Logging into windows 7 ultimate x64 now takes about 20 minutes.

How many GIB RAM have you PC?

hmm, strange windows 7 takes normal 2 GIB RAM uncompressed.

• I would try to make's some memory free on the HDD.
• Also check msconfig (run command) for unwanted applications in boot.
• And a complete virus scan.

MonkeyTurtle said:

My acer aspire 7720g used to work fine, logging in in 30 seconds maybe, but suddenly it takes 20 minutes. The hard drive light stops being lit after 20 seconds or so and it only says welcome despite have verbose messages enabled. Starting windows takes normal time, it's windows 7 ultimate, regularly defragged, ccleaner every month and the install isn't older than 6 months. It is however, pretty full, about 1GB free on a 220GB drive. Whe it logs in, it's full speed and absolutely fine. I'm pretty good with computers and I've got no idea. No recently installed software, changed hardware or new services, windows updates or anything.

Have you been using ccleaner's registry cleaner. You always need to read over what ccleaner is going to fix before you run the registry cleaner. Honestly, I don't think you should use registry cleaners at all. They almost always end up messing up someone's computer. Try to system restore to when your computer was working and don't use registry cleaners.

MonkeyTurtle said:

No, I don't use the registry cleaner, I don't' trust them after an incident on an old laptop.

Ok. Good. Try freeing up some space with disk cleanup, and uninstall old programs that you don't use to free up some space on your hard drive.

MonkeyTurtle said:

I've got it free to 3.25GB, and it still hangs, but when it loaded up last time, it came up in aero, even though the control panel was still broken.

Download and install Disk Space Fan: Disk Space Fan - Download.com
Post a screenshot of the fan when it loads.