Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring Task Manager and select the Performance Tab.
What is the Total, the Commit Charge and the Peak?

How is the drive formatted -FAT32 or NTFS. To get this information whilst
in Windows Explorer place the cursor on each drive in turn, right click and
select Properties.

What are your anti-virus and anti-spyware arrangements?

Are there any yellow question marks in Device Manager? Right click on
the My Computer icon on your Desktop and select Properties. Hardware,
Device Manager. If yes what is the Device Error code?

Look in Event Viewer at the System and Application logs for Warning or
Error report and post a copy here You can access Event Viewer by
selecting Start, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default...&Product=winxp

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Double click the button and close Event
Viewer. Now start your message(email) and do a paste into the body of the
message. This will paste the info from the Event Viewer Error Report
complete with links into the message. Make sure this is the first paste
after exiting from Event Viewer.


Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FCA

Using invalid email address

Stourport, Worcs, England
Enquire, plan and execute.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please tell the newsgroup how any
suggested solution worked for you.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"rwrede" <rwrede@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1D634613-A3E2-4247-948E-D59AD6538288@microsoft.com...
> Here are the specs:
> Product Name; ze4901us,
> Microprocessor; 1.3GHz Intel Celeron M Processor 320
> Microprocessor Cache; 512KB L2 Cache
> Memory; 256MB DDR SDRAM (1 x 256MB) at 266MHz
> Memory Max; 1024MB DDR SDRAM (2 x 512MB)
> Video Graphics; Intel Extreme Graphics 2 (shared)
> Hard Drive; 40GB (4200RPM) Hard Drive
> Multimedia Drive; 24X DVD/CD-RW
> Combo Drive Display; 15.0-inch XGA TFT (1024 x 768) Display
> Network Card; Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
> Sound;
> 16-bit Sound Blaster Pro-compatible audio; internal Altec Lansing
> speakers;
> AC audio link; volume control button and mute button
> Keyboard; 101-key compatible Pointing Device; Touch Pad with On/Off button
> and dedicated vertical Scroll Up/Down pad
> PC Card Slots; One Type I/II 32-bit card bus (also supports 16-bit)
>
> I have cleaned all junk, only have VScan and Firewall going, hard drive is
> only 1/4 full. Main problem is startup, very slow from log-on. Once it's
> started it seems ok. Tried in Safe Mode (only system processes running)
> and
> was slow then too, maybe not as bad.
>
> "Gerry Cornell" wrote:
>
>> How much RAM memory do you have? Try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to bring Task
>> Manager and select the Performance Tab. What is the Total, the Commit
>> Charge
>> and the Peak?
>>
>> How large is your hard drive? Is it partitioned? How much free space on
>> each drive / partition. How is the drive formatted -FAT32 or NTFS. To
>> get this information whilst in Windows Explorer place the cursor on each
>> drive in turn, right click and select Properties.
>>
>> What is the CPU?
>>
>> --
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> Gerry
>> ~~~~
>> FCA
>> Stourport, England
>>
>> Enquire, plan and execute
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>
>>
>> "rwrede" <rwrede136@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:PJIof.3121$It6.884@fe02.lga...
>> > Last Christmas I bought my wife an HP laptop and it works fine, except
>> > the
>> > last few months it is very slow starting up. I have closed all
>> > background
>> > programs (only essential programs) even tried in Safe Mode. I have
>> > optimised with PC Pitstop, TweakNow RegCleaner Pro, Spybot S&D,
>> > AdAware,
>> > scanned for viruses and set Virtual Memory optimum. It takes a good
>> > full 2
>> > minutes to fully open from the log-on screen and have no activity in
>> > Task
>> > Manager. (My desktop optimised the same way opens in 15-20 seconds from
>> > the log-on screen) I'm thinking more memory? I did that to my desktop,
>> > went from 256 to 720 and wow what a difference. Could it be the
>> > processor?
>> > how can I test or tell if it is the processor and not just needing more
>> > memory.
>> >
>>
>>
>>