XP Start problem

[Zen]

When I fire up my desktop computer (Windows XP} it starts up OK but only as far as the Desktop Screen.
I.E there are no Icons on the screen or a Start button in the corner. These only appear after about 6 minutes of waiting.
I have done the usual Virus checks,Spyware etc and a defrag but to no avail.
Control -Alt-Delete will brings up the Task Manager which shows about 8 processes running and a CPU usage of 2% when the icons eventually appear it shows 31 processes running @ 2% usage.
'Anyone got any ideas wha tto do next ?
thanks

[rojash]

Two things spring to mind: You have a virus scanner which is scanning your disks at startup, or you have a dodgy hard drive.

[Ethel]

What springs to my mind is you have far far too many programs starting themselves on startup.

Have a look at your startup menu:

Start - run and type

msconfig

n the box. Now click the start up tab.

If there is anything recognisable that you know you don't need to start automatically, untick the box. Examples are your printer, 4od, quicktime, realtime, your office suite...

They all take time to load. Try it.

[ACtheTROLL]

Nothing ever springs to my mind ...
but this lot sort of shuffled between my ears

I'm sure roj and ethel are both on the right lines ... but if not I wonder if it's a lateral thinking thing ... but it could also be something that isn't loading up ....
some timeouts are ridiculously long ... yet won't give an error message (network, virus and adware scanners tend to load just before the desktop).

Kaspersky "scan startup objects" adds about 40 seconds to the startup time of one of my machines

I think if your HDD was on it's last legs you'd have clicky noises ... and other hints - but have you defragged it in the last 10 years??

I like this little app better than msconfig
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

you can use it to disable startup options but not permanently