Excessive Memory Action Before Boot Up

I am using Win 8.1 Pro. Virus checkers are Vipre and MalwareBytes. Lately when I start the machine it will display disk activity for about five seconds and then have the Dell logo with the spinning icon. This will be without any disk activity and will last for four to five minutes. Again NO DISK ACTIVITY. Then the disk light will come on solid for about 40 seconds and the machine will start.
I have checked everything I know of to determine what the no disk but memory activitiy item is with no clue. Any suggestions or comments will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Michael Dietz
mdietz@wildblue.net

 

Thank you for the reply Plodr. I was not clear as to the malware programs. Vipre runs all the time. I only use MalwareBytes occasionally to scan the computer. They do not run simultaneously. I have removed both and tried to boot sequence. I still get the 4-5 minutes of CPU activity. I have turned the Internet modem off with the same result. 4-5 minutes of CPU time is HUGE. I have no idea what it is doing during that time. Thank you anyway.
Mike

 

Thank you so much for the help. It still takes the long delay in safe mode. It happens in every type of reaction I try. The Dell is a desktop, 16 G memory, 3.4 mg Intel Core CPU. I cannot use Linux because my primary software programs are discontinued genealogy programs which will not run on Linux and run extremely poorly (if at all) on Win 10. I have thought that it might be a failing second drive which I no longer use. I removed that drive and still have the problem. Again thank you. Mike