Super fast boot has become painfully slow

Hi all,

First post, looked around here first, got Speccy and filled in my specs - if you need more please say.

PC built and supplied by Quiet PC 18 months ago, always super fast and always started up super fast. Few days ago I thought I noticed it slow to boot up, but as I usually turn it on and then do something else I didn't think about it again. Last few days I've paid attention to the boot and it's taken way longer. Only changed I can remember recently were changing from Chrome to Firefox and there was a Windows Update - but I'm pretty sure it started before then.

Steps I've tried so far:

1. Deleted anything installed recently
2. Removed any programs causing errors in Event Viewer or fixed the problem (some of those removed: CCleaner, Firefox, all recent Adobe updates)
3. Disk Clean up, Defrag, Disk Check (the thing where you right click the HD and Check now...)

Appreciate any advice. Rest of the machine seems to be running ok, but I'm worried this is the start of something.
-Edit-

In case it helps I've just restarted and noted what happens.

What used to happen was Power button > brief Quiet PC screen > brief Windows logo > Desktop

What happens now is Power button > brief Quiet PC screen > brief Windows logo > black screen with the mouse pointer for about 60 seconds > Desktop

Thanks for the reply. I tried all those steps and no change, so I ran a clean boot again and checked the event log - lots of errors to do with not being able to register my PC on the IP address of my modem. Thought this may be to do with my PC and laptop having similar names so looked at users and credentials and found a Generic Credential I didn't recognise: viretualapp/didlogical. Anyone know what that is and if it could be causing the problem? Says "Modified today"

-Edit-

Never mind, deleted the credential and no difference to boot speed.

Layback Bear said:

Google is your friend. This is what I found.

What is Virtualapp/Didlogical?

So, who creates the entry Virtualapp/Didlogical?

Virtualapp/Didlogical is a credential that is stored when you use any of the Windows Live products, this can include Windows Live Messenger, Windows Live Mail, Windows Live Sign-In Assisstant, Windows XP Mode and other Microsoft services.

Found that too, but don't have any technical knowledge to know if it could have been causing the problem.

Anyone have any ideas? Have spent I'd say 10 solid hours trying every fix I can find online, uninstalling pretty much everything and re-installing drivers. Currently just have Chrome, Office and Windows on the machine

Do a System Restore to before the problem started.

Thanks so much man, I was starting to lose my mind (I think I've spent about 18 hours over the last few days trying different things recommended all over the web).

System restore points removed as a step someone else suggested I'm afraid.

btw, noticed this red error in event log:

Event 3299, Apache Service
The Apache service named reported the following error:
>>> httpd.exe: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using 169.254.205.176 for ServerName .

No idea what that is