Determine what happens on start up

[RC5000]

My computer, a 2011 4-core Dell running Windows 7 Home Premium is having problems (as I mentioned in another thread). It freezes up from time to time; today it took over 20 minutes to reboot. The user session came up OK but then I got the busy mouse cursor for like 17 minutes. I would like to know what was happening, or what was it waiting for. Is there something I can do to log the computer's activity on start up, with timings, so I can figure out what was the hold up?

Thanks

 

[whs]

With Autoruns you could track what is going on.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

 

[linnemeyerhere]

RC5000, I would always start with shutting down and checking the inside for signs of dust and lessened cooling performance. Blast the fans and wipe them down holding them from free spin. Do this for the CPU cooler and GPU if applicable. Air blast the open lanes on the mobo and the PSU. Then restart and see if that has helped.