Hi, my problem is that my computer is taking too much time to start up. It takes at least 6-7 minutes to become usabe, and in rare cases it takes up to 10 minutes. There are some start-up programs in the system, such as Windows Defender, Avast! Antivirus, SiteAdvisor, ZoneAlarm, and Yahoo Messenger. The last one to open, by the end of those 6-to-10 minutes of start-up, is Yahoo Messenger.

By becoming usable I mean that the computer will respond very slowly to any kind of requests. For example, clicking on an icon on my desktop will activate that icon in a matter of seconds; or if I right click on an icon (say, Recycle Bin), the context menu will also appear a few seconds later, and if indeed I double click on Recycle Bin, then the Recycle Bin window will appear on screen after one minute. Any program that I might open (like Outlook, or even Windows Explorer) will also start slowly.

Everything goes normally after the start-up period is over, and always after Yahoo Messenger is up and running (one particular thing about Yahoo Messenger is that it too takes one minute or a little bit more to open).

I can operate normally on my computer after this, although with some annoying issues. For example, I'm using Visual Studio 2005 on my computer, and starting this application also takes one minute or so – but what's more annoying is that pressing the F1 key to invoke help will freeze Visual Studio 2005 for about 6 minutes, and then the help topic is shown. The help for VS 2005 being HTML based, and Yahoo Messenger having its interface based on the IE engine, I think that somehow everything is related to IE, or something. I'm just guessing here.

I have this slow start-up problem for months now, and I thought I can give it a try with HijackThis. I'm pasting the content of my log below.

I have a P4 @ 3 GHz (with hyperthreading), 1 GB

Thanks

================ HIJACKTHIS LOG FILE========================

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 11:47:38 AM, on 7/5/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MsMpEng.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\inetsrv\inetinfo.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\mdm.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\tcpsvcs.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe
C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe
C:\WINDOWS\RTHDCPL.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe
C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe
C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6028\SiteAdv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YAHOOM~1.EXE
C:\Program Files\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {089FD14D-132B-48FC-8861-0048AE113215} - C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6066\SiteAdv.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - (no file)
O3 - Toolbar: McAfee SiteAdvisor - {0BF43445-2F28-4351-9252-17FE6E806AA0} - C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6066\SiteAdv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HotKeysCmds] C:\WINDOWS\system32\hkcmd.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [High Definition Audio Property Page Shortcut] HDAShCut.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RTHDCPL] RTHDCPL.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avast!] C:\PROGRA~1\ALWILS~1\Avast4\ashDisp.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Zone Labs Client] "C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zlclient.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Defender] "C:\Program Files\Windows Defender\MSASCui.exe" -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SiteAdvisor] C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6028\SiteAdv.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Yahoo! Pager] "C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YAHOOM~1.EXE" -quiet
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions present
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O8 - Extra context menu item: &WordWeb… - res://C:\WINDOWS\wweb32.dll/lookup.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download All Files by HiDownload - D:\Program Files\HiDownload\HDGetAll.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download by HiDownload - D:\Program Files\HiDownload\HDGet.htm
O9 - Extra button: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra button: HiDownload - {F4FBA929-A891-492C-A0F6-5C79CC4F1742} - D:\Program Files\HiDownload\hidownload.exe
O16 - DPF: {05CA9FB0-3E3E-4B36-BF41-0E3A5CAA8CD8} (Office Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=67633
O16 - DPF: {0E5F0222-96B9-11D3-8997-00104BD12D94} (PCPitstop Utility) - http://www.pcpitstop.com/pcpitstop/PCPitStop.CAB
O16 - DPF: {166B1BCA-3F9C-11CF-8075-444553540000} (Shockwave ActiveX Control) -
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39204
O16 - DPF: {31E68DE2-5548-4B23-88F0-C51E6A0F695E} (Microsoft PID Sniffer) -
O16 - DPF: {3E68E405-C6DE-49FF-83AE-41EE9F4C36CE} -
O16 - DPF: {474F00F5-3853-492C-AC3A-476512BBC336} (UploadListView Class) - http://picasaweb.google.com/s/v/19.13/uploader2.cab
O16 - DPF: {493ACF15-5CD9-4474-82A6-91670C3DD66E} (LinkedIn ContactFinderControl) - http://www.linkedin.com/cab/LinkedInContactFinderControl.cab
O16 - DPF: {C946EF6D-296D-4907-A6E1-ED0E8E5AF024} (LycosMail Upload Control) - http://mail.lycos.com/hanmail-ax/AttachMail.cab
O17 - HKLM\System\CS1\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: SearchList = sysmexd.sysmex.de
O17 - HKLM\System\CS2\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: SearchList = sysmexd.sysmex.de
O17 - HKLM\System\CCS\Services\Tcpip\Parameters: SearchList = sysmexd.sysmex.de
O18 - Protocol: ms-help - {314111C7-A502-11D2-BBCA-00C04F8EC294} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Help\hxds.dll
O18 - Protocol: siteadvisor - {3A5DC592-7723-4EAA-9EE6-AF4222BCF879} - C:\Program Files\SiteAdvisor\6066\SiteAdv.dll
O20 - Winlogon Notify: WgaLogon - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\WgaLogon.dll
O21 - SSODL: WPDShServiceObj - {AAA288BA-9A4C-45B0-95D7-94D524869DB5} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\WPDShServiceObj.dll
O23 - Service: avast! iAVS4 Control Service (aswUpdSv) - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\aswUpdSv.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Antivirus - ALWIL Software - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashServ.exe
O23 - Service: avast! Mail Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashMaiSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: avast! Web Scanner - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Alwil Software\Avast4\ashWebSv.exe" /service (file missing)
O23 - Service: ColdFusion 8 .NET extension - Unknown owner - D:\ColdFusionScorpio\jnbridge\CF8DotNetsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) (MSSQLSERVER) - Unknown owner - D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe" -sMSSQLSERVER (file missing)
O23 - Service: NuTCRACKERService - DataFocus, Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nutsrv4.exe
O23 - Service: SQL Server Agent (MSSQLSERVER) (SQLSERVERAGENT) - Unknown owner - D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Binn\SQLAGENT90.EXE" -i MSSQLSERVER (file missing)
O23 - Service: TrueVector Internet Monitor (vsmon) - Zone Labs, LLC - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe

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