XP start up problem

I have a Dell Diminsion 4300, Pent IV, and 40 Gigs. The unit came with ME but I upgraded to XP Pro. (I uninstalled ME). Until recently, when I turned on the computer and the Welcome screen appeared it was within 30 seconds before the Desktop screen appeared. Now, however, its takes at least two minutes from the time the welcome screen appears to the desktop screen. I've gone through the defragmenting program, disk scan, eliminated temp files, etc. and nothing seems to help. Currently, out of 40 gigs I am using only 7

How do you connect to the internet, DSL? Do you have a LAN card? If you do have a LAN card do you have an IP address entered in TCP/IP settings?

First off, welcome to the boards Michael, and thanks for posting.
What programs have you installed recently? Any anti-virus, or firewall software?
You might try the bootvis.exe file to help speed up your startup times. It helps streamline the boot process. Also have you added any new hardware to your setup?
Have you updated your windows installation using the free update provided under the tools, windows update tab in your internet explorer browswer?
Once you have clarified this initial matters, then I can begin to think of other reasons for your startup to take so long.

You might be wondering what bootvis.exe is, so I have scoured the net looking for information to help you in using it, and describing what it is.

Quote:

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A performance trace visualization tool for use with Windows XP systems.
Note: This version of BootVis.exe is compatible with final release of Windows XP (build 2600) and resolves a compatibility issue when using third-party IDE drivers.

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GET THE DOWNLOAD AT THE LINK BELOW
:arrow:http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/platf...ot/BootVis.asp

and finally a very visual guide to using this program, with screenshots, plenty of information, and assistance for utilizing this program.
:arrow:bootvis.exe GUIDE

Ebjoy,
BB

My internet is via telephone lines. No new hardware has been installed, nor have I installed new programs. The start up time went from 20 seconds max to 2 minutes with no hardware or software modifications. I was running XP for at least three weeks with the 15-20 second lapse between Windows welcome and the desktop-to me this was acceptable. Within a day, with no computer modification, the lapse extended to 2 minutes. I might add, however, that one program is not performing well, and since that program froze (Adobe Photo Delux 4.0) the problem seemed to occur; a contributing factor or just coincidence, I really don't have a clue.

B.B made a very relavent point in regards to some of the M$ updates, the download of Windows Movie Maker v1.2 does slow down the bootup speed of your O/S quite significantly. This is one particular update that I do not update on my O/S because of load up time drag.
Michael are you using the Adobe PhotoDeluxe Home Edition 4.0 version, if so Adobe technical support indicated this software was "designed before XP and may not work for everyone." They did not know when a fully XP compliant version may be available.