Hey, I recently just installed a fresh copy of XP on my system hoping to fix this problem.. When I boot up, the welcome screen always hangs for about 20 seconds and then the computer boots up.. Does anyone have any idea what is wrong.. Thanks

It may be that nothing is wrong. During the time it is at the welcome screen, Windows is installing a lot of services (drivers) it believes you need - and if you are on a network, it is chasing down the addresses on the network so that they will be connected and ready to use when you need to go to them.

You might want to bring up your task manager to see what services you have running in the background because this is where a lot of trojans and spyware secrete themselves.

Then, click on Start-Run- and type msconfig to see what programs are set up as you enter your desktop to make sure that you aren't loading the other portions of spyware on your machine.

I have to run, will try to get back later to detail for you how your can set up a bootlog.txt to have Windows create a file that lets you see what it is doing when it is at the welcome page.

This is a full reference to the boot.ini file to setup a bootlog.txt (which in XP, in this example, is ntbtlog.txt):http://www.sysinternals.com/Information/bootini.html. The parameters added below should turn off the graphical welcome and allow you to see each process happening that you can't see when the graphical interface is covering it.

BOOT.INI line:
/noguiboot /sos /bootlog
These turn off the graphical screen, display each driver as it loads, and save a bootlog to %WINDOWS\ntbtlog.txt

Remember to remove these parameters later after you've finished your analysis.

Thanks for the help, but this is a brand new fresh copy of XP and it still does this.. So how exactly do i do that thing to show me what it does, i didnt really understand what you meant by that before. Thanks a lot.. Also, if you have AIM, my screename is 'Jpac'.. it might be a little easier. Thanks

Boot.ini is a file located in your c:\ (or root directory). It is a read only file and it is hidden. So, once you are in windows, bring up a Dos (Command Prompt) window, then type cd\ and hit the Enter key. Then, type attrib boot.ini -r -h. Then, type edit boot.ini . This will bring up the file that invokes windows to start. There are only a couple of lines in it. You'll know the line you want since it will probably have as one of its parameters /fastopen or some such. Just type /noguiboot /sos /bootlog at the end of that line. Then save the boot.ini file. Get out of the Dos window (type exit and hit return). Then, restart Windows.

Try Microsofts bootvis

After install run program (bootvis.exe) Select 'Tools/optimize system' and restart.

Upon restart bootvis will defrag all(?) boot processes.

Even though you have a clean install of Windows XP, there can still be a ton of unneeded drivers and the like loading at start-up just in case you *might* need them at some time. To help you use MSCONFIG, we have put together a free tutorial that shows you exactly how to open the MSCONFIG utility and use it properly.

You can find the tutorial at:

http://www.schrockinnovations.com/msconfig.php

I hope this helps you get that boot time down!

Or install and run Startup control panel
To remove any unneeded startup items.

Same thing but easier.