Slowish startup?

G'Day,
Startup has been a bit slowish of late 1-2mins after logon HDD light blinks for...
So I've been looking in the startup progs, task manager etc.
What do youmake of these three blank entries in startup?
Thanks,
Buck

 

Hi bigbucky, I also don't know what those three blank entries are! Mysterious entries I would call them...
Could spyware be hiding in there? Those blank entries might not be innocent.
Some of your other startup entries may also be responsible for slowing down your startup. Why don't you try getting rid of qttask, it belongs to quicktime. If you don't use quicktime so often, you can get rid of its startup entry.

 

I would assume they are probably leftovers from something that was removed. I have gotten these occasionally. Shouldn't be a problem to remove, although you may need a registry compactor to do so (removes spaces created by removed registry entries)
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/ntregopt.html

Kill qttask.. unless you use quicktime a lot, it's not worth the slowdown. You could probably whittle the list down some more if you wanted to.

StartupMonitor is also a great program for intercepting additions to common startup areas (this is more for keeping legitimate, but annoying, entries out than for security)
http://www.mlin.net/StartupMonitor.shtml

 

Thanks for the response guys,
I'm quite confident the system is clean of bugs....Defrag regularly, run NAV, Adaware, Spybot, CWShredder, HJT, Ewido, Cleanup.....no sign of nasties!
Just seems a little slower on startup than it used to.....Might be time for the annual reinstall of XP?? HDD is about 17Gb of 80Gb.
Checked startup lists with regseeker and easyclean and no blanks came up. See screenie below.
Yes!....I am aware of Quicktime being there....in fact I've killed it off a couple of times in the past....but it always seems to turn up again!......I'm fairly confident it is not the culprit in this case. Use quicktime occasionally because my dig camera shoots movies in QT.
Prob is it takes 90sec or so after I log on before HDD light stops.....All icons are on the desktop and I can browse files etc. ....but it would stall abit if I tried to connect to internet/email (dial-up).
I'm a bit lost at this point.....No probs evident apart from this slower startup. I remember it was a bit like this straight after installing SP2...but that seemed to quicken up shortly afterward..
Grateful for any advice,
Thanks,
Buck.

 

Maybe your prefetch got purged?

 

I don't quite understand......I do delete the contents of prefetch occasionally.....about a week or so ago......it fills up again fairly quickly though!
Could that be it?

 

After clearing prefetch, things will run a little slower until prefetch is filled back up with things you actually use. I suppose it's also possible that things were in prefetch got rearranged on the drive to load faster at startup, and upon deleting those...

It's hard to tell, though, it's also possible that the start order of things got set in a way that created a delay when 2 things started at pretty much the same time. The aforementioned things will be solved with time. If after a week it hasn't cleared itself up, then you might want to look further.

In the meantime, the best tweaking tool I know of for rearranging bootup files is TuneXP (http://www.driverheaven.net/dforce/default.php) It does a little more than the others of it's kind.

 

Thanks.....but I probably cleaned out prefetch hoping to speed things up a bit. It's the sort of thing that happens gradually.....I can't put a definite date on when it started to slow down.......Just checked....prefetch has 50 odd files again....dont know how many it actually ever gets up to...

 

For stuff you actually use prefetch is actaully faster, it's when it gets clogged up with stuff you don't use anymore that it starts to slow things down.

I'm not sure what the actual limit is, if there is one, and I'm not coming up with anything right off hand.. I may look more into that later, though. Here's an article from a good site on prefetch in general:
http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6270-5165773.html

How the files are aranged on the drive can make a big difference. XP tries to adjust this, and it keeps that data in the prefetch folder. It's entirely possible that the timing just happend to work out so that when it's been trying to process idle tasks, that info was never there.

Registry fragmentation is another possiblity. The previously linked registry compactor may help.

The boot order can play a big role in that, too. Sometimes truely and sometimes just subjectively (something that used to start up first is now starting last, making it seem like it's slower, etc)

Those are my main thoughts at this point, ruling out any startup items that are new (still, I've always seen a noticible slowdown with qttask. I hate that thing, lol. You're supposed to be able to disable it in the quicktime options in the control panel.)

