Author Topic: Windows XP gets stuck starting 'startup' applications  (Read 11800 times)

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Offline Lisandro

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Re: Windows XP gets stuck starting 'startup' applications
« Reply #15 on: October 29, 2006, 09:52:29 PM »
I decided to take applications that are not very important atthe start and delay them 30-40 seconds.
Ok.

I then delayed Avast 15 seconds.
No. Remove avast from Standard Delayer control. It should be allowed to start at the very beginning and managed by Windows and not by Standard Delayer.

However the problem delay seems to happen in the middle of Avast. It launches three providers straight away (Internet Mail, P2P and Standard Shield) however the rest hold everything on the PC up for anotyher 20 seocnds for no obvious reason - and the culprit 'looks' like Web Shield.
avast will load the providers and most probably it's not one of them that is making this mess.
If WebShield is allowed to connect the Internet into your firewall settings, it should not be a problem.

Does this make sense ? I have settings for Web Shield set to normal, but I wonder if there are any settings that I should apply to speed it up ?
Let the default settings. Normal or High here won't make much difference.
Better will be knowing what is loading at startup.
Use Autoruns from http://www.sysinternals.com/ and save the log of 'all' startup entries. Maybe you can post them here after that for analysis.
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saoir

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Re: Windows XP gets stuck starting 'startup' applications
« Reply #16 on: October 29, 2006, 10:34:15 PM »
Thanks Tech...

I WAS WRONG.....  Avast is not the problem - you are right.

I played around for the last half an hour (if you can call it play...) and disabled the Avast providers one by one and it is NOT any of those....

I also looked at the Microsoft Office app called ctfmon.exe and delayed it 50 seconds.  But this doesn't seem to be the culprit. (I have actually disabled it now)

Then I zeroed in on the wireless network..(Vaio laptop, Netgear wireless router) and delayed the startup of the Sony "wireless switcher" app. But this doesn't seem to be it either.

So I started to watch the lights on the router.

I notice that all of the other startup apps startup with no real problems but then everything stops and freezes. (Note at this stage I still cannot even launch a new program such as my Barca email program). Also at this stage all of the lights on my router are steady. But after a delay of about 30 seconds the lights start to flicker, the Avast icon starts to rotate and BINGO . . . the screen goes back to it's full brighteness and programs start running.

Trouble is I don;t know what application is doing it...

 ???


Offline Lisandro

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Re: Windows XP gets stuck starting 'startup' applications
« Reply #17 on: October 29, 2006, 10:39:02 PM »
Trouble is I don;t know what application is doing it...
I don't think it's an application but most probably that your router is looking for an IP address, DNS addresses and other network settings.
Maybe it could help if you set them manually and not automatically. Which is your router manufacturer website?
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saoir

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Re: Windows XP gets stuck starting 'startup' applications
« Reply #18 on: October 30, 2006, 12:24:06 AM »
Hi Tech. My router is http://netgear.com/   model NetGear DG834G.

I can understand why this might cause a delay in the connection ... but why would it freeze the workings of Winodws.... ???

Offline Lisandro

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Re: Windows XP gets stuck starting 'startup' applications
« Reply #19 on: October 30, 2006, 02:15:57 AM »
I can understand why this might cause a delay in the connection ... but why would it freeze the workings of Winodws.... ???
Because connection here means network, a required hardware that Windows is starting... It's not as easy as a keyboard or a printer...
I cannot find a good tutorial in their page, but, maybe, setting the IP and DNS with static values could, in my experience, made the boot faster.
The best things in life are free.

saoir

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Re: Windows XP gets stuck starting 'startup' applications
« Reply #20 on: October 30, 2006, 04:26:22 PM »
Thanks Tech - I will follow this one up.

Saoir