Vista / Norton anti-virus-- Slow start up pc

[bikerpiker]

This might be a mistake ,cos i'll prob not understand any answers

My pc, which is only 5 months old , takes what seems like ages to start up

Myself, wife and 2 kids all have our own settings

From switching it on untill the 4 users accounts are displayed takes 3 mins 20 secs ......I then click on my name ,and it takes a further 1 min 10 sec,(total 4 MIN 30 SECS ),untill everything has stopped loading and only then 'im then able to connect to the internet

Any of you guys with Vista ,is this normal, as im sure when i got it ,it only took around 1min 30secs

140 G hard drive , 97 G free , i thought about a defrag ,but it keeps saying it doesnt need it

It's running Norton 360 which i paid for when i bought pc , i've done a full scan of the system, - no viruses, also i done a full scan with Windows Defender, again no viruses
I also disabled a lot of programmes on startup,but it has made little or no difference

So basically......is 4 mins 30 secs about the normal
My wifes never on it ,so if i deleted her account from it ,would it start faster
Had it 5 months and its played up more often than the last one i had for 6 years
Really tempted at times to put the boot in the feka

Any simplified thoughts or answers welcome

Cheers

[Seven Of Nine Firestorm]

I'm guessing you need one of those Vista tweek programs to cut out most of the crap which Vista installs. Is a PITA have to admit.

[marravtr]

been running vista all yr and mine from switching on to getting on the net takes just over a min only have one user account that we all use tho, how many programmes have you got loading up on start up also i dont shortcut owt to the desktop as that'll slow startup down aswell

[sirch345]

I think it's more than likely your Norton anti-virus Stevie

Norton is not something I'd use as it hugs a lot of your computer resources. Don't get me wrong it's very good at what it does, but if anything to good.

I'd recommend AVG free anti-virus personally

Chris.

[bikerpiker]

Marravtr--- I,ve got 12 programmes running on startup,about the same dissabled --

On start-up

Windows Defender
h.d audio control panel
Symantec secutity (Norton)
Norton 360 (Symantec)
Java
Speedtouch Modem Internet
LXCYCATS
Nvidia - Vista Driver
Nvidia - Media centre
SMP --Packard Bell pc
Microsoft ehome/ehtray
Microsoft --windows media player

Chris,
i used AVG Free for the last 5 years or so on my old pc ,but with me buyin the new pc, i got Norton half price ,the thing is, even with the Norton it was a lot faster when it was new

[marravtr]

running bout the same as me mate, i dont use norton tho, avg 8 on mine i realy only know the basics on pc matey, is there a techy on the site???

[bikerpiker]

The last time this happened i done a defrag, that seemed to help a lot , but as i said ,it wont let me defrag now , it says the likes of - System performance good ,defrag not needed

I might switch Norton off , try a start up ,and see if that makes any difference ,also delete wifes account ,cos she's never on it ,failin that ,im feked

[sirch345]

Stevie,
I still think you'll find it's Norton I would download AVG free anti-virus and use the Vista firewall, switching off anything Norton, then you should know if Norton is to blame or not

I had Norton security included with my BT broadband if I wanted it FOC, but I wouldn't touch it personally.

Chris.

[bikerpiker]

Rightey....
Ive just uninstalled my Norton 360 anti-virus , i was reluctant to do this as i had 200 odd days remaining of my subscription , and had been told i'd lose the lot if i uninstalled it, but i have just checked and this is not the case , i only lose the days it is uninstalled, and can reinstall anytime .

Hopefully my pc will start-up faster without it ,and i wont need to reinstall .

Anyway, in its place ive installed AVG 8.0 ,a free download .

After installing AVG , it done a scan, -- 1.15 Million items (seems a lot) , and it took 1hr 22 mins

How often dae i really need to do a scan, once weekly fortnightly monthly

Cheers

[marravtr]

stevie, the first scan avg does take about an hour and goes through every file on your system, in the settings in avg it will let you set how oftain you want to scan, i have it do mine every day at 6am, it runs in the background and lets you know when complete and if any threats found, ive used it for a few yrs now and never had any probs with it

[Stratman]

I use N360 v2 on all three machines, one runs XP Home, one XP Pro and the laptop is Vista.

It used to be true that Norton slowed things up, but not for many years in my experience.

I have never had a virus or other such problem and I put this down to having properly installed and updated Norton. Friends and family have oten asked and I tell them the same. Some ignore me (as is their prerogative) and install free programs instead.

Sure enough, eventually they get a virus, trojan or whatever!

[bikerpiker]

Hopefully AVG will solve the problem, will not know for sure 'till i start it up tomorrow morning, if its made no difference i will reinstall Norton360-version2.0.

This morning it took 3 attempts (had to switch off twice) to reach the page with the different accounts (users),so i could select mine

The friggin pc was only bought in August , just unbelievably slow to start ,also at least once a week ive got use task manager thingy,to end task,due to it freezing

Cheers

[marravtr]

any faster on start up 2day matey

[bikerpiker]

Well...it started first attempt , 1min 5 sec to all user accounts displayed ,then another minute till desktop displayed ,so overall deffinately an improvement

cheers

[marravtr]

cool, just a thought have you done a defrag and clean up? also cleared your cookies and temp internet files?