Desktop Icon Problem

I've been having a problem with my desktop icons now for several weeks. I wiped my hard drive and reformatted it and re-installed everything. Now when I open the computer after it has been shut down and click on a desktop icon to open the program, the computer will frequently sit there for a loooong period of time before opening the program. It doesn't happen every time but often. The only consistent thing I have noticed when this happens is that only Norton and the system time are displayed in the system tray.

 

Sounds like programs are still loading at start-up. Do you have a lot of start-up programs? Or a lot of desktop icons, that can slow things down too.

 

Of course, he has Norton!

Before you do anything, and before thinking about the problem, get rid of it and find yourself a lightweight Antivirus System.

My recommendation: NOD32

:wave

 

Good advice, AMJAD. I myself have NOD32, and have never had a problem with it slowing anything down on startup. NORTON is a huge program, and uses a lot of memory, and time loading up, which will slow things down until it finally finishes loading. And personally, I don't think NORTON is really that great of an anti-malware program, and would never use it. AVG 7.5 is also a good way to go, if you don't have the money to spend on NOD32.
And, what else do you have loading at Start Up? Like CAT_W_9_LIVES mentioned, that and too many desktop icons can slow down performance as well. Anything you deem unnecessary, either on your desktop or at Start Up, you either need to simply get rid of, or make a shortcut elsewhere and delete the other shortcuts from the desktop.

 

I bet its not Norton. Instead, I bet its the DHCP client acquiring an IP address. XP does this after the login screen, as its loading the desktop.

Don't believe me? Unhook your modem/router/whatever you use and reboot. I'll gander a guess at this. Using DSL?

 

Another possibility is the SSDP Discovery service.

Go to start, run, and type services.msc.

Find it in the list, and change it from its startup type of automatic, to disabled. Reboot and see if the problem goes away.