start up ,shut down problem

[merlin]

lately when i start my computer , the "welcome " screen is on for 70 seconds, and when shutting down,
the icons, and taskbar, disappear and i am left with the desktop wallpaper for 70 seconds, then it says windows is shutting down.

this started several weeks ago for no obvious reason. although it was at the time that microsoft put out an update that stopped anyone with zone alarm from going on the net, but i do,nt have zone alarm.
i,m not suggesting it was that update ,just trying to give a time reference point.

i seem to remember reading about a registry hack, where you could cut these times from the standard 400milliseconds to 200 (although mine is far longer than that )

i,m comfortable working in the registry

anyone any ideas

[LesD]

My machine takes an age to shutdown but I put it down to an ever increasing amount of pictures and music files in My Documents which is in my User Profile and I am guessing is what is being Saved each time I Log Off or Shutdown but I think you may be describing a different issue. 

[merlin]

les i do,nt have very much in my docs, and i save all pictures and music to dvd disks, so i do,nt think its the same thing.

but thanksfor the help

[Steve]

I have used this in the past with xp http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&displaylang=en

User profile hive clean up service

[kinmel]

During startup windows is waiting for software or hardware to notify that it has loaded, windows waits a mimimum period for each item in turn before moving on, use Msconfig to disable services to find the problem.



XP tells running programs it is shutting down and gives them a time to exit gracefully before shutting down itself, if any program fails to acknowledge the shutdown then windows waits a predetermined time before moving on.

You can force windows to close without waiting for slow responses.......

Here's how to put an icon on your desktop that'll shut down your machine quickly:

1. Right-click any empty location on your desktop.

2. Click New, Shortcut.

The Create Shortcut Wizard appears.

3. In the Type the Location of the Item box, type shutdown -s -t 0

It's important that you put spaces before each hyphen, that you have no spaces after each hyphen, and that you use a zero at the end. ( the value after t is the waiting time before shutdown occurs)

4. Click Next.

5. In the Type a Name for This Shortcut box, use a name that will remind you that this button is for a very quick shut down.

6. Click Finish.

You have a new shortcut on your desktop.

7. Right-click the shortcut and click Properties. Click the Change Icon button.

8. Pick an appropriate icon for the shortcut and double-click it.

9. Click OK, and your new, quick shut down shortcut appears on the desktop.

To test the new, fast shut down icon, make sure no programs are running, and double-click it. On a typical machine, you see the log-off screen in about three seconds, and after another two or three seconds, you get the "It is now safe to turn off your computer" message.

This isn't a leisurely process. Windows gives you a short period of time to save changes in your Office documents, and other applications quit in an orderly way.

[Simon]

I know you said not Zone Alarm, but what AV software are you using, Bob?  I had a similar issue once with F-Secure 2006, which turned out to be a dodgy program update, only with this, it wouldn't get past the shutdown screen at all, unless I unloaded F-Secure first.

[merlin]

sorry for the late reply ,thank you all for the advice.

simon ,i use superantispyware, and avg (both full versions)

[Simon]

Try not having SAS running in real time, Bob.  It could just be conflicting with AVGs spyware component.  Stop SAS from starting with Windows, and reboot a couple of times to see if the problem goes away. 

[Inactive]

I use both AVG ( free ) and SAS ( free ) together, never any problems.

[Simon]

SAS free doesn't run in real time, In. 

[Inactive]

SAS free doesn't run in real time, In. 

Right, you don't honestly expect me to know something that complex Simon.. 

[Simon]

It's high tech for me, In. 

[Inactive]

  glad I ain't alone.. 

[merlin]

SIMON thats it ,i turned off sas real time ,problem solved. thank you

now HOW do i get real time protection

[vitriol]

Windows Defender?

Link

[Simon]

SIMON thats it ,i turned off sas real time ,problem solved. thank you

now HOW do i get real time protection

If you have AVG8, you've already got it, haven't you, Bob?  Otherwise, keep SAS as an on-demand scanner (or start it and stop it manually when starting and shutting down the PC), or try Windows Defender, as Vitriol suggested, as that doesn't seem to interfere with anything else.

[D-Dan]

Windows Defender?

Link

I really wouldn't bother with Windows Defender. I'm category editor over at TechSupportAlert in the anti-malware section. I did some fairly extensive testing, and Defender was outright useless.

If you really want real time protection, I would recommend either Comodo BOClean or Threatfire, though they both have their downsides (BOClean is a little resource heavy, and Threatfire is a little too aggressive for my tastes).

Alternatively, you could do what I do, which is scan once a week with SAS and MBAM. Between them, they'll catch almost anything you can pick up.

If you want to read the full review, http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-adware-spyware-scumware-remover.htm

Steve

[Simon]

MBAM, Steve? 

[D-Dan]

MalwareBytes Anti Malware

[Simon]

Not heard of that one, Steve.  Will give it a look.

[vitriol]

I tried SAS a while ago and found it locked up my system quite frequently.

[Gary]

I tried SAS a while ago and found it locked up my system quite frequently.

Thats quite odd, never had that issue, was it the full version or the free one? Personally I have never had an issue with SAS but boxes do vary, Malwarebytes is meant to be very good but I think there is no free version. I use Kaspersky 2009 which has HIPS and whitelisting so threatfire and BOClean are not needed. Windows defender is useless but since its on the pc as part of Vista I just use it for on demand scans now and then, but that's about it. SAS only finds the very occasional cookie and even that's rare as firefox 3 handles cookies well and I have it set to delete the ones I don't want to keep when I close it down

[vitriol]

It was just the free version

[Gary]

Odd, but software can clash here is a few peoples feelings of Malware bytes http://fileforum.betanews.com/review/1186760019/1/view

How long ago did you try SAS as they have released a few new versions this year current is 4.15.1000 and works well for me at least.

[Simon]

Well, I tried MBAM, and it found nothing, so to me, that proved that a) I'm careful where I surf, and b) F-Secure is doing it's job, and I probably don't need anything else.