OS freezes up following startup

I have a Dell Inspiron 530 with Windows XP SP3. When I startup, all works well and I get my screen with all icons. If I move quickly, I can activate a program. Several seconds later, the OS freezes up, with the pointer showing the hourglass shape when I roll it over Start or a program. I can boot in Safe Mode and everything seems to work alright. I have run Sophos, Malwarebytes, and Avast in both Safe and Normal modes, but it did not help. In Safe Mode, I did Start, Run, msconfig, and unchecked all programs, then rebooted in Normal mode, but it did not help. I ran HijackThis and here is the log file:

📎capnscottyHJT.txt

Reason for edit: remove HJT log and add as attachment. Not allowed anywhere except the malware forum - Rich

Any suggestions on where to go from here?

Sinced it works better in Safe Mode, something is starting at boot that is causing the problem.

Use msconfig to determine what is causing the problem.

These are good tutorials on using msconfig in XP or Vista:
How to use msconfig in Windows XP
How to use msconfig in Windows Vista

Click on Start then Run, type msconfig and press Enter.
Click on the Startup tab, record what is currently starting then click the Disable All button.
Reboot and see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable several items at a time till you find the culprit.

If no, boot to Safe Mode again, start msconfig and click on the Services tab.
Check the Hide All Microsoft Services box, record what is currently starting then click the Disable All button.
Again, do a regular boot, see if it runs normal.
If yes then use msconfig to enable services till you find the culprit.

Once you've found the culprit, uninstall it or find out how to eliminate it from your system.
Simply disabling it in msconfig is a temporary fix at best.
Enable everything else you disabled.

Thanks for the clues–finally narrowed it down to the Plug and Play Service, which could not be repaired and ultimately required re-installation of my XP Operating System.

Sorry to hear that. I suspect a corrupted device driver for a Plug and Play device but tat pure speculation on my part. Glad you got it fixed, even if it required a reinstall. Thanks for letting me know.

It was a fairly lengthy process to narrow the problem down to one service out of 100 or so, compounded by my having to travel for a couple weeks in the middle, but your suggestions worked well. I didn't try much repair, just some MS diagnostics, and went directly to the reinstall. I keep everything backed up regularly on a Western Digital Passport HD, so that made the reinstall much easier. Thanks again!!