Programs such as Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, VB 6 seem to take about 2 -3 minutes to start up. This is not always the case: when I permit "Winnatservice" to run (a program that seems to start up with my home radio networking card) then they start normally. Winnatservice seems to be some busy little program than continually writes something on disk (so it stops ScanDisk from doing useful work), but it seems to keep ME "alive". What is going on? Can someone help with advice so I can make ME work without this little busybody program continually doing its harassment in the background?

Try running MSCONFIG..... Start, Run,type in msconfig, click on the STARTUP tab (leave all others alone), uncheck everything cept, systray, taskmonitor, explorer.exe (if it's there), scanregistry, PC Health, SSDPSRV, Statemanager, and StillImage Monitor (if you have a scanner hooked up). chances are the pesky little item you are talking about is listed here.. blessings