A strange Vista problem...

[Technical Ben]

Just throwing this one out there before I nuke the HDD and do a re-install. I have a Vista laptop that boots fine and runs programs, but anything that requires admin rights (UAC) or IE takes around 5 or more mins to load. After that, it works fine and quick. So something is getting stuck at load up I guess. A new user on the PC does not suffer from this, until a couple of boots later.   

So I'm guessing it's something installed on the main account that's causing the problem, but tracking it down is a nightmare. It's had "PC cleanup/speed up" and "CCcleaner" etc put on it. Not to mention Kapersky that takes up 2GB of it's 2GB ram and runs like treacle. 

Going to do a boot up log just on the off chance I can see what is getting stuck loading...

[Simon]

Have to admit, Kaspersky could well be a likely contributor.  I think it, and possibly most security softwares are built for the newer operating systems.  My XP machine takes around 40 seconds longer to boot up with Kaspersky on board, and runs like treacle until KIS has done all it's updates, etc.  That said, at least KIS seems to run OK on my machine, once it's got itself going.  I just go to make a cuppa while I'm waiting for it to start up, then I hardly know it's there.

[Technical Ben]

Thanks the havens it's not just me who blames Kaspersky! 
I think I just this second found the culprit, but not tested a reboot yet. Looks like, I had left Windows Defender and a message with the customer saying "this PC is perfect, it needs not tweaking or virus scanners, I've given it everything!!!"

But no, someone else knows better (customer or their "friend/family"). So Kapersky gets put on it while 2 or 3 other virus scanners are running (and 2 or 3 reg checkers/shredders).   

Might get to sleep tonight. 

[edit]
Well, it took a few seconds this time, but not a quarter of an hour. So that looks to have helped. 

If I'm feeling nice, I might even put Kapersky back on.

[Glenn]

What happens in 'Safe' mode?

[Simon]

They must have put the additional software on after Kaspersky - doesn't it insist on removal of conflicting programs during installation?

[Technical Ben]

It's fine n safe mode. That's why I have been reluctant to re-install everything (especially as people don't keep their software keys).

Seems to be working smoother now. It does need a reinstall for the registry errors it might have picked up, but if it doesnot effect the customer, it's not worth the hassle. They also had Windows Live Family Protection on, so it had at least 3 virus scanners competing for attention.