hope someone can help it's driving me nuts! Have HP pc with XP. The startup is very slow - not sure why. On bootup the initial screen comes up saying COMPAQ ( make of pc) which used to stay up for about 10 seconds then dissappear-windows would then load in about 30 seconds. Now the COMPAQ page is there for about 4 minutes, then a blank screen for 2 mins, then windows loads slowly over a few mins. I know some things - I have spyware terminator-superantispyware-avast antivirus and reg cure registry cleaner which i run and update regularly. I have tried reloading the pc - starting again from scratch, and the startup is fine for a week or so, then suddenly goes back to the slow start again. Ive tried using driver download software to check drivers but it has cost a fortune and once ive paid the drivers dont download (says not right system requirements ). Ive done all the compaq updates and microsoft updates and reloaded the pc twice - But same problem. Can anyone help please? Is it a BIOS problem and if so how do I cure it? Im not very pc literate so if you could be specific that would be great! Thanks - really desperate!

You don't need to pay to get driver updates. Anyway that shouldn't cause the issues you describe. Does the computer run normally once you finally get into WinXP?

Try disconnecting any external devices.

flipper70, slow boot generally indicates to large a start menu. Open the start menu in your control panel and be sure it isn't packed with extras. Find a list of MUSTS @: http://www.castlecops.com/startup_c... or http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php or http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/sta... In case you don't find anything there, be aware that you have a file called 'index.dat' that records everywhere you go and over time it can grow quite large. Too large and you have a slow machine. A new file is 32 MB in size. A search for yours will reveal it's size. It's a protected file and can't be deleted while Windows is running. It can safely be deleted as it gets rebuilt next time. CCleaner can clean it (I run it often). You can get it free @: http://www.ccleaner.com/ Try those and if you're still having trouble, post back. HTH. Ed in Texas.

"I have spyware terminator-superantispyware-avast antivirus and reg cure registry cleaner" I would keep Avast and ditch the rest, and as above use CCleaner and also Malwarebytes Free version: http://www.malwarebytes.org As regards Drivers, you can source from COMPAQ, never ever pay: http://www.compaq.com

Thanks everyone. Yes the computer runs fine once it has loaded windows. I regularly check startup using msconfig but will double check the links you have provided. Will try ccleaner and malwarebytes as suggested and let you know how it goes. Thanx all x

Hi again I have tried all the suggestions above - gone through startup progs again using the link suggested, run ccleaner. I have also run numerous anti virus and spyware programs which have found nothing. I have defragmented and done a registry clean. Now I am really lost as the problem persists! I cant understand why when i reloaded the pc it worked fine for a week or so then overnight suddenly started this initial start problem! I would be so gratefull if anyone has any more suggestions! Thanks x