Windows Explorer takes forever on startup

[Werina]

Hi!
This is my first post here so I'm sorry if something like this has been asked before but I couldn't find anything that helps me yet.

My Computer is really getting on my nerves by now because I have to reinstall Windows every couple of month. At first everything runs fine and smoothly and as it's supposed to be but after some time when I startup my computer windows explorer takes forever to start and then it's really slow for a few minutes. When it has been running for a while it works just fine, it's just at startup. I type in my password and then everything just goes black and the only thing you can still see is the mouse cursor then eventually the task bar appears and some seconds after that the desktop. I don't wanna reinstall Windows all the time, it's so annoying! Does anyone have an idea what I could try to solve this? Anything would be much appreciated, thanks!

 

[zigzag3143]

Hi!
This is my first post here so I'm sorry if something like this has been asked before but I couldn't find anything that helps me yet.

My Computer is really getting on my nerves by now because I have to reinstall Windows every couple of month. At first everything runs fine and smoothly and as it's supposed to be but after some time when I startup my computer windows explorer takes forever to start and then it's really slow for a few minutes. When it has been running for a while it works just fine, it's just at startup. I type in my password and then everything just goes black and the only thing you can still see is the mouse cursor then eventually the task bar appears and some seconds after that the desktop. I don't wanna reinstall Windows all the time, it's so annoying! Does anyone have an idea what I could try to solve this? Anything would be much appreciated, thanks!

First how about your system specs so we know what hardware you have.

Computers do slow down with time. Every install/un-install add entries to the registry. They need to be refreshed and I do mine every 3 months



Ken J

 

[Gracy123]

Is your drive encrypted? Do you use any Antivir software?

 

[Werina]

It's an HP Laptop with an Intel Core2 CPU (2.53 GHz) and 4GB RAM and I use Eset NOD 32 as an Antivir software.
I don't know that much about computers so if the drive encription isn't something that's done one default I certainly didn't do it ^^ I do know however that computers get slower over time and that would be totally ok if it was just that but for it to just go black fpr about a minute or so after startup that's not normal is it??

 

[Gracy123]

It's an HP Laptop with an Intel Core2 CPU (2.53 GHz) and 4GB RAM and I use Eset NOD 32 as an Antivir software.
I don't know that much about computers so if the drive encription isn't something that's done one default I certainly didn't do it ^^ I do know however that computers get slower over time and that would be totally ok if it was just that but for it to just go black fpr about a minute or so after startup that's not normal is it??

This is definitely NOT normal! I'd start with uninstalling the antivirus software. That's why I hate antivirus programs - they always cause such troubles. That might not be the reason though but I'd start with that...
Your computer isn't that old - My 4,5 year old laptop does not have such issues and it has slower single core CPU and 2GB RAM.

 

[Petey7]

If you do uninstall your current antivirus software, I recommend installing MSE until you determine the cause. MSE is free for all Windows users and is known to not cause any problems on Windows 7. It is not recommended to not use any AV as it is easier than ever to become infected with malware these days.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

 

[Jacee]

If you have your antivirus set to scan at startup, then it will most definitely slow your computer down.

 

[Gracy123]

If you do uninstall your current antivirus software, I recommend installing MSE until you determine the cause. MSE is free for all Windows users and is known to not cause any problems on Windows 7. It is not recommended to not use any AV as it is easier than ever to become infected with malware these days.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Malware protection is available without antivirus software too. The thing is you can't catch any virus if you know what you are doing... as I said the last one I had was in 2003.... and I am not using any Antivirus!!

Firewall + Malware application which you can run manually every now and then ... that's all you need!

 

[Petey7]

If you do uninstall your current antivirus software, I recommend installing MSE until you determine the cause. MSE is free for all Windows users and is known to not cause any problems on Windows 7. It is not recommended to not use any AV as it is easier than ever to become infected with malware these days.

http://www.microsoft.com/security_essentials/

Malware protection is available without antivirus software too. The thing is you can't catch any virus if you know what you are doing... as I said the last one I had was in 2003.... and I am not using any Antivirus!!

Firewall + Malware application which you can run manually every now and then ... that's all you need!

If you choose not to use a real-time antivirus, that is your choice, but it is not recommended and I have to politely ask you not to recommend it to others. Even experienced users who practice safe searching habits get infected.

 

[Werina]

But if it had to do with the antivirus software shouldn't the problem have occurred right when I installed that? Because it only started happening after I already had the antivirus software installed for a couple of weeks.

 

[Petey7]

There is no real way to be sure other than by seeing if uninstalling your AV makes a difference. If it doesn't, you can feel free to reinstall almost immediately after confirming that it is not related to the problem.

If you want to wait on doing that, the next think to do is try a clean boot. This will tell us if a program that runs at startup is the cause. Open the start menu and type msconfig, then press enter. In the Windows that opens select Selective startup, then uncheck "Load startup items". Then go to the services tab. First check the box that says Hide Microsoft services, and then select Disable All. Click Apply, then OK. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to restart. Select Restart. Let us know if this solves your problem. If so, we will have to test to see which item(s) is the main cause.

 

[Werina]

If you want to wait on doing that, the next think to do is try a clean boot. This will tell us if a program that runs at startup is the cause. Open the start menu and type msconfig, then press enter. In the Windows that opens select Selective startup, then uncheck "Load startup items". Then go to the services tab. First check the box that says Hide Microsoft services, and then select Disable All. Click Apply, then OK. A dialog box will appear asking if you want to restart. Select Restart. Let us know if this solves your problem. If so, we will have to test to see which item(s) is the main cause.

Hi! So I just tried that but it didn't work, same thing happened.

Do you think it could be a hardware issue? Because originally this laptop came with Vista as OS and I already had the problem then. I even had a different antivirus software back then. At least now with Windows 7 and NOD 32 it's not as bad as it used to be. With Vista windows explorer was really unstable, it would often crash or freeze even when it had been running for a while.

 

[Petey7]

Did you do a clean install or upgrade install of 7? If you did a upgrade install, then the next thing to try is a clean install. If you do a clean install, go to your computer's manufacturers website and download the relavent drivers for your computer and put them on an external HDD, flash drive, or a CD. Then refer to the following tutorials:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91339-ssd-hdd-optimize-windows-reinstallation.html (just do step one)
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html (use if you have an upgrade version)

If you have already done a clean install, we can look at hardware next.

 

[Werina]

Hi!
Sorry this took so long but I sent my laptop in to have it looked at and apparently there was something wrong and they replaced the OS. I hope that fixed it, we'll see