bootvis yet. I must try some more spyware stuff also.

Anyway thanks for everyones help so far, anyone have any ideas what cause might be now that I've tried out these various thigns and still haven't solved it?

dulpit

You haven't mentioned it and it probably wouldn't be causing problem anyways, but you don't have more than 1 anti virus software running do you?

luckylucky

Nope, I dont have a 2nd anti-virus software installed.

Plan_D

Have you a printer connected to you PC? I had an issue similar to this before. PC was taking an age to start up and then running like a dog at times. Check your process and see if the is winspool or spool summit running? I can't remember the exact details tbh.

My problem was that I had accidently printed something when I had no printers connected and it was going to the MS spooler. So for weeks it kept, eh, spooling.

Long shot but maybe worth a look.

luckylucky

The printer we have here is connected to my wife's pc, it's not even on that much, so in my case at least I don't think that's issue.

tbh although this is very annoying for me I'm sort of intrigued now to find out what the hell is causing this

Capt'n Midnight

luckylucky wrote: »

there's none of that crazy hard drive activity that I get in normal mode, it's loaded up very quick.

OK that points to malware / other junk you don't want running.

check that your AV isn't doing a full scan on each boot
do a major malware scan - check the PC health forum

autoruns - nice util to list what is trying to startup

woolymammoth

have you tried disabling different (non-critical) services, one by one, from starting altogether? (again, services.msc) just change stuff like wireless, firewall, auto updates startup type to disabled and reboot. If everything is working sweet in Safe mode, that's an indicator it's something starting up with XP in normal mode! just gotta figure out what!

luckylucky

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

OK that points to malware / other junk you don't want running.

check that your AV isn't doing a full scan on each boot
do a major malware scan - check the PC health forum

autoruns - nice util to list what is trying to startup

woolymammoth wrote: »

have you tried disabling different (non-critical) services, one by one, from starting altogether? (again, services.msc) just change stuff like wireless, firewall, auto updates startup type to disabled and reboot. If everything is working sweet in Safe mode, that's an indicator it's something starting up with XP in normal mode! just gotta figure out what!

Thanks again for the help.

I've tried a few of the spyware stuff now. I had already had Adaware and Spysweeper. What's kind of strange is that Spysweeper is not detecting anything at all, not even ad cookies (which I think it used to do). Is there a possibity that spysweeper itself might have got compromised!? Adaware just detected those ad cookie things, no big deal. I ran spybot and superantispyware too and one of them found a thing called 'Searchspy', that appears to have been removed now. It still hasn't remedied the speed situation. I timed it last night and it was almost 7 minutes on the dot from windows opening for the hard disk light to stop and that is actually a bit of an improvement. I'm becoming knowledgable now on how to make windows xp boot-up quicker but still haven't got to the crux of the specific problem with my windows.

I'm going to have a look through services.msc again and see if there is anything else I can disable, I've already disabled a number of things.

Plan_D

You sure PokerTracker isn't churning away in the back ground? ;P

I don't know if any of the links or tools other posted cover this but.. in run type in msconfig and then choose the Startup tab. Be real carefull in there! It is a bit of a bitch as all you can read are the command lines to guess what is starting up. I'd leave all the C/windows alone. You might see things like C\programefiles\quicktime\qttask

Untick all that rubbish unless you want them on startup. Live messenger etc.

Then see how it boots.

luckylucky

Plan_D wrote: »

You sure PokerTracker isn't churning away in the back ground? ;P

lol, nah. Though I do wonder if Postgressql is having an impact.

Plan_D wrote: »

I don't know if any of the links or tools other posted cover this but.. in run type in msconfig and then choose the Startup tab. Be real carefull in there! It is a bit of a bitch as all you can read are the command lines to guess what is starting up. I'd leave all the C/windows alone. You might see things like C\programefiles\quicktime\qttask

Untick all that rubbish unless you want them on startup. Live messenger etc.

Then see how it boots.

I've already done a quite a bit of this sort of thing. Live Messenger and Yahoo Im as well as other apps are now removed from start up, I've disabled things like Automatic updates and other services in service.msc. I've no doubt this sort of thing is improving boot up performance and I'll take another look shortly to see if there is anything else I can disable, but there is something major going on here I think that is the real cause of this issue. What it is I obviously haven't found out yet.

