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.