boot/start up takes too long

[dunsta]

My Xp machine takes a long time to start up. It boots ok to the desktop, but then I can here the HD working away, and openind word or Firefox or Outlook can take up to 20 mins.
For the rest of the day programs open and close at a more appropriate speed (15-20 secs to open FFox, for example).
What should i do?

[SuperSparks]

To be honest, whenever a PC starts behaving like that I usually find the quickest and easiest thing to do is to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows. How do you feel about doing that?

[Welshjim]

dunsta--This was written some time ago, but may help:

I offer several other suggestions since they often can contribute to a slow PC.
1) Have you scanned the PC for viruses, spyware, etc.? (Be sure to use programs with updated reference definition files.) Delete whatever these programs recommend. And if you did find such malware, you should also probably install and run HiJackThis. It may find bits and pieces which were left behind
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/
2) Disk Cleanup. There are several ways to reach it. One is Start|All Programs|Accessories|System Tools|DiskCleanUp. That will start a scan of the PC to tell you what files might be deleted. (The scan takes a while.) I would certainly delete Temporary Internet Files, Temp files, and Downloaded Program Files. See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310312 for details.
3) Then I would run ErrorChecking. (left click on MyComputer||right click on C:\ drive icon (assuming that is your hard drive)|Tools|Error Checking. Check the box "Automatically fix file system errors". Click Start (within the error checking window). You will be told to reboot. Do so. Error checking will then run as part of the reboot. It can take a while.
4) Start|Run|type MSCONFIG|OK|Startup tab. WinXP actually needs very few thirdparty programs (the ones you see in msconfig) to run at start. Antivirus, Firewall, Antispyware, programs associated with wireless connections such as mouse, network, etc. would be among the few. Uncheck the box to the left of any program you feel you do not need at startup. Click Apply. This site will help you make decisions what you do and do not need http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php
5) Run Disk Defragmenter. ((left click on MyComputer||right click on C:\ drive icon (again assuming that is your hard drive)|Tools|Disk Defragmenter|Defrag Now click Analyze) Unless the analysis shows defragmentation is not needed, proceed to run Defragment. That also takes a while.

[und3rtak3r]

Welshjim's info is very sound and worth following:
Being very slow only at startup --COULD-- be the Anti-Virus doing an initial Scan.. I have seen certain AV's slow a machine for the first half hour.. you could see 5 to 10 mins to open notebook.. that being on a Core duo 3Ghz with 1 Gb RAM..
Also good to be sure you only have one Anti-Virus on the PC.. Some older Antivirus apps did not uninstall fully and would leave fragments running years later - after several other AV's had been installed and uninstalled..

[Shinma]

If not done so,
Take a look in Task Manager to identify software using up the resources right after boot...