Gadgetman496

I know it's the last thing you want to hear right now but, sometimes it easier to take the bull by the horns & do a wipe. Flatten the machine & do a reinstall.

This would take less then 2 hrs & you'd have everything back to your liking within the day.

It's one surefire way to ensuring a smooth running squeaky clean system.

After all, you are chasing this now for three days or more!

-

luckylucky

gadgetman496 wrote: »

I know it's the last thing you want to hear right now but, sometimes it easier to take the bull by the horns & do a wipe. Flatten the machine & do a reinstall.

This would take less then 2 hrs & you'd have everything back to your liking within the day.

It's one surefire way to ensuring a smooth running squeaky clean system.

After all, you are chasing this now for three days or more!

-

I couldn't agree with you more. In terms of saving time I'm definitely better off doing this. In fact in terms of saving money the amount of time I've fiddled around with stuff on this pc I'd be way better off just buying a new machine.

I've wiped this pc several times in the past, because of similar problems. But at this stage I'd really just like to find out what the hell is causing this purely for the sake of it. I kinda got the bit between my teeth on this one

Gadgetman496

luckylucky wrote: »

I couldn't agree with you more. In terms of saving time I'm definitely better off doing this. In fact in terms of saving money the amount of time I've fiddled around with stuff on this pc I'd be way better off just buying a new machine.

I've wiped this pc several times in the past, because of similar problems. But at this stage I'd really just like to find out what the hell is causing this purely for the sake of it. I kinda got the bit between my teeth on this one

I can be very like that myself too It's a bit*h isn't it? :rolleyes:
While I would also advocate the "It won't get the better of me" scenario, don't fall foul of the "cut off your nose" syndrome either

Good luck with it anyway.

-

Plan_D

luckylucky wrote: »

I couldn't agree with you more. In terms of saving time I'm definitely better off doing this. In fact in terms of saving money the amount of time I've fiddled around with stuff on this pc I'd be way better off just buying a new machine.

I've wiped this pc several times in the past, because of similar problems. But at this stage I'd really just like to find out what the hell is causing this purely for the sake of it. I kinda got the bit between my teeth on this one

hmmm could very well be a hardware issue so

Might be worth posting the full spec on the Hardware/Self build board to see if one of them knowledgeable (<<< that word just looks so wrong!) folks can help you on the hardware side?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

Gadgetman496

For the hell of it, why don't you bang up a "Hijackthis" log.

You never know!

-

luckylucky

gadgetman496 wrote: »

I can be very like that myself too It's a bit*h isn't it? :rolleyes:
While I would also advocate the "It won't get the better of me" scenario, don't fall foul of the "cut off your nose" syndrome either

Good luck with it anyway.

-

cheers, I think I'm going to give it just one more day to try to figure it out. I'm coming back to the fatherland tomorrow anyway for a few days. I'm going to buy a better hard dirve when I get back here and resinstall on that if this isn't sorted.

I might even just buy a new hard drive anyway, it's the crappiest part of my pc, though I have ruled it out as the cause of the problem.

Plan_D wrote: »

hmmm could very well be a hardware issue so

Might be worth posting the full spec on the Hardware/Self build board to see if one of them knowledgeable (<<< that word just looks so wrong!) folks can help you on the hardware side?

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=842

My hard drive isn't a great one tbh but I'm inclined to think this is too severe to be a hardware problem. Also as capt'n Midnight and woolymammoth have said it doesn't look like it's hardware as it boots up real quick in safe mode.

luckylucky

gadgetman496 wrote: »

For the hell of it, why don't you bang up a "Hijackthis" log.

You never know!

