why is pc taking ages to boot up

dapex

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Guys, mate across the road bought his laptop over to me the other day as it would close down, it ws just hanging at a black screen, no choice but to hold down power button, now it takes an age to boot up, when booted it all works fine but from power on to login screen can take up to 10 mins, then from login to desktop can be another further 10 mins. I have done the really obvious stuff (cleared temp files, cookies history) and he doesnt have much software installed according to the add remove programs and certanly nothing that shoudl obviously take so long to boot up.

Any thoughts on what I can do to help him out

Not sur eif this is the best section for this question but its pc software related so figured here was as good as anywhere:)
 
Did you check the startup list in msconfig? Also when was the last time he did a scan for spyware/malware/adware/viruses/etc.
 
hmm, he has norton on for spyware etc but i am going to install prevx as I prefer that (I personally hate norton) and I have no idea what the msconfig is or how to get to it and use it???
 
A bit more information would be helpful! Which OS (XP)? How much RAM? What CPU?

My PC at work takes 10 minutes to boot, but that's because it's an older PC trying to run XP in 256MB RAM!

Your mate's notebook is probably full of installed junk and just in need to a reinstall.
 
Yeah, get Norton off it (heap of 5h1t, that it is). Once you are in windows, check task manager, to see what is running at the highest memory usage.

And all of the above and programs that he no longer uses.
 
i had the same problem with a pc i was asked to look at. Got rid of norton and its pap ridden software, installed avg scanned for virus and other spy/malware. The kids had installed lime wire :eek: need i say more. Managed to clear a whole load of viruses out, some needed a bit more shiftin than others, as a result restore points lost. PC ran much quicker but for its spec was still far too slow. Back-up, format and complete reinstall had it running like new.

I reckon most pc's need this once in a while. It doesn't do any harm if you have everything backed up. Installing windows and all its updates can be a pain but in 2ish hours you'll have a nice clean pc. You could spend that surfing try to find answers to your problems and still be no further forward.
 

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