I'm running XP Prof. on a Dell Latitude 820 laptop (~1-2 yrs. old). Boot seems to take forever, both acquiring the icons and then in bringing icons up. I've scanned the startup links (cntl/alt/del) but see nothing that's not expected, and have removed most that's not essential. Saw little difference when removed links. Assistance would be helpful.

Does it take a long time to reach Windows OS load. If so you can change your boot order in the BIOS. 1. Turn on your computer, and hold down delete. 2. In the BIOS window, look for the Boot Menu option. 3. Choose the QUICK BOOT to turn off memory test .4. Make sure the hard drive comes first in the BOOT ORDER. 5. Turn off any logo displays. 6. Restart If you have stop the unessential programs from loading at startup. Try altering the boot time out and gui boot options. 1. Open your Start menu. 2. Click Run 3. In the command screen type msconfig 4. In the system configuration utility,click either BOOT tab. 5.In the boot menu, change the default setting for Time Out from 30 to 5 seconds. Hope this helps! http://www.delete-computer-history.... none

when was the last time you ran disk cleanup and then defrag? if you come up in safe mode is it faster?