-

Oh here goes my first ever hijackthis log. Hope one of ye can help me here. I've no idea what I should be looking out for

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2
Scan saved at 2:33:56 PM, on 3/6/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16608)
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\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MsMpEng.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware 2007\aawservice.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\APC\APC PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgfws8.exe
C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\dcsuserprot.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
C:\Program Files\Belkin\Belkin Power Management Software\RupsMon.exe
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMAgent.exe
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\90\Shared\sqlwriter.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgam.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Belkin\Belkin Power Management Software\usbmate.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgrsx.exe
C:\Program Files\Webroot\Spy Sweeper\SpySweeper.exe
C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\pgaccount.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\jusched.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb04.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\LCD Manager\LCDMon.exe
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\MOM.EXE
C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\G-series Software\LGDCore.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe
C:\Program Files\ASUS\Probe\AsusProb.exe
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMax4PNP.exe
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\Smax4.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\procguard.exe
C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe
C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\LCD Manager\Applets\LCDClock.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\LCD Manager\Applets\LCDCountdown.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\LCD Manager\Applets\LCDMedia.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\LCD Manager\Applets\LCDPop3.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wscntfy.exe
C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\ccc.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\aAvgApi.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WLLoginProxy.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgnsx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\taskmgr.exe
C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = about:blank
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: Skype add-on (mastermind) - {22BF413B-C6D2-4d91-82A9-A0F997BA588C} - C:\Program Files\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\SkypeIEPlugin.dll
O2 - BHO: WormRadar.com IESiteBlocker.NavFilter - {3CA2F312-6F6E-4B53-A66E-4E65E497C8C0} - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgssie.dll
O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {7E853D72-626A-48EC-A868-BA8D5E23E045} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: Windows Live Sign-in Helper - {9030D464-4C02-4ABF-8ECC-5164760863C6} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live\WindowsLiveLogin.dll
O2 - BHO: AVGTOOLBAR - {A057A204-BACC-4D26-9990-79A187E2698E} - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\AVGTOO~1.DLL
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Helper - {AA58ED58-01DD-4d91-8333-CF10577473F7} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll
O2 - BHO: Google Toolbar Notifier BHO - {AF69DE43-7D58-4638-B6FA-CE66B5AD205D} - C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\2.0.301.7164\swg.dll
O2 - BHO: IE Developer Toolbar BHO - {CC7E636D-39AA-49b6-B511-65413DA137A1} - C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar\IEDevToolbar.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Translator - {FF284F5C-7CF9-4682-8701-D467C1DBB99F} - C:\Program Files\PRMT78\PRMTIE\prmtie.dll
O3 - Toolbar: AVGTOOLBAR - {A057A204-BACC-4D26-9990-79A187E2698E} - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\AVGTOO~1.DLL
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PRONoMgr.exe] "C:\Program Files\Intel\NCS\PROSet\PRONoMgr.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [!1_pgaccount] "C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\pgaccount.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Tweak UI] "RUNDLL32.EXE" TWEAKUI.CPL,TweakMeUp
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPDJ Taskbar Utility] C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb04.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UserFaultCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\dumprep 0 -u
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\dumprep 0 -k
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StartCCC] "C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CLIStart.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Launch LCDMon] "C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\LCD Manager\LCDMon.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Launch LGDCore] "C:\Program Files\Logitech\GamePanel Software\G-series Software\LGDCore.exe" /SHOWHIDE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AVG8_TRAY] C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgtray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe" -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ASUS Probe] "C:\Program Files\ASUS\Probe\AsusProb.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMAXPnP] "C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMax4PNP.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SoundMAX] "C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\Smax4.exe" /tray
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroFilterCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [!1_ProcessGuard_Startup] "C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\procguard.exe" -minimize
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SUPERAntiSpyware] C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SUPERAntiSpyware.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [swg] C:\Program Files\Google\GoogleToolbarNotifier\GoogleToolbarNotifier.exe
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-21-725345543-2077806209-682003330-1005\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'postgres')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\Run: [CTFMON.EXE] C:\WINDOWS\System32\CTFMON.EXE (User 'Default user')
