Hard to pin down a cause with so much going on. I had a similar problem
recently, which I self-diagnosed as a "Corrupt user profile". This
occurred to me because the other user didn't have my symptom (My
Computer took forever to open). You could probably fix this by examining
the settings of each program loading at startup, but I found it easier
to create a new user and start over.
Once I created the new user, the problem immediately stopped. I then
dragged the desktop folder from my former profile to my new one to get
all my shortcuts back. This step may or may not be important to you.




Ken Vickery wrote:
> Problem: Using XP Media Edition, 1GB Ram, recently home networked.  Recently my computer boots "normally"
> BUT I can't start Media Center, MSN Messenger 7.5, Internet Explorer 6 or even Word Perfect 12 AND my
> printer won't function.  But I can start Quickbooks, Adobe Reader 7, MS Word, McAfee, Zone Alarm Pro,
> Netscape 7.2.  When I try to start (open) Messenger, for instance, it shows the sand timer for a second
> or two and then goes to the tray with not connected sign.  Trying to open Word Perfect or Internet
> Explorer 6, the opening screen appears and then it appears to freeze and then with a cntrl-alt-del it
> will show that the program is 'not responding'.  If I try to print, I get a printer problem.  However, if
> I wait about 10 miniutes, either of the above programs will finish starting as though nothing happened in
> the meantime and the printer is then online.  While waiting, I can run the programs that will load and
> when the others finally load, they'll pop up.
>
> I've tried unplugging from my home net.  No effect.  I've tried stopping ZA and McAfee, no effect.
> During this wait of 10 minutes or so, memory usage is around 1 %, one percent.  I do not hear the hard
> drive accessing (and nor is there any network access that I can tell).  The other computer on the system
> is not affected.
>
> This is repeated on every boot up.  I have to wait 10 minutes or so before I can use my Word Perfect.
>
> Any solutions?
> Ken Vickery
>
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