Programs loading @ max 50% load

Hi all, my PC has been driving me crazy. It takes up to 10 minutes to launch programs (iTunes) and games (such as CODWaW, not exactly demanding). Here's the specs:
Win7 SP1, E8400 Asus P5K MoBo, 250GB system HDD, HD7870, 4GB RAM, 160 GB + 1TB HDDs
Nothing spectacular, all stock speeds, old but running, sort of...
After getting fed up with this situation I formated the C: drive and did a clean install. After installing Windows 7, Security Essentials and CoDWaW I tried it, and it was much faster. Then MS sent its first 136 updates, then SP1. I also installed a printer driver (Epson), Office, Chrome and sw for my keyboard and mouse. And voila, back to the same old five minute launch time.
I've made sure that no programs except Security Essentials launches, and the 50% load is spread over both cores. I also changed the priority to high, but no changes in the launch time.

What could be causing Windows to do this?

CBeck113 said:

Hi all, my PC has been driving me crazy. It takes up to 10 minutes to launch programs (iTunes) and games (such as CODWaW, not exactly demanding). Here's the specs:
Win7 SP1, E8400 Asus P5K MoBo, 250GB system HDD, HD7870, 4GB RAM, 160 GB + 1TB HDDs
Nothing spectacular, all stock speeds, old but running, sort of...
After getting fed up with this situation I formated the C: drive and did a clean install. After installing Windows 7, Security Essentials and CoDWaW I tried it, and it was much faster. Then MS sent its first 136 updates, then SP1. I also installed a printer driver (Epson), Office, Chrome and sw for my keyboard and mouse. And voila, back to the same old five minute launch time.
I've made sure that no programs except Security Essentials launches, and the 50% load is spread over both cores. I also changed the priority to high, but no changes in the launch time.

What could be causing Windows to do this?

In task manager what is anything using a significant amount of resources? A wrong driver or even missing driver can do things of the such, after the windows updates and the driver you installed, one of the updated drivers could be incorrect or some might be missing.
As well, check "device manager" for anything with a yellow symbol.

Hi Skylais, thanks for your response. There is nothing using resources, and no device conflicts (not installing anything unnecessary until I know what's going on). I'm starting to think that it may be a hardware issue, but what could it be? Motherboard? HDD? Any other ideas? I'm clinging to straws
Thanks, Charlie

CBeck113 said:

Hi Skylais, thanks for your response. There is nothing using resources, and no device conflicts (not installing anything unnecessary until I know what's going on). I'm starting to think that it may be a hardware issue, but what could it be? Motherboard? HDD? Any other ideas? I'm clinging to straws
Thanks, Charlie

Well you said after the updates and driver installations it went back to being slow, so i was thinking it could be a wrong driver or so, but this is hard to pinpoint. Do you have the latest drivers for all of your hardware?

Sorry, haven't had much time over the past two days. I've tested the HDD, which was fine, and the RAM as well. It seems that Windows is reserving resources, but why and how?
All the drivers are up to date. I have the feeling that MS changed something that is affecting my PC, maybe due to the older hardware.

CBeck113 said:

Sorry, haven't had much time over the past two days. I've tested the HDD, which was fine, and the RAM as well. It seems that Windows is reserving resources, but why and how?
All the drivers are up to date. I have the feeling that MS changed something that is affecting my PC, maybe due to the older hardware.

Download Microsoft .NET Framework 4 (Web Installer) from Official Microsoft Download Center
Try downloading this.

Thanks Skylais, but that sadly did not work either, infact it seems that I need longer to start up now too. I think I will just be more patient and see how long it will hold (without any important data of course!).

Thanks again, Charlie