O4 - Startup: Process Explorer.lnk = C:\Process Explorer\procexp.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: Add to Fa&vorites Box... - res://C:\Program Files\Favorites Box\FavoritesManager.dll/FAVMAN.DLL.HTM
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: ImTranslator - C:\PROGRA~1\SMARTL~1\IMTRAN~1\startup.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Open Client to monitor &1 - C:\WINDOWS\web\AOpenClient.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Open Client to monitor &2 - C:\WINDOWS\web\AOpenClient.htm
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_03\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Bet Hold'em Poker - {1BB3B2DD-30A2-4231-9547-B61760F0BF86} - C:\Program Files\betholdemMPP\MPPoker.exe
O9 - Extra button: IE Developer Toolbar - {48FFE35F-36D9-44bd-A6CC-1D34414EAC0D} - C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar\IEDevToolbar.dll
O9 - Extra button: Skype - {77BF5300-1474-4EC7-9980-D32B190E9B07} - C:\Program Files\Skype\Toolbars\Internet Explorer\SkypeIEPlugin.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {7A2EFD41-E6B3-11D2-89E3-00E0292EE574} - C:\Program Files\PRMT78\PRMTIE\prmtie5.htm
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Translate - {7A2EFD41-E6B3-11D2-89E3-00E0292EE574} - C:\Program Files\PRMT78\PRMTIE\prmtie5.htm
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {7A2EFD41-E6B3-11D2-89E3-00E0292EE575} - C:\Program Files\PRMT78\PRMTIE\options.htm
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Customize translation options - {7A2EFD41-E6B3-11D2-89E3-00E0292EE575} - C:\Program Files\PRMT78\PRMTIE\options.htm
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: UltimateBet - {94148DB5-B42D-4915-95DA-2CBB4F7095BF} - C:\Program Files\UltimateBet\UltimateBet.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: UltimateBet - {94148DB5-B42D-4915-95DA-2CBB4F7095BF} - C:\Program Files\UltimateBet\UltimateBet.exe
O9 - Extra button: CDPoker - {A68FC757-51CF-4f3c-B13A-BFB8CA69BB99} - C:\Poker\CDPoker\casino.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: CDPoker - {A68FC757-51CF-4f3c-B13A-BFB8CA69BB99} - C:\Poker\CDPoker\casino.exe
O9 - Extra button: PartyPoker.com - {B7FE5D70-9AA2-40F1-9C6B-12A255F085E1} - C:\Program Files\PartyGaming\PartyPoker\RunApp.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: PartyPoker.com - {B7FE5D70-9AA2-40F1-9C6B-12A255F085E1} - C:\Program Files\PartyGaming\PartyPoker\RunApp.exe
O9 - Extra button: Ladbrokes Poker - {C2A80015-C447-4dc4-82DD-AED83D6ED57E} - C:\Program Files\ladbrokesMPP\MPPoker.exe
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\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
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra button: ImTranslator - {AE436396-55E7-4ec4-AD6D-45E88A530A4C} - C:\PROGRA~1\SMARTL~1\IMTRAN~1\startup.html (HKCU)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: ImTranslator - {AE436396-55E7-4ec4-AD6D-45E88A530A4C} - C:\PROGRA~1\SMARTL~1\IMTRAN~1\startup.html (HKCU)
O9 - Extra button: Add to Favorites... - {E09EAD23-4C99-4e12-BFF0-69D810815407} - C:\Program Files\Favorites Box\FavoritesManager.dll (HKCU)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Add to Favorites... - {E09EAD23-4C99-4e12-BFF0-69D810815407} - C:\Program Files\Favorites Box\FavoritesManager.dll (HKCU)
O10 - Unknown file in Winsock LSP: c:\windows\system32\nwprovau.dll
O16 - DPF: {30528230-99F7-4BB4-88D8-FA1D4F56A2AB} (YInstStarter Class) - http://us.dl1.yimg.com/download.yahoo.com/dl/yinst/yinst_current.cab
O16 - DPF: {67A5F8DC-1A4B-4D66-9F24-A704AD929EEE} (System Requirements Lab) - http://www.nvidia.com/content/DriverDownload/srl/2.0.0.1/sysreqlab2.cab
O16 - DPF: {6E32070A-766D-4EE6-879C-DC1FA91D2FC3} (MUWebControl Class) - http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/V5Controls/en/x86/client/muweb_site.cab?1164754823171
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - https://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab
O16 - DPF: {D821DC4A-0814-435E-9820-661C543A4679} (CRLDownloadWrapper Class) - http://drmlicense.one.microsoft.com/crlupdate/en/crlocx.ocx
O18 - Protocol: linkscanner - {F274614C-63F8-47D5-A4D1-FBDDE494F8D1} - C:\Program Files\AVG\AVG8\avgpp.dll
O18 - Protocol: skype4com - {FFC8B962-9B40-4DFF-9458-1830C7DD7F5D} - C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\Skype\SKYPE4~1.DLL
O20 - AppInit_DLLs: avgrsstx.dll
O20 - Winlogon Notify: !SASWinLogon - C:\Program Files\SUPERAntiSpyware\SASWINLO.dll
O23 - Service: Ad-Aware 2007 Service (aawservice) - Lavasoft - C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware 2007\aawservice.exe
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: APC UPS Service - American Power Conversion Corporation - C:\Program Files\APC\APC PowerChute Personal Edition\mainserv.exe
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: AVG8 WatchDog (avg8wd) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgwdsvc.exe
O23 - Service: AVG8 Firewall (avgfws8) - AVG Technologies CZ, s.r.o. - C:\PROGRA~1\AVG\AVG8\avgfws8.exe
O23 - Service: ##Id_String1.6844F930_1628_4223_B5CC_5BB94B879762## (Bonjour Service) - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: DiamondCS Process Guard Service v3.000 (DCSPGSRV) - DiamondCS - C:\Program Files\ProcessGuard\dcsuserprot.exe
O23 - Service: FLEXnet Licensing Service - Macrovision Europe Ltd. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Macrovision Shared\FLEXnet Publisher\FNPLicensingService.exe
O23 - Service: Google Updater Service (gusvc) - Google - C:\Program Files\Google\Common\Google Updater\GoogleUpdaterService.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: Imapi Helper - Alex Feinman - C:\Program Files\Alex Feinman\ISO Recorder\ImapiHelper.exe
O23 - Service: Intel NCS NetService (NetSvc) - Intel(R) Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\NCS\Sync\NetSvc.exe
O23 - Service: PostgreSQL Database Server 8.2 (pgsql-8.2) - PostgreSQL Global Development Group - C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\8.2\bin\pg_ctl.exe
O23 - Service: Rupsmon - Belkin - C:\Program Files\Belkin\Belkin Power Management Software\RupsMon.exe
O23 - Service: SoundMAX Agent Service (SoundMAX Agent Service (default)) - Analog Devices, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMAgent.exe
O23 - Service: USBMate - Mega Corp. - C:\Program Files\Belkin\Belkin Power Management Software\usbmate.exe
O23 - Service: Webroot Spy Sweeper Engine (WebrootSpySweeperService) - Webroot Software, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Webroot\Spy Sweeper\SpySweeper.exe