If it were me at this point, I would probably wait a few days, or a week, and run the programs I linked you.

You can also try running the System File Checker to replace any corrupted files. If you have SP2 installed, you'll either want to have a slipstreamed CD handy or be ready to re-apply SP2. To run it, just click Start > Run, then type "sfc /scannow"

 

Thanks for all that Notok.
Buck.

 

If you could take another screen shot of the startup in the registry, but expand the path so I could see all of it, that would be a bit helpful.

 

Use Bootvis boot diagnostic mode to find out what's hanging up your system.

Assuming you have a PIII or better CPU, disc layout/fragmentation will only add an EXTRA 15 to 20 seconds to the total boot time (from the time you hit the power button till the appearance of the desktop). Remember that a HD can read at least 10MB/sec. That's 200MB of data for a 20 sec delay! The Boot time for my 600MHz CPU is 31 seconds.

If Task Sheduler is set to AUTO in services, then WXP will create a new boot file called NTOSBOOT in the Prefetch folder. Just make sure you empty all contents in the Prefetch folder and reboot PC. Wait for about 5 min and you will see NTOSBOOT in Prefetch. Reboot and check the boot time. There is no need to wait a few days for things to improve.

A corrupt registry can significantly delay the boot time. Easy test is to disable ALL programs from auto load (MSCONFIG's STARTUP tab) and retest. A long boot time indicates issues with windows and/or the registry.

 

Hi bigbuck,

Although it is unlikely that blank entries in msconfig are causing your slow startup, you can usually clear them by deleting the empty values in the following keys (and subkeys):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupfolder
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupreg

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServicesOnce

Nick

 

Thanks for all the help guys,
Maybe I should just clarify....

P4, 2.66Ghz, 512ram.......thanks nod......I do get the desktop up fairly fast...but after it comes up there is a period of HDD activity....maybe 45+ seconds...??...I can still browse folders etc.....but I would be reluctant to try my dial-up connection until it's finished....I think it's failed to connect before.

Thank Rob....but I cant seem to find it?...I can find these two (thanks nick)

but there doesn't seem to be anything to expand??

 

That's normal for WXP. Plus you have a lot of items in the startup tab. The FW should be up and running when you see the desktop. You don't need to wait for the FW icon to popup before connecting to the net.

I hit the connection keyboard as soon as I see the desktop.

 

There are 2 startups you can definitely kill ... ctfmon is the IE/Windows Language Bar ... if you don't use it ... I'd zap it .... and QuickTime is just wasted space loading at startup ... Definitely Zap it.

If you use M$ Office and it loads at startup ... kill it too ... it'll also increase your PCs loading times. And if you don't use MSN Messenger ... delete it too. Boot in safe mode to delete the 3 dlls that will still be active ... to complete the job.

Steve

 

Thanks for these quick responses nod32.....I just think that the HDD is doing a bit more work (after I get to the desktop) than it used to.....could be NAV too I suppose?.........and forgive my ignorance...FW?
Cheers.

 

Thanks Dog.
Brad.

 

Another Possiblity ... to speed things up a bit. You can visit BlackViper Website and adjust your XP service config. --> http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

For the info on all the services --> http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/service411.htm

I use the "Safe" settings except --> ALG (Application Layer Gateway), BITS (Background Intelligent transfer), and windows update are set to Disable ... and you should have No issues. But of course read everthing carefully before you start.

*note* If you wish to use the Windows Update Site ... you will have to start & enable both BITS and Win. Update ... then stop and disable them when you're through.

Steve

 

Those two keys will contain items that you have disabled using msconfig. Try unchecking those three blank items in msconfig, then go back to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupfolder
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\MSConfig\startupreg

and they will show up as subkeys (subfolders in the left pane). Now right-click on each and select delete. That should finally clear them from msconfig. Tested it with a blank key I created and it worked.

Nick

 

It's perfectly normal for the HD trash around during the first two minutes after you see the desktop. More Startup items=more HD activity. As always, you have a BOAT'S ANCHOR AV. Dumping NAV in favor of NOD32 will dramatically improve system performance.

 

Thanks again guys for all your help, I will have a tinker.....

...never let a chance go by!!
Regards,
Buck