Computer Suddenly Noticibly Slower

I have noticed lately that my computer seems to take an excessively long time to boot up completely - almost 5 minutes. Also when clicking on desktop icons, they seem to also take much longer to load. I have done all the usual things like running a virus and spyware scans (I have AdAware, Spybot, Malwarebytes and ATFCleaner, as well as my ISP's Computer Associates Antivirus and Firewall installed), emptying temp files and recycle bin and defraging the hard drive. I have not downloaded or installed any programs recently (only AdAware & Spybot updates), but I did have a new power supply installed last week. Even the tech that installed the new fan said he was concerned at how long it took for my computer to boot up and it's even worse since yesterday. If it's any help in diagnosing my problem, my system is an HP Pavilion 750n with a 1.6 GHz Pentium IV processor and 768 MB RAM. Used disk space is 16.8 GB, unused space is 57.6 GB. Physical memory while running is: Total - 78,000±, Available - 42,000±, System Cache - 43,000±. Processes running - 38. Startup Selection is "Selective Startup" with checks in the boxes for Process SYSTEM.INI File, Process WIN.INI File, Load System Services and Use Original BOOT.INI. The box next to "Load Startup Items" is solid green in the box (no check). I have 5 icons in the Systray Box - AdAware, CA Security Center, QuickTime, Volume, and Safely Remove Hardware. These items are checked in the Startup menu: cctray, QOELoader, CAVRID, cafw, capfasem, capfupgrade, QTTask, realsched, AAWTray, Reader_sl and there's one box with a check in it that's on a blank line. Once I get on the Internet, it seems to work normally - I do not notice any lagging while browsing, only when I use the desktop icons and menus that there is a considerable lag. Any suggestions as to what the problem could be and any fixes would be much appreciated. Assume that I am not too computer savvy. HijackThis scan available also, if it would help, or any other info you need to know Thanks.

 

Just a guess here, check 'Device Manager' to see if you have any yellow triangles, may have to reinstall a driver for some reason. 5 min is an eternity! Have you checked your hard disk drive or memory for errors?

Anyways, when something sudden happens it's either hardware or malware.

 

No yellow triangles in the device manager

 

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Greetings, debodun...

Have you tried booting into Safe Mode, just to compare start times? If a safe mode startup is noticeably quicker, it would seem that some 3rd-party software is the culprit...

There seem to be a few unnecessary items in your Startup: cctray, QOELoader, capfupgrade, QTTask, realsched, AAWTray are just spare luggage...

One other quickie: how do you access the Internet? Many times a slow startup is due to network-related settings...

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I have Road Runner cable Internet access and my computer is not networked or connected to any other computers (that I'm aware of). Anything that starts with "ca" in the startup is related to my antivirus and firewall from Computer Associates.

 

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Not being networked is one thing - network settings, however, can still slow a machine by trying to establish connections...doesn't necessarily mean they are your problem, though...

Tried to time a safe mode startup yet?

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