--
End of file - 15213 bytes

luckylucky

Am I better off posting that log somewhere else like the virus and malware forum?
I was going to do that but I didn't want to create another thread if it was unnecessary.

woolymammoth

how many of those running processess did you try disabling on start up? And did you get a chance to run bootvis yet? It should give you a report on what's taking how long to load and all that!


[edit]
while i'm thinking of it, something else i remembered today that i seen a few weeks back, might be useful!!

http://www.asktheadmin.com/2008/02/what-is-going-on-when-i-start-up-my-pc.html

luckylucky

woolymammoth wrote: »

how many of those running processess did you try disabling on start up? And did you get a chance to run bootvis yet? It should give you a report on what's taking how long to load and all that!


[edit]
while i'm thinking of it, something else i remembered today that i seen a few weeks back, might be useful!!

http://www.asktheadmin.com/2008/02/what-is-going-on-when-i-start-up-my-pc.html

Actually Bootvis is about the only thing mentioned here I haven't tried yet i think. I'm currently running trojanhunter, so far it's just found 1 false positive. Going to leave that finish and I'll try bootvis then. Regarding that article I have tried both autoruns and startuplist already. I disabled some of the start up entries on autoruns.

luckylucky

I ran bootvis selecting the Trace Menu the Next Boot + Drivers Delay option.

Then I Optimised it. It doesn't seem to have made any noticeable impact.

Ok 4 days of this is more than enough. I give up. New Hard drive time when I come back from Ireland.

luckylucky

ok one last shot. Here are 2 images of the bootvis report. I'm not sure what I should be looking for here. does anything look glaringly wrong. Note the end of the report is at +276.

the first one is the inital phase


the second one is the end of the report

woolymammoth

do you have the full screenshots? those are a bit small to read! in any case, while a full reinstall will fix this, you can always attempt a windows repair before you go ahead and wipe.

out of curiosity, you said above you wiped the PC a few times before 'cos of similar issues. What make/model of PC is it? and do you always install the vendor software they bundled with it?

woolymammoth

well bootvis captures a lot of info, you should be able to zoom in and double-click on the graphs doe more detailed info at a particular time in the boot process.

Reasons for asking about the PC, i've see before where bundled applications cause more or a hindrance than a help!

I'd say do a Windows repair just to see what happens, then do a reinstall!

luckylucky

woolymammoth wrote: »

well bootvis captures a lot of info, you should be able to zoom in and double-click on the graphs doe more detailed info at a particular time in the boot process.

Reasons for asking about the PC, i've see before where bundled applications cause more or a hindrance than a help!

I'd say do a Windows repair just to see what happens, then do a reinstall!

I'm back in Ireland until Tuesday so I can't upload another picture until I get back to Portugal.
My Pc isn't a particular brand. It has basically been chopped and changed over the years by myself to the point where there is nothing left from the original pc I bought which even then was a pc built by parts by another individual.

luckylucky

I thought I was finished with this so soz but something just occured to me that might have a bearing. This morning I've been working out what components to buy to upgrade my PC. While thinking about what power supply I should get, it dawned on me that perhaps my power supply might perhaps be an issue here. It's just 450 watts I think. Could it be a possible cause?

Plan_D

luckylucky wrote: »

I thought I was finished with this so soz but something just occured to me that might have a bearing. This morning I've been working out what components to buy to upgrade my PC. While thinking about what power supply I should get, it dawned on me that perhaps my power supply might perhaps be an issue here. It's just 450 watts I think. Could it be a possible cause?

Do you have a decent GFX card and if so do you know the name/spec? That does seem to a fairly low power unit. There was one chap on the poker board a while ago whose PC kept crashing after awhile and that was due to the PSU.

luckylucky

Plan_D wrote: »

Do you have a decent GFX card and if so do you know the name/spec?

yeah I have one of the latest AGP graphics cards. It's an AH2600PRO. Basically an ATI 2600Pro Agp version. It supports 2560x1600 resolution, that's why I bought it.

Plan_D wrote: »

There was one chap on the poker board a while ago whose PC kept crashing after awhile and that was due to the PSU

I believe that was me My current PSU was a spare one I had with more watts that solved that problem. But perhaps it didn't have enough.

At the same time I think I have had slow boot up times even before that graphics card was ever installed, though it does seem worse than ever these days.

ozmo

luckylucky wrote: »

... Could it be a possible cause?

No not psu problem - pc would random turn off if psu.

I had a problem like this and I used FileMon from www.sysinternals.com to see what files were being accessed.
Turns out I had too many things in the start menu and explorer.exe was rebuilding the icons for the start menu each time - I cleared out the startmenu Readme and uninstall icons and its now much faster to boot.

ozmo

ozmo wrote: »

No not psu problem - pc would random turn off if psu.

I had a problem like this and I used FileMon from www.sysinternals.com to see what files were being accessed.
Turns out I had too many things in the start menu and explorer.exe was rebuilding the icons for the start menu each time - I cleared out the startmenu Readme and uninstall icons and its now much faster to boot.

Just to add... I had same problem again on another pc - using bootvis i could see it was a svhost - ie. a service that was pausing the booting for 2minutes just before explorer started. I could read the PID from bootvis and using processexplorer(sysinternals.com) could identify the process with that PID. Turned out to be a scanner that I seldom had attached. Set Service Microsoft "Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)" to Manual start and pc now boots xp in 40 seconds. sorted :cool:. Just thought Id log it here in case anyone else has similar problem.